Hal Atā: Those Who Fed the Needy, the Orphan and the Captive

Qur'an 76:8 · Al-Insān

وَيُطْعِمُونَ ٱلطَّعَامَ عَلَىٰ حُبِّهِۦ مِسْكِينًا وَيَتِيمًا وَأَسِيرًا

(76:8) For the love of Him, they feed the needy, the orphan and the prisoner,

The question

Was Sūrat al-Insān revealed in Medina about ʿAlī, Fāṭimah, al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, or is it an early Meccan sūrah?

Views answered: the report from Ibn ʿAbbās that it was revealed in Mecca, the story of the Abyssinian man as its cause, exegetes who hold it is among the earliest Meccan sūrahs

Al-Mizan's argument

Al-Mizan reads verses 5–22 as the account of a real event: the righteous who fulfilled their vow and fed the needy, the orphan and the captive. Since Muslims took captives only after the migration, the verses were revealed in Medina, as the Shia narrations agree and many Sunni narrations confirm. The narrations follow: lists of the order of revelation, al-Ḥasan's statement that it was revealed about ʿAlī and Fāṭimah, Ibn ʿAbbās on the illness of al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn and the three days of fasting, and Imam ʿAlī's appeal to these verses before the Companions and Abū Bakr. The story of the Abyssinian man coincided with the revelation but did not cause it; the report that it is Meccan contradicts the many reports from Ibn ʿAbbās himself. Finally he answers the exegetes who call it one of the earliest Meccan sūrahs: vivid descriptions of paradise and hell, and the command to be patient, are found in Medinan sūrahs too.

Reading guide

Each part opens the commentary at that point.

Read the whole commentary on 76:8 →

Hal Atā: Those Who Fed the Needy, the Orphan and the Captive ​

The question ​

Al-Mizan's argument ​

Reading guide ​

Hal Atā: Those Who Fed the Needy, the Orphan and the Captive

The question

Al-Mizan's argument

Reading guide