Piety does not lie in turning your face to East or West: Piety lies in believing in God, the Last Day and the angels, the Scriptures and the prophets, and disbursing your wealth out of love for God among your kin and the orphans, the wayfarers and mendicants, freeing the slaves, observing your devotional obligations, and in paying the zakat and fulfilling a pledge you have given, and being patient in hardship, adversity, and times of peril. These are the men who affirm the truth, and they are those who follow the straight path.
177
Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : (it is not righteousness) it is not all of righteousness; it is also said that (it is not righteousness) means: it is not faith (that ye merely turn your faces) in prayer (to the east) towards mecca (and the west) towards jerusalem; (but righteous is) but faith amounts to agreeing with (he who believeth in allah) and it is also said: the faithful is he who believes in allah (and the last day) in resurrection after death (and the angels) all the angels (and the scripture) all the revealed books (and the prophets) and all the prophets; allah then mentions the obligated duties after mentioning faith, saying: (and giveth his wealth for love of him) righteousness after declaring one's faith is that one gives of one's wealth, despite the fact that one loves and desires it and has only a little of it, (to kinsfolk) relatives (and to orphans) orphans of the believers (and the needy) who shy away from asking for assistance (and the wayfarer) the passer-by, the guest (and to those who ask) you to give them from your wealth, (and to set slaves free) those who made a contract to pay for their freedom and those who fight in the way of allah. after mentioning the obligated duties, allah mentions the different legal prescriptions, saying: (and observeth proper worship) he says: righteousness, after fulfilling the obligated duties, is to perfect the performance of the five daily prayers (and payeth the poor-due) give the poor what is due to them as well as similar things. (and those who keep their treaty) those who fulfil the pledges that are between them and their lord or between them and other people (when they make one, and the patient in tribulation) i.e. fear, affliction and hardship (and adversity) illness, pain and hunger (and time of stress) upon engagement in fighting. (such are they who are sincere) who have fulfilled their pledges. (and such are the god fearing) who refrain from breaking their pledges.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : it is not piety, that you turn your faces, in prayer, to the east and to the west. this was revealed in response to the claim made by the jews and the christians to this effect. true piety, that is, the pious person (al-birr, is also read al-barr, in the sense of al-bārr [‘the dutiful person’]) is [that of] the one who believes in god and the last day and the angels and the book, that is, the scriptures, and the prophets, and who gives of his substance, however, despite [it being], cherished, by him, to kinsmen and orphans and the needy and the traveller and beggars, and for, the setting free of, slaves, both the captive and the one to be manumitted by contract; and who observes prayer and pays the alms, that are obligatory, and what was [given] before [alms were made obligatory], in the way of charity; and those who fulfil their covenant when they have engaged in a covenant, with god or with others, those who endure with fortitude (al-sābirīna is the accusative of laudation) misfortune (al-ba’sā’ is abject poverty), hardship, illness, and peril, at the height of a battle in the way of god; these, described in the way mentioned, are the ones who are truthful, in their faith and in their claims to piety, and these are the ones who are fearful, of god.
Ali ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi
تفسير : (it is not righteousness that ye turn your faces to the east and the west…) [2:177].
said qatadah: “it was mentioned to us that a man asked the prophet, allah bless him and give him peace, about righteousness, and as an answer allah, exalted is he, revealed this verse”. he continued: “before the obligatory duties were prescribed, a man could enter paradise by his mere utterance of the formula of testification: 'there is no god save allah and muhammad is his slave and messenger', if he died believing in it. and so allah, exalted is he, revealed this verse”.
Sahl al-Tustari
تفسير : …those who show fortitude in misfortune and hardship…[sahl said]this means that to begin with [they show fortitude] in upholding the sunna; and in hardship means in avoiding that which is forbidden, both outwardly and inwardly, and in eating [only] that which is legitimate. the outward meaning of misfortune (baʾsāʾ) is poverty (faqr), and that of hardship (ḍarrāʾ) is adversity (shidda); and times of peril, that is, in battle.he was asked about his words:
