14:31 Ibrahim (Abraham)

أي: قل لعبادي المؤمنين آمرا لهم بما فيه غاية صلاحهم وأن ينتهزوا الفرصة، قبل أن لا يمكنهم ذلك: { يُقِيمُوا الصَّلَاة } ظاهرا وباطنا { وَيُنْفِقُوا مِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ } أي: من النعم التي أنعمنا بها عليهم قليلا أو كثيرا { سِرًّا وَعَلَانِيَةً } وهذا يشمل النفقة الواجبة كالزكاة ونفقة من تجب [عليه] نفقته، والمستحبة كالصدقات ونحوها. { مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ يَأْتِيَ يَوْمٌ لَا بَيْعٌ فِيهِ وَلَا خِلَالٌ } أي: لا ينفع فيه شيء ولا سبيل إلى استدراك ما فات لا بمعاوضة بيع وشراء ولا بهبة خليل وصديق، فكل امرئ له شأن يغنيه، فليقدم العبد لنفسه، ولينظر ما قدمه لغد، وليتفقد أعماله، ويحاسب نفسه، قبل الحساب الأكبر.

يقول تعالى آمرا عباده بطاعته والقيام بحقه والإحسان إلى خلقه بأن يقيموا الصلاة وهي عبادة الله وحده لا شريك له وأن ينفقوا مما رزقهم الله بأداء الزكوات والنفقة على القرابات والإحسان إلى الأجانب والمراد بإقامتها هو المحافظة على وقتها وحدودها وركوعها وخشوعها وسجودها وأمر تعالى بالإنفاق مما رزق في السر أي فى الخفية والعلانية وهي الجهر وليبادروا إلى ذلك لخلاص أنفسهم " من قبل أن يأتي يوم " وهو يوم القيامة " لا بيع فيه ولا خلال " أي ولا يقبل من أحد فدية أن تباع نفسه كما قال تعالى " فاليوم لا يؤخذ منكم فدية ولا من الذين كفروا " وقوله " ولا خلال " قال ابن جرير يقول ليس هناك مخالة خليل فيصفح عمن استوجب العقوبة عن العقاب لمخالفته بل هناك العدل والقسط والخلال مصدر من قول القائل خاللت فلانا فأنا أخاله مخالة وخلالا ومنه قول امرئ القيس: صرفت الهوى عنهن من خشية الردى ولست بمقل للخلال ولا قالي وقال قتادة إن الله قد علم أن في الدنيا بيوعا وخلالا يتخالون بها فى الدنيا فينظر الرجل من يخالل وعلام يصاحب فإن كان لله فليداوم وإن كان لغير الله فسيقطع عنه قلت والمراد من هذا أنه يخبر تعالى أنه لا ينفع أحدا بيع ولا فدية ; ولو افتدى بماء الأرض ذهبا لو وجده ولا تنفعه صداقة أحد ولا شفاعة أحد إذا لقي الله كافرا قال الله تعالى " واتقوا يوما لا تجزي نفس عن نفس شيئا ولا يقبل منها عدل ولا تنفعها شفاعة ولا هم ينصرون " وقال تعالى " يا أيها الذين آمنوا أنفقوا مما رزقناكم من قبل أن يأتي يوم لا بيع فيه ولا خلة ولا شفاعة والكافرون هم الظالمون ".

The Command for Prayer and Charity

Allah orders His servants to obey Him, fulfill His rights and be kind to His creatures. He ordained the prayer, which affirms the worship of Allah alone, without partners, and to spend from the provisions that He has granted them, by paying the due Zakah, spending on relatives and being kind to all others. Establishing the prayer requires performing it on time, perfectly, preserving its act of bowing having humility during it, and preserving its prostrations. Allah has ordained spending from what He granted, in secret and public, so that the people save themselves,

مِّن قَبْلِ أَن يَأْتِىَ يَوْمٌ

(before the coming of a Day), the Day of Resurrection,

لاَّ بَيْعٌ فِيهِ وَلاَ خِلَـلٌ

(on which there will be neither mutual bargaining nor befriending.) on which no ransom will be accepted from anyone, if he seeks to buy himself. Allah said in another Ayah,

فَالْيَوْمَ لاَ يُؤْخَذُ مِنكُمْ فِدْيَةٌ وَلاَ مِنَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ

(So this Day no ransom shall be taken from you, nor of those who disbelieved.) 57:15 Allah said here,

وَلاَ خِلَـلٌ

(nor befriending.) Ibn Jarir commented, "Allah says that on that Day, there will be no friendship between friends that might save those deserving punishment from it. Rather, on that Day, there will be fairness and justice." Qatadah said, "Allah knows that in this life, there is mutual bargaining and there are friendships which people benefit from. A man chooses his friends and the reasons behind befriending them; if it was for Allah's sake, their friendship should be maintained, but if it was for other than Allah, their friendship is bound to be cutoff." I say that the meaning of this, is that Allah the Exalted is declaring that on that Day, no mutual bargaining or ransom will avail anyone, even if he ransoms himself with the earth's fill of gold if he could find that amount! No friendship or intercession shall avail one if he meets Allah while a disbeliever. Allah the Exalted said,

وَاتَّقُواْ يَوْمًا لاَّ تَجْزِى نَفْسٌ عَن نَّفْسٍ شَيْئًا وَلاَ يُقْبَلُ مِنْهَا عَدْلٌ وَلاَ تَنفَعُهَا شَفَـعَةٌ وَلاَ هُمْ يُنصَرُونَ

(And fear the Day when no person shall avail another, nor shall compensation be accepted from him, nor shall intercession be of use to him, nor shall they be helped.)2:123 and,

يأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ أَنفِقُواْ مِمَّا رَزَقْنَـكُم مِّن قَبْلِ أَن يَأْتِىَ يَوْمٌ لاَّ بَيْعٌ فِيهِ وَلاَ خُلَّةٌ وَلاَ شَفَـعَةٌ وَالْكَـفِرُونَ هُمُ الظَّـلِمُونَ

(O you believe! Spend of that with which We have provided for you, before a Day comes when there will be no bargaining, nor friendship, nor intercession. And it is the disbelievers who are the wrongdoers.)2:254

Tell My servants who believe that they establish prayers and expend of that which We have provided them secretly and openly before a day comes wherein there will be neither bargaining ransoming nor befriending that is when there will not be any friendship of any benefit this is the Day of Resurrection.

Said in the last sentence of verse 31 was: مِّن قَبْلِ أَن يَأْتِيَ يَوْمٌ لَّا بَيْعٌ فِيهِ وَلَا خِلَالٌ (be-fore there comes a day in which there is neither trade nor friendship). The word: خِلَال (khilal) used here can be taken as the plural form of خُلَّۃُ (khullah) which means selfless friendship. Then, this word could also be taken as a verbal noun of the derived form of مُفَاعلۃ (mufa` alah), such as qital, difa` etc. In that case, it would mean a friendship between two per-sons which is mutual and sincere. This sentence relates to both the injunctions of Salah and Sadaqah described above.

The core sense of the injunction is that now is the time to act. Allah Ta` ala has blessed you with the necessary strength and time to make your Salah. And if you have missed any of your Salah in the past due to negligence, make amends and do the qala' (replacement of missed Salah) for it. Similarly, your wealth is in your possession today and by spending it in the way of Allah you can make it work for you particularly for the good of your eternal life. But, lest you forget, the day is coming when both these options will be taken away from you. Neither will your bodies remain active enough to make your Salah, nor will you have any wealth in your possession which you could use to pay for rights wasted. And on that day, there is going to be no buying and selling, no transactions through which you could buy something, through which you could expiate for shortcomings and sins. And on that day, mutual friendships and personal relationships will not work as well. No friend, no matter how dear, will be able to carry the burden of sins committed by another, nor will he find any way to somehow remove the punishment due against him.

The word: یَوم (yowm: a day) obviously means the day of Resurrection (Al-Hashr) and the day of Doom (Al-Qiyamah). Then, it could also be said that it may be the day of one's death because all these signs start showing up immediately from the time of death when one is left without any ability to do anything, nor does wealth stay in the possession of its owner ready to leave the world of his experience behind.

Injunctions and Instructions

As for the statement that no friendship will work for anyone on the day of Qiyamah (31), it means what will not work there will be friend-ships based solely on material interests. But, those who maintain friend-ships and relationships for the sake of Allah and for what is done to serve the interests of His revealed religion will still work at that time as well, for the good servants of Allah who are accepted in His sight will intercede on behalf of others as it has been reported in many ahadith. And the Qur'an itself says: 'those who were friends to each other in the life of the world will turn into enemies to one another wishing to put the blame for their sin on a friend and absolve themselves of it, except those who fear Allah - 43:67.' This is so because there too the people of Taqwa, those who act right in fear of Allah, will be able to put in a good word for each other by way of helping them out.

In the third, fourth and fifth verses (32-34), after recounting the major blessings of Allah Ta’ ala, human beings have been invited to worship and obey Him. They are told that it is Allah alone who has created the heavens and the earth on which depends the emergence and survival of human existence. Then, He sent water down from the sky through which He created produce of many kinds so that they can serve as sustenance for them. The word: الثَّمَرات (ath-thamarat) is the plural form of ثَمَرَہ (thamarah) which is the end product of everything. Therefore, included under 'ath-thamarat' is everything which becomes for human beings their food, dress or a home to live in - because, the word: رِزَق (rizq) translated as 'sustenance' in this verse covers all human needs. (Mazhari)