Tafseer of The Dawn · Al-Fajr · 89:18
And you do not encourage one another to feed the poor.
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.
وَلا تَحَاضُّونَ عَلَى طَعَامِ الْمِسْكِينِ ("And you do not urge one another to feed the needy").
The Qurʾān reciters differed in the recitation of this. Abū Jaʿfar of the people of Medina and the majority of the reciters of Kūfa read it: بَل لا تُكْرِمُونَ الْيَتِيمَ وَلا تَحَاضُّونَ likewise with the tāʾ, with the fatḥa upon it, and with the retention of the alif in it, with the meaning: and you do not urge one another to feed the needy. And some of the reciters of Mecca and the majority of the reciters of Medina read it with the tāʾ and the fatḥa upon it and with the omission of the alif: وَلا تَحُضُّونَ , with the meaning: and you do not command the feeding of the needy. And the majority of the reciters of Baṣra read it: يَحُضُّونَ with the yāʾ and with the omission of the alif, with the meaning: and the speakers do not honor — when his Lord tries him and then honors him and bestows favors upon him, [so that] he says: "my Lord has honored me," and when He restricts his provision for him [he says]: "my Lord has humiliated me" — the orphan, ولا يحضون على طعام المسكين ("and they do not urge to feed the needy"). And likewise those of Baṣra whom we have mentioned read: يُكْرِمُونَ , and the remaining verbs with it, with the yāʾ, in the form of a report about those whom I have mentioned. And it is related from some of them that he read: تُحاضُّونَ with the tāʾ and the ḍamma upon it and with the retention of the alif, with the meaning: and you do not watch over [him].
The correct view concerning this, in my judgment, is that these are well-known recitations among the reciters of the regions — I mean: the three recitations — which are sound in meaning; with whichever of those [recitations] the reciter recites, he has attained what is correct.
