An-Nisa · Madani · ayah 10 of 176

An-Nisa 4:10

إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ يَأْكُلُونَ أَمْوَٰلَ ٱلْيَتَـٰمَىٰ ظُلْمًا إِنَّمَا يَأْكُلُونَ فِى بُطُونِهِمْ نَارًا ۖ وَسَيَصْلَوْنَ سَعِيرًا

“Indeed, those who devour the property of orphans unjustly are only consuming into their bellies fire. And they will be burned in a Blaze [i.e., Hellfire].”

Saheeh International

Essence

Whatever is taken unjustly from an orphan is fire already, swallowed now and felt later, because the weakest have the strongest Defender.

A reflection

What you eat is what it becomes

A man lived for twenty years in a house partly bought with his orphaned nephew's money. In old age he admits something to his son. He never once slept well in it. Every room was comfortable. None of it was restful.

The ayah describes the unjust guardian with a startling image. They are only eating fire into their bellies. The commentators explain the figure of speech. What leads to fire is called fire, by what it will become. The Quran does the same elsewhere, when a prisoner dreams he is pressing wine, meaning grapes (12:36). The grapes are already, in a sense, the wine.

One classical commentator records two readings. Some took the image literally, of the Hereafter. Others, whom a later scholar preferred, took it as a way of saying that consuming an orphan's wealth is bound to fire. Either way, the image is meant to be felt.

Why mention bellies, when all eating happens in the belly? The commentators answer that it is for emphasis, like 'they say with their mouths' (3:167). It paints the act so the listener cannot look away. One adds that it means they fill their bellies, not merely take a little.

The pleasure is real and immediate: a meal, a house, a holiday. The fire is real too, only delayed. The ayah collapses the delay, so you can see what you are swallowing.

Before you enjoy anything you are not sure is yours, ask the question this ayah asks. What will this become?

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.