Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 188 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:188

وَلَا تَأْكُلُوٓا۟ أَمْوَٰلَكُم بَيْنَكُم بِٱلْبَـٰطِلِ وَتُدْلُوا۟ بِهَآ إِلَى ٱلْحُكَّامِ لِتَأْكُلُوا۟ فَرِيقًا مِّنْ أَمْوَٰلِ ٱلنَّاسِ بِٱلْإِثْمِ وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ

“And do not consume one another's wealth unjustly or send it [in bribery] to the rulers in order that [they might aid] you [to] consume a portion of the wealth of the people in sin, while you know [it is unlawful].”

Saheeh International

Essence

A bribe or a false claim is a bucket let down into someone else's well; no verdict makes what it brings up yours.

A reflection

A bucket let down into someone else's well

In a city where a market-stall licence takes a year, a man learns of a quicker route. An envelope handed to the clerk's brother makes it take a week. Everyone calls it the fee.

'Do not consume one another's wealth wrongfully, nor let it down to the authorities, to consume a portion of people's wealth sinfully, while you know'.

The verb for 'let it down', tudlū, comes from the bucket. One lexicon says the root means drawing near to a thing easily and gently. Adlā was to let the bucket down into the well, so that it came up full. The image is exact. A bribe is rarely shouted. It is lowered quietly, with a soft hand, so that something comes back up.

Classical readers took the phrase two ways. Some read it as taking a false claim to a judge, lowering your argument into the court. Others read it as lowering a gift to a corrupt official. One classical writer says the ayah covers both. Either way, the bucket goes down into someone else's well.

Notice the opening phrase too: 'your wealth among yourselves'. The ayah does not say 'other people's wealth'. An early commentator explains that Allah made taking your brother's wealth like taking your own. He compares it to 'do not kill yourselves' (4:29). Take from one member of a community, and the whole community bleeds.

The man with the licence does not feel like a thief. He paid, after all. But the queue he jumped was made of people. Some of them could not afford the envelope. The ayah asks you to see the faces waiting behind the 'fee'.

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.