The five ritual prayers occupy a central — and, perhaps, the most visible — place in the religion of Islam. Muslims claim that by praying they are simply implementing God’s command to “uphold the salaat.” However, the implementation details of this specialized ritual are not found in the Qur’an. Muslims agree, here, and then argue that it is precisely because the Qur’an does not contain the implementation details of their ritual that they need their non-Qur’anic literature. But is it possible that the Qur’an does not contain the details on how to perform this specialized ritual prayer because it was invented by the architects of the religion of Islam? Could it be that the Qur’an means something else by the command to “uphold the salaat?” Muslims understand salaat to mean a highly specialized ritual performed at specific times in a day while facing the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca. The Qur’an, however, has a very different view of this term.
This article is an excerpt from my book “Will You Not Reason?” which can be downloaded for free here. I give credit to Brother Gerrans for a lot of ideas presented in this work. You can read and download his entire work for free. All translations used in this article are from The Qur’an: A Complete Revelation.
Salaat was enjoined upon all the people of the Writ (those communities given God’s scriptures). The children of Israel and Christians were commanded to uphold the salaat long before the Muslims ever were. God commanded Moses to uphold the salaat in His first meeting with him.
“I am God. There is no god save I, so serve thou Me; and uphold thou the duty (l-salata) for My remembrance:
(20:14)“Go thou and thy brother with My proofs — and flag not in My remembrance —
(20:42)
The Qur’an details Moses’ first encounter with God in two other places and nowhere are the details of a supposed ritual present. Whatever salaat was, the context assumes that Moses knew what it meant. This is evidence that salaat cannot mean a specialized ritual prayer as practiced by Muslims.
The term salaat is mentioned in regards to the messenger Shuʿayb who was clearly warning his community:
And: “O my people: fulfil the measure and the balance with equity, and deprive not men of their possessions, and commit not evil in the earth, working corruption.
“The remainder of God is better for you, if you be believers. And I am not a custodian over you.”
They said: “O Shuʿayb: does thy duty command thee that we leave what our fathers served, or that we do not with our wealth what we will? Thou art the clement, the right-minded!”
(11:85-87)
Yusuf Ali — a traditionalist translator — translates 11:87 as:
They said: “O Shu’aib! Does thy (religion of) prayer command thee that we leave off the worship which our fathers practiced, or that we leave off doing what we like with our property? truly, thou art the one that forbeareth with faults and is right-minded!” (11:87)
Yusuf Ali is aware that the default translation of salaat as ritual prayer ill fits the context and, therefore, adds religion of in brackets in an attempt to paper over this glaring problem. But even then, how can a “religion of prayer” command anyone to warn others? It does not make sense. It is clear from the context that Shuʿayb was warning his people and not performing a ritual prayer. Thus, salaat clearly means something else. Is it possible that salaat — just like islam, hadith or sunnah — is a general term which was corrupted later by the architects of the religion of Islam to mean something highly specific?
After analyzing all instances of salaat in the Qur’an and their surrounding contexts, Sam Gerrans was able to decipher its lost meaning: salaat is an abstract term which simply means duty. The specifics of this duty vary depending upon the surrounding context. It can mean fearing God, remembering God, glorifying God, reciting the Qur’an, obeying God and the Messenger, not hindering the Messenger, feeding the needy etc. In short, salaat, according to the Qur’an, is the duty to implement certain context-dependent actions that we find in the Qur’an. To claim that salaat means a ritual prayer in all and every case leads to absurdities and inconsistencies. Yusuf Ali’s translation follows:
Seest thou one who denies the Judgment (to come)?
Then such is the (man) who repulses the orphan (with harshness),
And encourages not the feeding of the indigent.
So woe to the worshippers
Who are neglectful of their prayers,
Those who (want but) to be seen (of men),
But refuse (to supply) (even) neighbourly needs.
(107:1-7)
If we consider the above chapter with a Muslim’s assumption that salaat is a ritual prayer instead of duty then we come away with the erroneous understanding that God is condemning those who do not pray. However, if we understand, correctly, that salaat means duty, we see that God is condemning those who do not perform their duty of helping the needy i.e. those who make show and refuses small things. They are heedless of their duty to help the unfortunate and the needy and are miserly with what God has bestowed upon them.
Hast thou seen him who denies the Doctrine?
That is he who repels the fatherless
And encourages not the feeding of the needy.
Then woe to the performers of duty: —
Those who are of their duty heedless;
Those who make show
And refuse small things!
(107:1-7)
What does yusalli mean?
Perhaps the biggest problem with the idea that the salaat means a ritual prayer is that the Qur’an says God performs the salaat for the believers. At this juncture, we see traditional translators abandon the value of salaat as a ritual prayer entirely; it is not befitting for God to perform a ritual prayer — Glory be unto Him! Both of the following verses feature the same Arabic word yusalli but Yusuf Ali is forced to translate it differently due to his preconceived notions about salaat meaning ritual prayer.
He it is Who sends blessings (yusalli) on you, as do His angels, that He may bring you out from the depths of Darkness into Light: and He is Full of Mercy to the Believers.
(33:43)
While he was standing in prayer (yusalli) in the chamber, the angels called unto him: “Allah doth give thee glad tidings of Yahya, witnessing the truth of a Word from Allah, and (be besides) noble, chaste, and a prophet, — of the (goodly) company of the righteous.”
(3:39)
I strongly encourage Arabic readers to read the text. In the above two verses, the same word yusalli is used; which literally means he does salaat. How strange, then, that Yusuf Ali translates it as blessings in one and prayer in another. He has to abandon his value of salaat as prayer in reference to God but defaults to it again when it refers to a man. Let us analyze verse 33:43 carefully to see what it really means. God is doing His duty for the believers by bringing them “out of darkness into the light.”
O you who heed warning: remember God with much remembrance,
And give glory to Him morning and evening.
He it is that performs the duty for you, as do His angels, that He might bring you out of darkness into the light; and He is merciful to the believers.
(33:43)
He it is that sends down to His servant clear proofs, that He might bring you out of darkness into the light; and God is to you kind and merciful.
(57:9)
A messenger reciting to you the manifest proofs of God, that He might bring forth those who heed warning and do righteous deeds out of darkness into the light. And whoso believes in God and works righteousness — He will make him enter gardens beneath which rivers flow, they abiding eternally therein forever. God has made good for him his provision. (65:11)
It is clear from the verses above that God is performing His duty to bring believers from the darkness into light; He is helping them on the path towards salvation. This is the plain reading of the Qur’an. The following are verses grouped together according to the type of duty.
Serve God alone
And when his Lord tried Abraham with words and he fulfilled them, He said: “I will make thee a leader for mankind.” Said he: “And of my progeny?” He said: “My covenant does not reach the wrongdoers.”
And when We made the house a meeting place for mankind, and a place of security — and make from the station of Abraham a place of duty — and We made a covenant with Abraham and Ishmael: “Purify My house for those who walk around, and those who remain, and the lowly and the submitting.”
(2:124-125)Say thou: “As for me, my Lord has guided me to a straight path, a right doctrine, the creed of Abraham, inclining to truth; and he was not of the idolaters.”
Say thou: “My duty and my penance and my living and my dying are for God, the Lord of All Creation.
“He has no partner, and that have I been commanded; and I am the first of those submitting.”
Say thou: “Is it other than God I should desire as Lord when He is Lord of all things?” And every soul earns not save for itself, and no bearer bears the burden of another; then to your Lord is your return, and He will inform you of that wherein you differed.
And He it is that made you the successors of the earth, and raised some of you above others in degree, that He might try you by what He has given you. Thy Lord is swift in retribution; and He is forgiving and merciful.
(6:161-165)And they made equals to God, that they might lead astray from His path. Say thou: “Enjoy yourselves, for your journey’s end is the Fire.”
Say thou to My servants who heed warning, that they uphold the duty, and spend of what We have provided them, secretly and openly, before there comes a day wherein there is neither bargaining nor friendship.
(14:30-31)(And when Abraham said: “My Lord: make Thou this land secure; and preserve Thou me and my sons from serving idols.
“My Lord: they have led astray many among mankind. But whoso follows me, he is of me; and whoso disobeys me: Thou art forgiving and merciful.
“Our Lord: I have settled some of my progeny in an uncultivated valley by Thy inviolable house, our Lord, that they uphold the duty; so make Thou hearts among men incline towards them, and provide Thou them some fruits, that they might be grateful.
“Our Lord: Thou knowest what we hide, and what we make known; and nothing is hidden from God in the earth or in the heaven.
(14:35-38)He said: “I am the servant of God; He has given me the Writ, and made me a prophet,
“And made me blessed wherever I be — and enjoined upon me the duty and the purity as long as I live —
“And dutiful to my mother; and He has not made me arrogant or wretched.
“And peace be upon me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I am raised up alive!
(19:30-33)
Remember and Glorify God
So remember Me, I will remember you; and be grateful to Me, and deny Me not.
O you who heed warning: seek help in patience and duty; God is with the patient.
(2:152-153)Preserve the duties — and the median duty — and stand up for God, humbly obedient;
And if you fear, then walking or riding. But when you are secure, then remember God as He taught you what you knew not.
(2:238-239)And when you are travelling in the earth, you do no wrong to cut short some of the duty if you fear that those who ignore warning will subject you to means of denial — the false claimers of guidance are an open enemy to you —
And when thou art among them, uphold thou the duty for them; then let there stand a number of them with thee, and let them take their arms; then when they have submitted, let them be behind you and let another number come that has not performed the duty, and let them perform the duty with thee; and let them take their precautions and their arms. (Those who ignore warning wish that you would neglect your arms and your equipment, so they might assault you in a single assault; but you do no wrong if there is a hindrance to you from rain or you are sick, that you lay aside your arms; but take your precautions: God has prepared for the false claimers of guidance a humiliating punishment.)
And when you have concluded the duty, remember God standing, and sitting, and upon your sides, and when you are at ease; but uphold the duty — the duty is upon the believers a time-limited Writ —
(4:101-103)The waverers seek to deceive God, but He is deceiving them; and when they rise up for the duty, they rise up to be seen of men, and remember not God save a little,
Wavering in-between — neither to these, nor to those; and he whom God causes to go astray, thou wilt not find for him a path.
(4:142-143)O you who heed warning: when you rise up for the duty: wash your faces, and your hands to the elbows, and wipe your heads, and your feet to the ankles. And if you are unclean, purify yourselves. And if you were ill, or on a journey, or one of you came from the privy, or you have lain with women, then find not water: resort to clean soil, and wipe your faces and your hands with it. God wishes not to place any distress upon you; but He wishes to purify you and to complete His favour upon you, that you might be grateful.
And remember the favour of God upon you, and His agreement which He agreed with you, when you said: “We hear and we obey.” And be in prudent fear of God; God knows what is in the breasts.
(5:6-7)O you who heed warning: wine, and games of chance, and altars, and divining arrows are an abomination of the work of the satan; so avoid it, that you might be successful.
The satan but wishes to cause between you enmity and hatred in wine and the games of chance, and to turn you away from the remembrance of God and from the duty; so will you not desist?
And obey God and obey the Messenger, and beware; but if you turn away, then know that upon Our messenger is only the clear notification.
(5:90-92)But how can they not be punished by God when they turn away from the inviolable place of worship, and are not its allies? Its allies are only those of prudent fear; but most of them know not.
And their duty at the house is only whistling and clapping — so taste the punishment for what you denied!
(8:34-35)And uphold thou the duty at the two ends of the day, and at an approach of the night: good deeds take away evil deeds! — that is a reminder for those who remember —
And be thou patient, for God causes not to be lost the reward of the doers of good.
Oh, that among the generations before you there had but been a remnant forbidding corruption in the land save a few whom We saved among them! But those who did wrong followed what they had been given therein of opulence, and were lawbreakers.
(11:114-116)And has there come to thee the story of Moses?
When he saw a fire, and said to his people: “Stay here; I perceive a fire. I might bring you therefrom a firebrand, or find at the fire guidance.”
And when he came to it, he was called: “O Moses:
“I am thy Lord; so remove thou thy sandals; thou art in the sacred valley of Ṭuwa.
“And I have chosen thee, so hearken thou to what is revealed:
“I am God. There is no god save I, so serve thou Me; and uphold thou the duty for My remembrance:
“The Hour is coming — I almost conceal it — that every soul might be rewarded for that for which it strives;
“And let not turn thee away from it him who believes not in it but follows his vain desire, or thou wilt perish.
(20:9-16)So be thou patient over what they say, and give thou glory with the praise of thy Lord before the rising of the sun, and before its setting. And some periods of the night give thou glory; and at the ends of the day, that thou mightest be satisfied.
And extend thou not thine eyes towards what We have granted some among them to enjoy — the flower of the life of this world — that We might subject them to means of denial therein; and the provision of thy Lord is better and more enduring.
And enjoin thou upon thy people the duty, and be thou steadfast therein. We ask thee not for provision; We provide for thee. And the final outcome is for those of prudent fear.
(20:130-132)And for every community We appointed a rite: that they remember the name of God over what He has provided them of livestock cattle. And your God is One God; so submit to Him. And bear thou glad tidings to the humble:
Whose hearts are afraid when God is remembered, and those patient over what befalls them, and who uphold the duty, and of what We have provided them they spend.
And the camels: We appointed them for you among the tokens of God; for you in them is good. So remember the name of God over them when they are in lines; and when their flanks collapse, eat thereof and feed the reticent poor and the beggar. Thus have We made them subject for you, that you might be grateful.
Their flesh does not reach God, nor their blood. But prudent fear reaches Him from you. Thus have We made them subject for you, that you might magnify God for guiding you. And bear thou glad tidings to the doers of good.
(22:34-37)Successful are the believers:
Those who in their duty are humble,
And those who from vain speech turn away,
And those who act upon the purity.
(23:1-4)Dost thou not see that God, to Him gives glory whoso is in the heavens and the earth, and the birds with wings outstretched? Each, he knows his duty and his glorification; and God knows what they do.
(24:41)O you who heed warning: when the call is heard for the duty of the day of assembly, then hasten to the remembrance of God, and leave commerce; that is better for you, if you but knew.
And when the duty is concluded, disperse in the land, and seek of the bounty of God; and remember God much that you might be successful.
(62:9-10)So remind thou; if the reminder should benefit
He will take heed who fears.
But the most wretched will avoid it,
Who will burn in the Great Fire,
Then will he neither die therein nor live.
He is successful who has purified himself,
And remembers the name of his Lord and performs the duty.
(87:14-15)
God’s duties
Who, when calamity befalls them, say: “We belong to God, and to Him are we returning.”
Upon those are duties and mercy from their Lord, and it is they who are the guided.
(2:156-157)
Believe in the Doctrine
alif lām mīm
That is the Writ about which there is no doubt, a guidance to those of prudent fear:
Those who believe in the Unseen, and uphold the duty, and of what We have provided them they spend;
And those who believe in what was sent down to thee, and what was sent down before thee, and of the Hereafter they are certain:
Those are upon guidance from their Lord; and it is they who are the successful.
(2:1-5)And this is a Writ We have sent down, one blessed, confirming what was before it, and that thou warn the mother of cities and those around her; and those who believe in the Hereafter believe in it, and they preserve their duty.
(6:92)So set thou thy face towards the doctrine, inclining to truth: — the nature of God with which He created people — (there is no changing the creation of God) that is the right doctrine, (but most men know not)
Turning in repentance to Him. And be in prudent fear of Him, and uphold the duty; and be not of the idolaters:
Of those who divide their doctrine and become sects, each party exulting at what it has.
(30:30-32)Leave thou Me with him whom I created alone,
And appointed for him wealth extended,
And sons present,
And spread before him ease.
Then hopes he that I should add more.
No, indeed! He was towards Our proofs obstinate.
I will burden him with a steep ascent.
He considered and determined,
(Damned be how he determined!
Then damned be how he determined!)
Then looked,
Then frowned and scowled,
Then turned away and waxed proud
And said: “This is only sorcery handed down.
“This is only the speech of a mortal.”
I will burn him in Saqar.
…
“What brought you into Saqar?”
They will say: “We were not among the performers of duty,
“And we fed not the needy.
“And we discoursed vainly with those who discourse vainly,
“And denied the Day of Judgment
“Until the Certainty came to us.” (74:11-26, 74:42-47)
To thy Lord, that day, will be the driving.
For he neither gave credence, nor performed the duty,
But denied and turned away
Then went to his household in arrogance.
(75:30-33)
Call to God
He makes the night enter into the day, and makes the day enter into the night, and He made subject the sun and the moon, each running for a stated term. That is God, your Lord: to Him belongs the dominion; and those to whom you call, besides Him, possess not the skin of a date-stone.
If you call to them, they will not hear your call; and were they to hear, they would not respond to you. And on the Day of Resurrection they will deny your ascription of partnership. And none can inform thee like One Aware.
O mankind: you are in need of God; and God, He is the Free from Need, the Praiseworthy.
If He wills, He will remove you and bring a new creation;
And that is for God not difficult.
And no bearer bears the burden of another. And if one heavy-laden should call to his burden, nothing of it will be carried, though he be a relative. Thou but warnest those who fear their Lord unseen and uphold the duty. And he who purifies himself: he but purifies himself for his soul. And to God is the journey’s end.
(35:13-18)Thereupon Zachariah called to his Lord, saying: “My Lord: give Thou me from Thyself goodly progeny; Thou art the hearer of supplication.”
And the angels called to him as he stood performing the duty in the chamber: “God gives thee glad tidings of John, confirming a word from God, both honourable and chaste, and a prophet among the righteous.”
(3:38-39)Say thou: “Shall we call, rather than to God, to what neither profits us nor harms us, and be turned back on our heels after God has guided us? — like one whom the satans seduce in the earth, lost in confusion, he having companions inviting him to guidance: ‘Come thou to us!’” Say thou: “The guidance of God, that is guidance; and we have been commanded to submit to the Lord of All Creation”;
And: “Uphold the duty, and be in prudent fear of Him”; and He it is to whom you will be gathered.
(6:71-72)And We instructed Moses and his brother: “Settle your people in Egypt in houses, and make your houses a destination; and uphold the duty; and bear thou glad tidings to the believers.”
And Moses said: “Our Lord: Thou hast given Pharaoh and his eminent ones adornment and wealth in the life of this world, our Lord, that they might lead astray from Thy path. Our Lord: destroy Thou their wealth, and harden Thou their hearts, so that they believe not until they see the painful punishment.”
He said: “Your supplication has been answered; so take a straight path, and follow not the path of those who know not.”
(10:87-89)“Praise belongs to God who has given me in old age Ishmael and Isaac! My Lord is the hearer of supplication.
“My Lord: make Thou me one upholding the duty, and of my progeny, our Lord, and accept Thou my supplication.
“Our Lord: forgive Thou me, and my parents, and the believers, the day the reckoning takes place.”)
(14:39-41)Say thou: “Call to God, or call to the Almighty; by whichever you call, to Him belong the most beautiful names.” And be thou not loud in thy duty, nor quiet therein, but follow thou a path in-between,
And say thou: “Praise belongs to God who has not taken a son, and who has no partner in dominion, nor ally from weakness,” and magnify thou Him with glorification.
(17:110-111)O you who heed warning: let ask leave of you those whom your right hands possess and those who have not reached puberty among you at three times: before the duty of the dawn, and when you lay aside your garments at noon, and after the duty of the night: three times of nakedness for you; you and they do no wrong beyond them, some of you moving about among others of you. Thus God makes plain to you the proofs; and God is knowing and wise.
(24:58)
Recite the Writ
O you who heed warning: approach not the duty when you are intoxicated until you understand what you say; nor when you are unclean (save passing by upon the path), until you wash. And if you were ill, or on a journey, or one of you comes from the privy, or you have lain with women, then find not water: resort to clean soil, and wipe your faces and your hands; God is pardoning and forgiving.
Hast thou not considered those given a portion of the Writ, purchasing error and desiring to make you stray from the path?
And God best knows your enemies; and sufficient is God as ally; and sufficient is God as helper.
Some of those who hold to Judaism twist words from their places, — and they say: “We hear and we oppose”; and: “Hear thou what is not heard”; and: “Attend thou to us!” — twisting their tongues, and slandering the doctrine. And had they said: “We hear and we obey”; and: “Hear thou”; and: “Look thou upon us,” it would have been better for them, and more upright; but God has cursed them for their denial; and they do not believe save a few.
(4:43-46)And there followed after them successors who inherited the Writ, taking the goods of this fleeting life, and saying: “It will be forgiven us.” And if there come to them goods the like thereof, they will take them. Has there not been taken from them an agreement to the Writ, that they ascribe not to God save the truth, and that they study what is therein? And the abode of the Hereafter is better for those of prudent fear. Will you then not use reason!
And those who hold fast the Writ, and uphold the duty — We cause not to be lost the reward of those who do right.
And when We raised the mountain above them as if it were a canopy: — and they supposed it was to fall upon them — “Hold fast what We give you; and remember what is therein, that you might be in prudent fear.”
(7:169-171)Uphold thou the duty at the merging of the sun until the dark of night, and the recitation of dawn — the recitation of dawn is witnessed —
And some of the night, keep thou vigil with it, as an addition for thee; it may be that thy Lord will raise thee to a praised station.
And say thou: “My Lord: cause Thou me to enter at a true entrance, and to leave at a true exit; and appoint Thou for me from Thyself a helping authority.”
And say thou: “Truth has come, and vanity has passed away; vanity is to pass away.”
(17:78-81)Those are they whom God favoured among the prophets of the progeny of Adam, and of those We bore with Noah, and of the progeny of Abraham and Israel, and of those We guided and chose. When the proofs of the Almighty were recited to them, they fell down in submission weeping.
But there succeeded them successors who caused the duty to be lost, and followed lusts; they will meet with error
Save he who repents and believes and works righteousness, for those will enter the Garden, and they will not be wronged in anything:
(19:58-60)Recite thou what has been revealed to thee of the Writ, and uphold thou the duty; the duty forbids sexual immorality and perversity; and the remembrance of God is greater; and God knows what you do.
(29:45)Those who recite the Writ of God and uphold the duty and spend of what We have provided them, secretly and openly, expect a trade that perishes not,
That He will pay their rewards in full, and increase them out of His bounty; He is forgiving and appreciative.
And that which We revealed to thee of the Writ: it is the truth, confirming what was before it; God is of His servants aware and seeing.
(35:29-31)
Fight in the cause of God
Had they gone forth with you, they would have increased you only in ruin, and been active in your midst seeking means of denial for you; and among you are eager listeners to them; and God knows the wrongdoers.
They sought the means of denial before, and overturned matters for thee, until the truth came and the command of God was made manifest when they were averse.
And among them is he who says: “Grant thou me leave, and subject thou me not to means of denial.” Save into the means of denial have they fallen; and Gehenna encompasses the false claimers of guidance.
If good befalls thee, it vexes them; but if calamity befalls thee, they say: “We took our command before,” and they turn away, exulting.
Say thou: “Nothing befalls us save what God has prescribed for us; He is our protector”; and in God let the believers place their trust.
Say thou: “Do you await for us save one of the two best things? And we await for you, that God will afflict you with a punishment from Him or at our hands. So wait — we are with you waiting.”
Say thou: “Spend willingly or unwillingly, it will not be accepted from you; you are perfidious people.”
And there prevents their expenditures being accepted from them only that they denied God and His messenger, and come not to the duty save as idlers, and spend not save unwillingly.
(9:47-54)And what you have been given of anything is the enjoyment of the life of this world; but what is with God is better and more enduring for those who heed warning and in their Lord place their trust,
And those who avoid the enormities of sin and sexual immoralities, and when wroth they forgive,
And those who respond to their Lord, and uphold the duty, and their affair is by consultation between them, and of what We have provided them they spend.
And those who, when sectarian zealotry befalls them, help themselves:
(And the reward of evil is evil the like thereof; but whoso pardons and makes right, his reward is upon God; He loves not the wrongdoers.
And whoso helps himself after being wronged, those: there is no path against them.
There is but a path against those who wrong men and oppress in the earth without cause: those have a painful punishment.)
(42:36-42)
Take witnesses when death approaches
O you who heed warning: a witness between you when death approaches one of you at the time of bequest is two just men among you; or two others from other than yourselves if you are travelling in the earth when the calamity of death befalls you. Detain them after the duty, and they shall swear by God, if you doubt: “We would not sell it for a price, though he were a relative, nor will we conceal the witness of God; then would we be among the sinners.”
(5:106)
Submit to God
Hast thou seen him who forbids
A servant when he performs the duty?
Hast thou considered if he is upon guidance,
Or enjoins prudent fear?
Hast thou considered if he denies and turns away?
Knows he not that God sees?
No, indeed! If he cease not, We will drag him by the forelock,
The lying, offending forelock.
Then let him call his council.
We will call the guards of Hell.
No, indeed! Obey thou not him, but submit thou, and draw thou near.
(96:9-19)
Observe your pacts
And remember thou in the Writ Ishmael: — He was true to the promise — and he was a messenger and a prophet;
He enjoined upon his people the duty and the purity, and was pleasing in the sight of his Lord.
(19:54-55)
The Messenger had duties
And perform thou not the duty for any among them that dies ever, nor stand thou over his grave; they denied God and His messenger, and died while they were perfidious. (9:84)
And among the desert Arabs is he who takes what he spends as a loss, and awaits reversals for you; for them is the Evil Reversal; and God is hearing and knowing.
And among the desert Arabs is he who believes in God and the Last Day, and takes what he spends as a means of nearness to God and the duties of the Messenger. In truth, it is a means of nearness for them: God will make them enter into His mercy; God is forgiving and merciful.
(9:98-99)Take thou charity of their wealth to cleanse them, and to increase them in purity thereby; and perform thou the duty befitting them; thy duties are an assuagement for them; and God is hearing and knowing.
(9:103)
General Duties
Those who have been turned out of their homes without cause save that they said: “Our Lord is God.” And were God not to repel some people by means of others, pious communities would be destroyed, and trade, and duties, and places of worship wherein the name of God is remembered much[…]. But God will help him who helps Him: — God is strong and exalted in might —
(22:40)And those who from vain speech turn away,
And those who act upon the purity.
And those who preserve their chastity
Save with their wives or what their right hands possess, then are they not blameworthy;
— But whoso seeks beyond that: it is they who are the transgressors —
And those who attend to their trusts and their covenant,
And those who preserve their duties:
It is they who are the heirs,
Those who inherit Paradise; therein will they abide eternally.
(23:3-11)
Obey God and the Messenger
They ask thee about the spoils of war. Say thou: “The spoils of war are for God and the Messenger; so be in prudent fear of God, and make right in what is between you; and obey God and His messenger, if you be believers.”
The believers are but those who when God is remembered, their hearts are afraid, and when His proofs are recited to them, it increases them in faith, and in their Lord they place their trust,
Those who uphold the duty, and of what We have provided them they spend:
It is they who are the believers in truth; they have degrees with their Lord, and forgiveness, and a noble provision
(8:1-4)God and His angels perform the duty for the Prophet. O you who heed warning: perform the duty for him and greet with a salutation.
Those who hinder God and His messenger: God has cursed them in the World and the Hereafter, and has prepared for them a humiliating punishment.
And those who hinder believing men and believing women with what they have not earned: they bear a calumny and obvious sin. (33:56-58)
Be grateful
And We gave Luqmān wisdom: “Be thou grateful to God.” And whoso is grateful, he is but grateful for his soul; and whoso denies — God is free from need and praiseworthy.
And when Luqmān said to his son, while he exhorted him: “O my son: ascribe thou not a partnership to God; ascribing partnership is a tremendous injustice.”
And We enjoined upon man concerning his parents: — his mother bore him in weakness upon weakness; and his weaning is in two years — “Be thou grateful to Me, and to thy parents; unto Me is the journey’s end.
“But if they strive with thee to make thee ascribe a partnership to that of which thou hast no knowledge, then obey thou them not. And accompany thou them in the World according to what is fitting; but follow thou the path of him who turns to Me. Then to Me is your return, and I will tell you what you did.”
“O my son: though it be the weight of a grain of mustard seed, and it be in a rock, or in the heavens, or in the earth, God will bring it forth; God is subtle and aware.”
“O my son: uphold thou the duty, and enjoin thou what is fitting, and forbid thou perversity, and be thou patient over what befalls thee; that is among the resolution of affairs.
“And turn thou not thy cheek to men, and walk thou not in the earth haughtily; God loves not every conceited boaster.
“And be thou modest in thy walk, and lower thou thy voice; the most loathsome of voices is the voice of the donkey.”
(31:12-19)
Be modest
And are those who confirm the Day of Judgment,
And are those who, of the punishment of their Lord, are in dread,
(The punishment of their Lord is not that from which there is safety)
And are those who preserve their chastity
Save with their wives, or what their right hands possess — for then are they not blameworthy,
(But whoso seeks beyond that: it is they who are the transgressors)
And are those who are to their trusts and their covenant attentive,
And are those who, in their witness, are upright,
And are those who preserve their duty:
Those are in gardens, honoured.
(70:26-35)
Feed the needy
No, indeed! It is a blazing fire,
Removing the scalp,
Calling him who turned and went away
And gathered and hoarded.
Man was created anxious
— When evil touches him, impatient,
And when good touches him, withholding —
Save the performers of duty:
Those who are constant in their duty,
And those in whose wealth is a due known
For the petitioner and the one deprived,
(70:15-25)
Devote yourself to God
We have given thee abundance,
So perform thou the duty to thy Lord, and attain thou mastery.
He that hates thee — he is the one cut off. (108:1-3)