ভূমিকা

‘Uulaaa - ‘ika humul-Muttaquun. 177. True piety does not consist in turning your faces towards the east or the west - but truly pious is he who believes in God, and the Last Day, and the angels, and revelation, and the prophets: and spends his sustenance - however much he himself may cherish it - upon his near of kin, and the orphans, and the needy, and the wayfarer, and the bondage; and is constant in prayer, and renders the purifying dues; and (truly pious are) they who keep their promises whenever they promise, and are patient in misfortune and hardship and in time of peril: it is they that have proved themselves true, and it is they, they who are conscious of God.

It is said that when the Qiblah was changed from Baytu’l Maqdis to the Ka’aba, there ensued a long drawn out controversy and conflict in the public. It was then that this verse was revealed. The verse further goes to describe the righteous ones (and is not defining righteousness) and thereby introduces the people in the light of their attributes. It is a well known style of the Qur’an that it explains and defines a condition and a rank by introducing the people having that rank and condition.

The first part of the verse is a comprehensive description of all the true gnosis which Allah (swt) wants His servants to believe in.