Tafseer of Almsgiving · Al-Maa'un · 107:5
[But] who are heedless of their prayer -
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Sakan ibn Nāfiʿ al-Bāhilī related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Khalaf ibn Hawshab, on the authority of Ṭalḥa ibn Muṣarrif, on the authority of Muṣʿab ibn Saʿd, who said: I asked my father: "What do you think about the word of Allah, the Almighty and Exalted: الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنْ صَلاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَن — does this mean abandoning it?" He answered: "No, but delaying it past its time."
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Hishām al-Dastawāʾī, saying: ʿĀṣim ibn Bahdala related to us, on the authority of Muṣʿab ibn Saʿd, who said: I asked Saʿd: " الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنْ صَلاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ — is this the thoughts one of us has during the prayer?" He said: "No, but the heedlessness (sāhūn) is that one delays the prayer past its time."
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of Muṣʿab ibn Saʿd, concerning الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنْ صَلاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ : he said: "The heedlessness (al-sahw) is: leaving the prayer past its time."
ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī related to us, saying: ʿImrān ibn Tammām al-Bunānī related to us, saying: Abū Jamra al-Ḍubaʿī — Naṣr ibn ʿImrān — related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning the word: الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنْ صَلاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ , he said: "Those who delay it past its time."
And Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Ibn Abzā, concerning فَوَيْلٌ لِلْمُصَلِّينَ * الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنْ صَلاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ : he said: "Those who delay the obligatory prayer (al-ṣalāh al-maktūba) until its time has passed, or past its time."
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Abū al-Ḍuḥā, on the authority of Masrūq, concerning الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنْ صَلاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ : he said: "Leaving it past its time."
Abū al-Sāʾib related to me, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Muslim, on the authority of Masrūq, concerning the word الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنْ صَلاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ : he said: "Neglecting its appointed time."
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Abū al-Ḍuḥā, concerning عَنْ صَلاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ : he said: "Leaving the obligatory prayer past its time."
Ibn al-Barqī related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Maryam related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Ayyūb related to us, saying: Ibn Zuḥr informed me, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Muslim ibn Ṣubayḥ, concerning عَنْ صَلاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَن : "Those who neglect it past its time."
But others said: No, what is meant thereby is that they leave it entirely and do not perform the prayer.
* Mention of those who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning the word: فَوَيْلٌ لِلْمُصَلِّينَ * الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنْ صَلاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ — "They are the hypocrites (al-munāfiqūn); they displayed their prayer to people when they were present, but left it off when they were absent; and they withheld borrowed tools from others out of hatred toward them — that is the maʿūn."
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنْ صَلاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ — he said: "They are the hypocrites; they leave the prayer off in secret and pray it in public."
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning عَنْ صَلاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ : he said: "Leaving it entirely."
Others said: No, what is meant thereby is that they take the prayer lightly, are negligent in it, and are distracted from it.
* Mention of those who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us — and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word عَنْ صَلاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ : he said: "They are distracted (lāhūn)."
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنْ صَلاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ : "heedless (ghāfilūn)."
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning عَنْ صَلاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَن : he said: "Negligent in it; it does not matter to him whether he has prayed or has not prayed."
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning the word الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنْ صَلاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ : "They pray, but the prayer is not their concern" — that is, it is all the same to him.
Abū al-Sāʾib related to me, saying: Ibn Fuḍayl related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنْ صَلاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ : he said: "They take it lightly."
The most correct view concerning this, in my judgment, is that by (sāhūn) is meant: those who are distracted, negligent in it, and diverted from it — and in this being distracted and occupied with something else lies both the sometimes neglecting of the prayer and the neglecting of its time. And if that is so, this confirms thereby both the word of him who said that what is meant is leaving its time, and the word of him who said that what is meant is leaving it entirely — because of what I have mentioned, namely that being distracted from the prayer encompasses the meanings that I have named.
From the Prophet ﷺ two reports have been transmitted that confirm the correctness of what we have said concerning this:
The first of them: what Zakariyyā ibn Abān al-Miṣrī related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ṭāriq related to us, saying: ʿIkrima ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿUmayr related to us, on the authority of Muṣʿab ibn Saʿd, on the authority of Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, who said: I asked the Prophet ﷺ about الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنْ صَلاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ . He said: "They are those who delay the prayer past its time."
The second of them: what Abū Kurayb related to me, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Hishām related to us, on the authority of Shaybān al-Naḥwī, on the authority of Jābir al-Juʿfī, saying: A man related to me, on the authority of Abū Burza al-Aslamī, who said: The Prophet ﷺ said: "When this verse was sent down: الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنْ صَلاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ — Allāhu akbar! This is better for you than if each of you were given the like of the entire world. He is the one who, when he prays, does not hope for the reward of his prayer, and when he leaves it off, does not fear his Lord."
Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-Barqī related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Abī Salama related to us, saying: I heard ʿUmar ibn Sulaymān relate, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Dīnār, that he said: "Praise be to Allah Who said: الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنْ صَلاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ ." And both meanings that I have mentioned in the two reports that we have transmitted from the Prophet ﷺ are possible as the meaning of being distracted from the prayer.
