Al-'Adiyat · Makki · ayah 8 of 11

Al-'Adiyat 100:8

وَإِنَّهُۥ لِحُبِّ ٱلْخَيْرِ لَشَدِيدٌ

“And indeed he is, in love of wealth, intense.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The human heart settles on wealth like a kneeling camel that will not rise, strong and tireless for it, and tight-fisted because of it.

A reflection

The camel that will not get up

A four-year-old falls asleep clutching a plastic dinosaur. His mother tries gently to slide it out of his hand so he will not roll onto it. Even in deep sleep, his fingers tighten. He will not let go.

The ayah uses three words that each carry a picture. Ḥubb, love, comes from a root with an unusual image. The Arabs said a camel aḥabba when it knelt down and refused to get up, however hard it was urged. One lexicon derives love itself from this: the heart settling in one place and refusing to leave. That derivation is one view, but it is vivid.

Al-khayr, 'the good', here means wealth. The sources agree on this, and the Quran uses the word the same way elsewhere: 'if he leaves behind khayr', meaning property (2:180). Why call money 'good'? The sources answer that it is named by what people take it to be. Its root means what every heart leans towards and would choose. Wealth is 'good' in the eyes of those who want it. On the Day, some of it will turn out to be evil for its owner.

Shadīd comes from a root whose first picture is shadd: tying a knot tight. From it come strength, firmness and intensity. It was also used, established in the lexicons, for a man who grips his money: tight-fisted. One commentator explains that the miser is shadīd either because he is held back from generosity, or because he has tied his purse so tight that nothing comes out.

So the ayah paints a heart that has knelt down beside wealth and will not rise, holding on with a knot pulled tight. The sources give two main readings: he is intensely in love with wealth, or he is stingy because of that love. One scholar says both are right.

The child's grip on his dinosaur is sweet, because he is four. The same grip in an adult, on money, is what this ayah warns about. It is worth asking gently: what is my hand closed around, even in my sleep?

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.