The Quran

۞ أَجَعَلتُم سِقايَةَ الحاجِّ وَعِمارَةَ المَسجِدِ الحَرامِ كَمَن آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَاليَومِ الآخِرِ وَجاهَدَ في سَبيلِ اللَّهِ ۚ لا يَستَوونَ عِندَ اللَّهِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ لا يَهدِي القَومَ الظّالِمينَ

Muhammad Asad

Do you, perchance, regard the [mere] giving of water to pilgrims and the tending of the Inviolable House of Worship as being equal to [the works of] one who believes in God and the Last Day and strives hard in God's cause? These [things] are not equal in the sight of God.¹ And God does not grace with His guidance people who [deliberately] do wrong.

Many commentators see in this verse an allusion to the boast of the pagan Quraysh, before the Muslim conquest of Mecca, that they were superior to all other people on account of their guardianship of the Ka'bah and their providing water (sigayah) to pilgrims; and on being taken prisoner by the Muslims in the battle of Badr, Al-'Abbas, the Prophet's uncle, excused on these very grounds his failure to accompany the Muslims on their exodus from Mecca to Medina (Tabari). It is probable, however, that this verse has yet another, deeper import. According to an authentic Tradition quoted by Muslim, Abu Da'ud and Ibn Hibban (as well as by Tabari), one of the Prophet's Companions stated in the mosque of Medina, "I would not care, after having accepted Islam, to do any good deed beyond providing water to the pilgrims!" - whereupon another of the Companions declared, "Nay, [I would rather take charge of] the maintenance of the Inviolable House of Worship." But yet another Companion declared, "Nay, struggle (jihad) in God's cause is far better than what you have mentioned!" A short time afterwards the above Qur'an-verse was revealed to the Prophet. It would, therefore, appear that what is meant here is the superior value of faith in God and struggle in His cause as compared with acts which, however meritorious, are concerned only with outward forms: in brief, the immense superiority of real self-surrender to God over mere ritual.