Such 15 rules are better:
{
22. [O man]
set not up with God another god, or you will [in the Next Life] stay condemned [among souls] and forsaken [by devils
a.]
23. [O Mohammed] your Lord decrees
b, that
you [people] must worship none save Him [alone],
and [He decrees too that
you must show] kindness to parents:
As long as one or both of them live with you [in your house], you should never say to them [even] "Fie"
c, nor shall you shout at them
d; but always address them with kindly speech
e.
24. And humble yourself before them with submission, out of mercy to them [both]
f,
and say: "My Lord, bestow on them Your mercy
g, even as did they raise me up when I was little."
25. Your Lord knows best what
h [you hide] within yourselves; if you are righteous
i, then [surely] He is Ever Forgiving for those who always revert
j.
26. And
render to the [poor among] kindred their due rights k,
as [also] to the needy
l,
and to the wayfarer
m; but
squander not [your wealth] in the manner of a spendthrift [in the ground
n.
27. Surely, spendthrifts are brothers of devils
o, and the Devil was ungrateful to his Lord
p.
28. And if you turn away from them
q, seeking after the mercy that you hope of your Lord
r, then
speak to them some reasonable words s.
The reason for revealing the following aya:
[The Prophet – salam to him – was wearing a garment, when a poor man came asking for some dress, so he took off his only garment he had, and gave it to the beggar, so he acquired flu, because it was Winter; therefore this aya was revealed to him:]
29. And
let not your hand be bound to your neck t nor open it so widely u, lest you come to be blamed
v and denuded [of the clothes
w.]
30. Your Lord [O Mohammed] gives abundant provision to those among His servants whom He will, or He doles it out.
x
Surely, He is All-Aware and All-Seeing about His servants.
y
[In the Ignorance pre-Islam period, when some of people had a female baby born for him, he would kill her for the fear of disgrace; some of the poor would kill her lest his family should increase and he could not afford their livelihood.
Or he would kill the fetus in the womb of his wife, by aborting it before the completion of the months of its pregnancy period. (This is not surprising: for in our generation, many people abort their fetus before its birth, and that is for different purposes.)
Still others among them might kill the son of people when he is alone with him, to plunder his money, or the gold and silver ornaments.
Therefore, this is the meaning of His saying – be glorified – in this aya:]
31. And
slay not your children for fear of poverty. It is We Who provide for them and for you
z.
Surely, the slaying of them is a grievous sin.
32. And
approach not [women to commit] adultery a a; surely it is ever an indecency
b b, and evil as a way
c c.
33. And
kill not the soul which God has forbidden save by a right [cause]
d d.
Whoso is slain wrongfully [and undeservedly], We have given power to his heir [on the murderer by means of retaliation], but let the [heir] not commit excess in slaying
e e; surely, he will be helped to overcome [his opponent, so let him not hasten and then he may kill one who is not the murderer.]
34. Approach not the wealth of the orphan, save in that which is best, till he reaches puberty
f f.
And
fulfill the covenant [if you make any covenant]; surely the covenant is ever inquired of [the man who agree to it.]
35. Give full measure when you measure out [to people], and weigh [when you weigh to them] with the standard weight gg; that [full measure and just weighing without reduction] is better [for you before people
h h] and fairer in practice
i i.
36. And
do not go after the [flaws of your Muslim brother j j] about which you [man] have no knowledge; for the hearing, the sight and the [spiritual] heart
k k, of all these it shall be inquired.
37. And
walk not upon the earth exultantly l l; certainly you [man] will never tear the earth open
m m, nor attain the mountains in height
n n.
38. All this [which We forbid you to do
o o] is ever evil and abhorred
p p in the sight of your Lord.
39. That
q q is [some] of the wisdom
r r your Lord has revealed to you [O Mohammed];
set not up another god with God, or you will be cast into Hell, dispraised and driven away [by the angels.]}
Quran 17: 22-39
............................................................
............................................................
a God – be glorified – said in the Quran 25: 29, which means:
(For Satan does always leave man in the lurch!)
It means: You will be despised and humiliated, without any assistant for you, neither any helper to help and save you from God’s punishment.
b i.e. your Lord propounds an unchangeable decision
c i.e. the slightest gesture of annoyance ; in Arabic the word is “Uff”; and in the Gospel Mat. 5: 22, the word is ‘Raqa’.]
It means: Don’t hurt them, whether with little or much hurt, neither with any harsh word.
d i.e. don’t rebuke them with any harsh word, nor with any shouting at them.
e i.e. address them politely with smooth and nice words, so as to honor them.
f It means: Increase your modesty and submission to both of them, with words and acts; so as to be loyal and kind to them.
g It means: Pray God for them with forgiveness and mercy in their life and also following their death, according to their raising you.
h Loyalty or disobedience to both of them.
i With your acts, obedient to God concerning His commands.
j i.e. God is All-Forgiving to those who repent, regret and revert to be loyal to parents.
k Out of the spoils of war, and the large gain which you get, and out of the fay’a.
Like His saying – be glorified – in the Quran 8: 41, which means:
(And know that anything you [Muslims] seize as a spoil; a fifth of it is due to God, and the apostle [or the messenger], and the kindred ..etc.)
l You should also give to the poor their rights out of the Zakat alms.
m i.e. the traveller far away from his family and is in a hard situation, give him also his rights.
n In addition to that, the money - which spent for the falsehood and the unlawful ways – is a squandering and disobedience.
o It means: those who spend their wealth – on the falsehood and on that which is forbidden by God – are the brothers of devils; because they complied with their orders and wasted their money for unlawful things.
p Because God – be glorified – gave him position in Paradise (or the Garden), and brought him close to Himself, but he did not thank God for such position, and instead he became proud over the angels, and when God commanded him to prostrate himself to Adam, he refused and rebelled.
And as such are those who spend their wealth for God’s disobedience, so instead of thanking Him for His bounties, they disobey Him.
q whom I commanded you to give their rights; because you want to go to the pilgrimage and you cannot give them out of your money, because it is little.
r i.e you want to go the pilgrimage to seek after the forgiveness and mercy [of God.]
s Give them a fair promise like: “When I’ll return from Mecca, I’ll give you as much money as I can give, by God’s will.”
t This is a parable with the Arab, that they say about the miser: “his hand is bound.” And for the generous man: “he is open-handed.”
u It means: neither be miser, nor yet a spendthrift, but be moderate between these two extremes; which is the economic moderation.
v By people, because you gave your garment, when you hadn’t another one, so you acquired cold.
w i.e. bare, without dress.
x It means: One time He gives much provision and another time He restricts His provision, in order to test them and see whether they will be grateful for the prosperity and be patient about the restriction, or they will be ungrateful and blasphemers.
y i.e. He is All-Knowing about their affairs, All-Seeing about their advantages, so He gives much provision to some of His servants, and restricts to others according to what He sees for the best outcome.
z It means: It is We Who provide for them, not you, so why do you slay them?
a a Which is the sexual intercourse with a woman unlawfully, without concluding a marriage certificate.
b b Which is the evil act bringing disgrace on its doer.
c c i.e. the way of adultery is bad, because it severs the lineage, thwarts the inheritance, disjoins the kinship relations and prevents the rights of fathers due of sons.
d d It means: except the one deserving the killing because he committed a crime.
e e So that he may kill two instead of one, or he might kill a man, else than the murderer.
I once heard a nice tale which I tell you here:
A few policemen went from Baghdad [in the middle of Iraq] to Mosul [in the north of Iraq] taking with them some arrested men, to hand them over to the Mosul police.
Afterwards, when they intended to return to Baghdad, they saw a man in the railway station, intending also to go to Baghdad, but his money were not sufficient to buy the ticket for the journey by the train; so they said to him: “Come with us in the train, and we put the handcuffs on your hands, then when the collector comes, we shall say to him: This is a prisoner sent by the court to Baghdad, so he will leave you and go his way. Then we shall unlock the handcuffs from your hands after he leaves us.”
So the man agreed about that, and they put the handcuffs on his hands and locked it. Then the train moved and their plan succeeded.
Later on, the policeman, who carried the key, protruded his head from the window of the train to see something in the desert, while the train was quickly moving, and the key fell from his hand in the desert, so the hands of the man remained bound with the locked handcuffs. They tried to unlock it without the key, but they did not succeed in that, so the police said to him: “When we arrive at Baghdad, we shall go to a blacksmith to unlock the handcuffs for you.”
Then when they arrived at Baghdad, they took him to a blacksmith, and said to him: “Unlock the handcuffs for this man.”
But when the blacksmith saw him, he recognized and siezed him, and said to the police: “This man killed my father and escaped few years ago, and I searched about him and could not find him; and he has now come to me upon his feet. Now, take us to the police officer and don’t unlock his handcuffs.”
So they took them both to the police detective, and the blacksmith proved his claim about the man in the court and retaliated of him.
Therefore, this incident confirms His saying – be glorified – in this aya, which means:
(Whoso is slain wrongfully [and undeservedly], We have given to his heir power [on the murderer by means of retaliation])
f f This has been interpreted in chapter 6: the aya 152.
g g Which is not to be increased or decreased.
h h Because it gives the seller a good reputation of trust, and people will come more and more to buy from him.
i i And it gives better implication of his trust, so that his condition will improve, his wealth will increase and his good reputation of trust will be fair among people.
j j So as to expose him; but O Muslim, cover the flaws of your Muslim brother and don’t expose him.
This is like His saying – be glorified – in the Quran 49: 12, which means:
(and do not spy [i.e. do not seek after the flaws and defects of Muslims; because anyone who seeks after the flaws and defects of Muslims to expose them, God will expose him even in his family.]
nor let some of you backbite others [i.e. do not mention anyone of you, when he is absent, with something he dislikes.] )
k k The ‘hearing’, the ‘sight’ and the ‘[spiritual] heart’; all these are the special senses of the soul.
The meaning: It is the soul that will be judged and questioned on Judgment Day, not the body. And I have explained about the special senses of the soul in my book Man after Death.
l l i.e. haughty and arrogant.
m m By stamping it with your feet, when you walk on it, and with your power over it, but in fact you are weak and disabled.
n n So that you lift your head high with pride, and you behave arrogantly, boasting with your wealth and power.
o o Which are twenty five manners of behaviour, starting from : ([O man] set not up with God another god) to the last of these manners.
p p Originally it was ‘sin’ or ‘bad act’; that is because the Arabic letters at the beginning was not punctuated, but later on when they punctuated them, they left this letter without punctuation because they thought it as such .
q q It is related to what has been mentioned of the bidding and forbidding.
r r Which is the admonition.
The interpretation is by Mohammed-Ali Hassan Al-Hilly.
http://www.quran-ayat.com/conflicts/index.htm#The_Admonition_in_the_Quran
