يَتَوَٰرَىٰ مِنَ ٱلْقَوْمِ مِن سُوٓءِ مَا بُشِّرَ بِهِۦٓ ۚ أَيُمْسِكُهُۥ عَلَىٰ هُونٍ أَمْ يَدُسُّهُۥ فِى ٱلتُّرَابِ ۗ أَلَا سَآءَ مَا يَحْكُمُونَ
yatawaaraa minal qawmimin sooo'i maa bushshira bih; a-yumsikuhoo 'alaa hoonin am yadussuhoo fit turaab; alaa saaa'a maa yahkumoon
He hides himself from the people because of the ill of which he has been informed. Should he keep it in humiliation or bury it in the ground? Unquestionably, evil is what they decide.
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Raising children
16:59Ayah 1128
This is the only ayah in An-Nahl strongly about raising children.
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He hides disappearing from people that is from his people out of distress at the tidings given to him fearing mockery unsure what to do with it the newborn shall he retain it — refrain from killing it — in humiliation enduring shame and disgrace or trample into the dust by burying it alive. Verily wretched is what they judge evil is this judgement of theirs in which they ascribe to their Creator that His are the daughters who have such a lowly status in their eyes.
Related Hadiths
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: He who sees something which should be kept hidden and conceals it will be like one who has brought to life a girl buried alive.
That he heard Ibn `Abbas reciting: "No doubt! They fold up their breasts." (11.5) and asked him
about its explanation. He said, "Some people used to hide themselves while answering the call of
nature in an open space lest they be exposed to the sky, and also when they had sexual relation with
their wives in an open space lest they be exposed to the sky, so the above revelation was sent down
regarding them."
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) passed by two graves and said, "Both of them (persons in the grave) are being
tortured, and they are not being tortured for a major sin. This one used not to save himself from being
soiled with his urine, and the other used to go about with calumnies (among the people to rouse
hostilities, e.g., one goes to a person and tells him that so-and-so says about him such-and-such evil
things). The Prophet (ﷺ) then asked for a green leaf of a date-palm tree, split it into two pieces and planted
one on each grave and said, "It is hoped that their punishment may be abated till those two pieces of
the leaf get dried." (See Hadith No 215, Vol 1).
The Messenger of Allah passed by one of the gardens of Makkah or Al-Madinah and heard the sound of two men being tormented in their graves. The Messenger of Allah said: "They are being punished but they are not being punished for anything that was difficult to avoid." Then he said: "Indeed, one of them used not to take care to avoid getting urine on his body or clothes, and the other used to walk around spreading gossip." They he called for a palm stalk which he broke in two and placed a piece of it on each grave. It was said to him: "O Messenger of Allah, why did you do that?" He said: "May it be reduced for them so long as this does not dry out" or: "until this dries out."
"The thing that the Prophet most liked to conceal himself behind when relieving himself was a hillock or a stand of date-palm trees."
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