Sūrah 93 · Āyāt 9–11

Sūrat al-Ḍuḥā 93:9–11 — Three commands answering three graces

The sūra turns from past mercy to present duty: "As for the orphan, do not oppress him; as for the petitioner, do not rebuke him; and as for your Lord's blessing, proclaim it." al-Mīzān supplies the unifying logic that the other sources illustrate: these three commands are branched off from the three preceding graces — "you have found the orphan's lowliness, so do not crush the orphan; you have found the bitterness of the astray one's need for guidance and the poor man's need, so do not rebuff a petitioner; you have found that what you possess is your Lord's bounty, so give thanks by proclaiming it."

"The orphan — do not oppress." Majmaʿ al-Bayān gives two readings: do not seize the orphan's property by force "as the Arabs used to do" (al-Farrāʾ, al-Zajjāj), or "do not despise him, for you were an orphan" (Mujāhid). Ṭabarsī then gathers a cluster of orphan-ḥadīths — the boy given twenty-one dates, the promise of a good deed "for every hair" to one who wipes an orphan's head, "I and the orphan's guardian are like these two [fingers] in Paradise," and the Throne of the Merciful shaking at an orphan's weeping. al-Tibyān: "do not subdue him by wronging him," extended to anyone helpless, a prohibition binding on all the responsible. al-Mīzān, citing al-Rāghib, parses qahr as "overpowering and subjugation together." al-Qummī and al-Burhān reduce it to "do not wrong (lā taẓlim) — addressed to the Prophet, meant for all people."

"The petitioner — do not rebuke." Ṭabarsī: do not rebuff or shout at one who asks, "for you were poor — either feed him or turn him away gently," with Anas's ḥadīth that the petitioner's right stands "even if [you give] half a date." He preserves two scopes: al-Jubbāʾī's, that the address binds all the responsible, and al-Ḥasan's, that sāʾil is the seeker of knowledge — linking the verse back to "He found you astray and guided you," so "teach the one who asks, as God taught you." Ṭūsī defines intihār as "shouting in the face of the petitioner"; al-Mīzān, nahr as "repelling harshly"; al-Qummī/al-Burhān, "do not drive him away / turn him away."

"Your Lord's blessing — proclaim it." All read taḥdīth as openly acknowledging and giving thanks for God's favor. Ṭabarsī cites "speaking of God's bounty is gratitude, and abandoning it is ingratitude," and records that "the bounty" may mean the Qurʾān (al-Kalbī) or the prophethood to be conveyed (Mujāhid, al-Zajjāj), with al-Ṣādiq's broad gloss: "speak of all God has given and guided you." al-Mīzān: proclaim it "in word and in deed — that is its thanksgiving," a command general to all. The Imāmī sources sharpen the content: al-Burhān and al-Qummī list the blessing as "prayer, almsgiving, fasting, the pilgrimage, and walāya," and al-Burhān's chains (al-Kulaynī ← al-Ṣādiq; the Basran's question to al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī) gloss fa-ḥaddith as "proclaim His religion and what God has favored you with." The Enlightening Commentary closes on the same note — that proclaiming bounty, by speech and by charitable action, is "the style of generous noble people," sealing the sūra's movement from consolation to gratitude.