The 365 · Verses · Day 236 · Justice
Qur'an 6:152
وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا۟ مَالَ ٱلْيَتِيمِ إِلَّا بِٱلَّتِى هِىَ أَحْسَنُ حَتَّىٰ يَبْلُغَ أَشُدَّهُۥ ۖ وَأَوْفُوا۟ ٱلْكَيْلَ وَٱلْمِيزَانَ بِٱلْقِسْطِ ۖ لَا نُكَلِّفُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا ۖ وَإِذَا قُلْتُمْ فَٱعْدِلُوا۟ وَلَوْ كَانَ ذَا قُرْبَىٰ ۖ وَبِعَهْدِ ٱللَّهِ أَوْفُوا۟ ۚ ذَٰلِكُمْ وَصَّىٰكُم بِهِۦ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ
“Stay well away from the property of orphans, except with the best intentions, until they come of age; give full measure and weight, according to justice; We do not burden any soul with more than it can bear; when you speak, be just, even if it concerns a relative; keep any promises you make in God's name. This is what He commands you to do, so that you may take heed. (Quran 6:152)”
Svenska: Rör inte den föräldralöses egendom annat än på bästa sätt, till dess han har nått mogen ålder; och mät och väg med fullt mått och full vikt enligt rättvisans krav. (Koranen 6:152)
A reflection to carry
Read 6:152 slowly. Four commands in one verse. Wa lā taqrabū māla al-yatīm illā bi-llatī hiya aḥsan: do not approach the orphan's wealth except in the best way. Wa awfū al-kayla wa al-mīzāna bi-l-qisṭ: give full measure and weight by qisṭ. Wa idhā qultum fa-ʿdilū wa law kāna dhā qurbā: when you speak, be just, even about a close relative. Wa bi-ʿahdi Allāhi awfū: and fulfill the covenant of Allah. Allah braided four arenas of justice into one verse: orphans, commerce, speech, and covenant. He is teaching that ʿadl is one quality applied in many rooms. The believer who is just with money but unjust with his tongue is fooling himself. The believer who is just with his customers but unjust with the orphan he was made guardian of is fooling himself. The believer who keeps his word in business but breaks his promises to Allah is fooling himself. Pull the thread of ʿadl through every room of your life, or it will not hold in any of them. Ya akhī, ya ukhtī, the verse closes 'dhālikum waṣṣākum bihi laʿallakum tadhakkarūn,' this is what He instructed you with, so that you may take heed. Allah is calling for heed. Not just compliance. Heed.
Read the longer reflection
Yā Rabb, You braided four ʿadl-commands into one verse, as if to teach me that justice is not a department of my life; it is a quality that must run through every department. The orphan's wealth, the measure and the scale, the speech about a relative, the promise made in Your name. All four governed by qisṭ. All four under Your eye. Ya Allāh, I have not been just in every room. I have been careful in the marketplace but careless in my tongue about a cousin. I have kept my promises to clients but let lapse the promises I made to You in private duʿā. I have given full measure to a stranger but treated the orphan-funds in my charge (or the trust funds in my company) with less care than I treat my own. Forgive me, ya Rabb. Pull the thread of ʿadl through every room. The room of business. The room of family conversation. The room of relative-conflict. The room of secret duʿā-promises to You. The room where I am someone's guardian over their interests. Let none of the rooms be exempt. And ya Allāh, You closed the verse with 'laʿallakum tadhakkarūn,' so that you may heed. Make me one of those who heed. Not just one who knows; one who heeds. There is a difference, and You named it. Place me with the heeders. Āmīn ya ʿAlīm.
A verse, a healing, and a Sunnah, every morning.
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