يَتيمًا ذا مَقرَبَةٍ
أَو مِسكينًا ذا مَترَبَةٍ
Or an orphan among relatives,
or a needy man in desolation.
EXEGESIS
Dhā maqrabah (relative) literally means one who is close, and as an adjective for a person it implies one’s blood relative.
Matrabah (desolation) comes from the root word turāb (dust). Dhā matrabah denotes someone who lives on the dust due to a state of extreme poverty. This qualifier is not to exclude other poor people, but just to show priority for the one whose situation is very extreme.
EXPOSITION
Whilst the Quran emphasises care for the orphans, this verse specifically highlights a certain category of orphans, the orphans from amongst one’s relatives. The condition of being from amongst the relatives is to show that this category of orphans have priority, and is to show greater emphasis on them. It is not to completely negate other categories of orphans, such as non-relatives, for they must also be taken care of.
Another possibility as to why this condition was mentioned is that during the period of revelation of this verse, the rights of the orphans were usually trampled by their relatives.
INSIGHTS FROM HADITH
- Muʿammar ibn Khallād narrates: ‘Abū al-Hasan al-Riḍā (a) would ask for an empty plate before having food. He would keep it on one side of the table and pick up the best of food from each kind brought for him and place them on that plate. He would then ask his people to take it to the destitute people, and would read, Yet he has not embarked upon the uphill task [verse 11], and say: “Allah, the most majestic, the most glorious, knows that everyone is not able to set free slaves, thus He has made a way to reach paradise, which is serving food.”’
- Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) has said: ‘Whoever feeds a believer until he is satiated, no one will know what reward lies for him in the hereafter except Allah, not a lofty angel nor even a divinely commissioned prophet.’ The Imam then said: ‘Amongst the means of forgiveness of sins is feeding a hungry Muslim.’ Then he read the words of Allah, Or feeding [the needy] on a day of starvation, or an orphan among relatives, or a needy man in desolation [verses 14-16].
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Ṭūsī defines an orphan as a child that has lost both his mother and father. However, what is more common amongst the jurists, as has also been mentioned by Ibn Āshūr, is that an orphan is one who does not have a father and has not reached the state of puberty.
According to Faḍl-Allāh, feeding mentioned in verse 14 is just an example of care and kindness to the orphan and the poor. Other equally praiseworthy actions would be to give them clothing and shelter, for example.
According to Abū al-Futūḥ al-Rāzī, maqrabah is not from qarābah (family relation) but from qurb (nearness), which is an indication towards the sticking of the stomach of an orphan to his own back due to hunger.
Rāzī says matrabah means a poverty such that there is nothing over the head, i.e. no shelter, and nothing under the body, i.e. no bed.
Al-Shāfiʿī has used this verse to say that a miskīn can technically still have some wealth, otherwise there was no point in adding the qualifier, in desolation.
Some have opined that the word matrabah comes from the root tarb, which means need, and so this verse is talking about needy people in general. Others say it refers to that poor person who has a family and children who are also suffering.
According to Abū Ḥayyān, adding the qualifier of relatives to the orphan indicates that two good deeds are being referred to here: charity and maintaining relations with kin.
[1] Mizan, 20/293.
[2] Amthal, 20/223.
[3] Jawhar, 6/412.
[4] Amthal, 20/222.
[5] Amthal, 20/222.
[6] Kafi, 4/38, h. 12 .
[7] Kafi, 2/86, h. 6.
[8] Tibyan, 10/354.
[9] Ibn Ashur, 30/317.
[10] Abu al-Futuh, 20/289.
[11] Razi, 31/170.
[12] Razi, 31/170.
[13] Qurtubi, 30/131.
[14] Muhit, 10/83; Ibn Ashur, 30/317.