Al-Qur'an Surah Al-Insan Verse 8

Mufti Taqi Usmani

and they give food, out of their love for Him (Allah), to the needy, and the orphan, and the captive,

Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran

and give food—despite their desire for it—to the poor, the orphan, and the captive,

Ruwwad Translation Center

and they give food, despite their love for it, to the needy, the orphans, and the captives,

A. J. Arberry

they give food, for the love of Him, to the needy, the orphan, the captive:

Abdul Haleem

they give food to the poor, the orphan, and the captive, though they love it themselves,

Abdul Majid Daryabadi

And they feed with food, for love of Him, the needy, and the orphan and the captive.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali

And they feed, for the love of Allah, the indigent, the orphan, and the captive,-

Abul Ala Maududi

those who, for the love of Him, feed the needy, and the orphan, and the captive,

Ahmed Ali

And feed the needy for the love of Him, and the orphans and the captives,

Ahmed Raza Khan

And out of His love, they give food to the needy, the orphan and the prisoner.

Ali Quli Qarai

For the love of Him, they feed the needy, the orphan and the prisoner,

Ali Ünal

They give food, however great be their need for it, with pleasure to the destitute, and to the orphan, and to the captive, (saying):

Amatul Rahman Omar

They give food for the love of Him to the indigent, the orphan and the captive.

English Literal

And they feed the food on (inspite of) its love/like (to it to) a poorest of poor/poor oppressed and an orphan ,and a captive/prisoner.

Faridul Haque

And out of His love, they give food to the needy, the orphan and the prisoner.

Hamid S. Aziz

And they give food out of love for Allah to the poor and the orphan and the captive:

Hilali & Khan

And they give food, inspite of their love for it (or for the love of Him), to Miskin (poor), the orphan, and the captive,

Maulana Mohammad Ali

And they give food, out of love for Him, to the poor and the orphan and the captive.

Mohammad Habib Shakir

And they give food out of love for Him to the poor and the orphan and the captive:

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall

And feed with food the needy wretch, the orphan and the prisoner, for love of Him,

Muhammad Sarwar

They feed the destitute, orphans, and captives for the love of God, saying,

Qaribullah & Darwish

who give food, for the love of Him to the needy, the orphan, and the captive,

Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

And they give food, inspite of their love for it, to the poor, the orphan and the captive,

Wahiduddin Khan

they give food, despite their love for it, to the poor and orphans and captives,

Talal Itani

And they feed, for the love of Him, the poor, and the orphan, and the captive.

Tafsir jalalayn

And they give food, despite [their] love of it, that is to say, [despite their love] of food and their craving for it, to the needy, the poor, and the orphan, who does not have a father, and the prisoner, meaning the one who has been rightly imprisoned.

Tafseer Ibn Kathir

وَيُطْعِمُونَ الطَّعَامَ عَلَى حُبِّهِ



And they give food, inspite of their love for it,

It has been said that this means the love of Allah, the Most High. In their view the pronoun refers to Allah.

However, the most apparent meaning is that the pronoun refers to the food. This would mean, they give food while they themselves love it and desire it.

This was stated by Mujahid and Muqatil, and it was the preferred opinion of Ibn Jarir.

This is similar to Allah's statement,

وَءَاتَى الْمَالَ عَلَى حُبِّهِ

And gives his wealth, in spite of love for it. (2;177)

Allah also says,

لَن تَنَالُواْ الْبِرَّ حَتَّى تُنفِقُواْ مِمَّا تُحِبُّونَ

By no means shall you attain Al-Birr unless you spend of that which you love. (3;92)

In the Sahih, there is a Hadith which states,

أَفْضَلُ الصَّدَقَةِ أَنْ تَصَدَّقَ وَأَنْتَ صَحِيحٌ شَحِيحٌ تَأْمُلُ الْغِنَى وَتَخْشَى الْفَقْر

The best charity is that which you give while you are healthy, covetous, hoping for wealth and fearing poverty.

This means in the condition of your love for wealth, your eagerness for it and your need for it.

Thus, Allah says,

وَيُطْعِمُونَ الطَّعَامَ عَلَى حُبِّه

مِسْكِينًا وَيَتِيمًا وَأَسِيرًا




And they give food, inspite of their love for it, to the poor, the orphan and the captive,

Concerning the poor person and the orphan, an explanation of them and their characteristics has already preceded.

In reference to the captive, Sa`id bin Jubayr, Al-Hasan and Ad-Dahhak all said,

"He is the captive among the people of the Qiblah (i.e., the Muslims)."

Ibn `Abbas said,

"At that time (when this Ayah was revealed) their (the Muslims') captives were idolators."

Proof for this is that on the day of Badr the Messenger of Allah commanded his Companions to treat the captives respectfully. They (the Companions) would give them preference over themselves when eating their meals.

Ikrimah said, "They (captives) are the slaves."

Ibn Jarir preferred this opinion since the Ayah generally refers to both the Muslim and the idolators.

Sa`id bin Jubayr, `Ata', Al-Hasan and Qatadah all made similar statements.

The Messenger of Allah advised treating servants well in more than one Hadith. This held such importance with him that the last statement of advice that he gave (before dying) was his saying,

الصَّلَةَ وَمَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُم

The prayer (As-Salah) and what your right hand possesses (slaves).

Mujahid said,

"He (the captive) is the prisoner."

This means that these (righteous) people give food to others even though they themselves desire it and love it, saying at the same time