Translation of the Meanings of the Noble Qur'an - English Translation - Dr. Waleed Bleyhesh Omary * - Translations’ Index
Translation of the meanings Ayah: (31) Surah: Al-A‘rāf
۞ يَٰبَنِيٓ ءَادَمَ خُذُواْ زِينَتَكُمۡ عِندَ كُلِّ مَسۡجِدٖ وَكُلُواْ وَٱشۡرَبُواْ وَلَا تُسۡرِفُوٓاْۚ إِنَّهُۥ لَا يُحِبُّ ٱلۡمُسۡرِفِينَ
(31) [1602]Children of Adam! Take your adornment at every place of prostration; eat and drink[1603] but do not squander—He likes not the squanderers.
[1602] The morally degrading, religiously defiling issue of nudity, which arouses the beast in man and runs contrary to holiness, is being implicated here. As for the reason for revelation of this aya Ibn ʿAbbās says: “Women used to circumambulate around the Kaʿbah ˹stark˺ naked and ask: “Who would lend me a cover for circumambulation (tiṭwāf)?” They would then cover with it their private parts and say ˹in poetry˺: “Today some or all of it is exposed; whatever is exposed of it I do not grant permission to it!” Then this aya was sent down: “…take your adornment at every place of worship”” (Muslim: 3028). Ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbalī (Fatḥ al-Bārī: 2/335) said: “It was sent down because the Associators used to circumambulate around the Kaʿbah ˹stark˺ naked. Ibn ʿAbbās’s narration is authentic and all earlier exegetes are unanimous about it”. Abū Hurayrah (رضي الله عنه) said that Abū Bakr (رضي الله عنه) sent him - during the pilgrimage mission that the Prophet (ﷺ) appointed him as head of - and bade him announce to people that: “No Associator shall perform hajj after this year and no naked person shall circumambulate around the Kaʿbah” (al-Bukhārī: 1622, Muslim: 1347).
God commanded that people ‘take adornment’ and not merely cover their nakedness by way of indicating that people should wear their best to Prayers. It is reported that there was one among our rightly-guided predecessors who used to have a luxuriantly expensive garment to wear for Prayer, when asked he said: “My Lord has the most right from me to look my best for Prayer”. It is well-known that Allah likes to see the mark of His Bounty on His servants, especially when they stand in front of Him; the best way to do so is by wearing one’s best raiment that Allah bestowed on Him both outer (the garment) and inner (Mindfulness) (cf. Ibn Taymiyyah, al-Fatāwā al-Kubrā, 5/326, Ibn al-Qayyim, Madārij al-Sālikīn, 2/363). Ibn Masʿūd (رضي الله عنه) narrated that the Messenger (ﷺ) said: “None who has a mote’s measure of arrogance will enter Paradise”. A man remarked: “One likes his clothing and footwear to look good!” He ˹the Messenger (ﷺ)˺ replied: “Allah is Beautiful and loves beauty! ‘Arrogance’ is to disdainfully dismiss what is rightful and to regard other people with contempt”” (Muslim: 91).
[1603] In their heathen days they used to even forbid certain types of food, or that no food should enter Makkah besides what was already available therein and only eat from it during the time of pilgrimage (cf. al-Ṭabarī, al-Zamakhsharī, Ibn ʿĀshūr). These two practices bidding what is unlawful, nudity, and forbidding what is lawful, food consumption, are indicative of how far straying the Arab community was from God’s Path and how eaten up by Satan they were. God only bids what is equitable (qisṭ): moderation between miserliness and wastefulness.
God commanded that people ‘take adornment’ and not merely cover their nakedness by way of indicating that people should wear their best to Prayers. It is reported that there was one among our rightly-guided predecessors who used to have a luxuriantly expensive garment to wear for Prayer, when asked he said: “My Lord has the most right from me to look my best for Prayer”. It is well-known that Allah likes to see the mark of His Bounty on His servants, especially when they stand in front of Him; the best way to do so is by wearing one’s best raiment that Allah bestowed on Him both outer (the garment) and inner (Mindfulness) (cf. Ibn Taymiyyah, al-Fatāwā al-Kubrā, 5/326, Ibn al-Qayyim, Madārij al-Sālikīn, 2/363). Ibn Masʿūd (رضي الله عنه) narrated that the Messenger (ﷺ) said: “None who has a mote’s measure of arrogance will enter Paradise”. A man remarked: “One likes his clothing and footwear to look good!” He ˹the Messenger (ﷺ)˺ replied: “Allah is Beautiful and loves beauty! ‘Arrogance’ is to disdainfully dismiss what is rightful and to regard other people with contempt”” (Muslim: 91).
[1603] In their heathen days they used to even forbid certain types of food, or that no food should enter Makkah besides what was already available therein and only eat from it during the time of pilgrimage (cf. al-Ṭabarī, al-Zamakhsharī, Ibn ʿĀshūr). These two practices bidding what is unlawful, nudity, and forbidding what is lawful, food consumption, are indicative of how far straying the Arab community was from God’s Path and how eaten up by Satan they were. God only bids what is equitable (qisṭ): moderation between miserliness and wastefulness.
Arabic explanations of the Qur’an:
Translation of the meanings Ayah: (31) Surah: Al-A‘rāf
Translation of the Meanings of the Noble Qur'an - English Translation - Dr. Waleed Bleyhesh Omary - Translations’ Index
Translation of the meanings of the Noble Qur’an into English - in progress - translated by Dr. Walid Bleihesh Al-Omari.