Ash-Shu'ara · Makki · ayah 181 of 227

Ash-Shu'ara 26:181

۞ أَوْفُوا۟ ٱلْكَيْلَ وَلَا تَكُونُوا۟ مِنَ ٱلْمُخْسِرِينَ

“Give full measure and do not be of those who cause loss.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Fill the measure you hand to others, and refuse to be the kind of person whose gain is always someone else's quiet loss.

A reflection

Every label is a promise to a stranger

The verb Shuʿayb uses is awfū: fill it, complete it. The lexicons give its root a single picture. A measure was wāfin when nothing was missing from it. A silver coin was wāfin when it weighed its full weight. The same root names keeping a promise, wafāʾ: finishing what you pledged.

The root holds one more picture. A man awfā on a hill when he reached its very top and could see all around. A full measure is like that: filled to the top, with no hollow hidden below the rim.

That shared root says something easily missed. A measure is a promise. When a trader lifts a scoop and calls it full, he is giving his word. When the grain falls short, he has not only taken grain. He has broken his word.

Today the promise is printed. Picture a woman who keeps bees and sells honey from her kitchen table. Each jar says 340g. She fills them one by one, holding each up to the light to check the line. She will never meet most of the people who buy them. Her word reaches them anyway, stuck to the side of a jar.

Every label, invoice, timesheet and price tag is that kind of promise. It is given to someone you may never see. Nobody shakes hands over it. That makes it easier to break, and more important to keep.

So the command to fill the measure is not only about grain. It is about being a person whose stated amount is the true amount. 'One kilo', 'one hour', 'brand new', 'as described'. Shuʿayb asks for all of them to be wāfin, nothing missing.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.