Surah At-Taghabun, Ayah 15

Warning against the Fitnah of Spouses and Offspring

Allah states that some wives and children are enemies to their husbands and fathers, in that they might be busied with them rather than with performing the good deeds. Allah said in another Ayah,

يأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ لاَ تُلْهِكُمْ أَمْوَلُكُمْ وَلاَ أَوْلَـدُكُمْ عَن ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَمَن يَفْعَلْ ذَلِكَ فَأُوْلَـئِكَ هُمُ الْخَـسِرُونَ

(O you who believe! Let not your properties or you children divert you from the remembrance of Allah. And whosoever does that then they are the losers.) (63:9) Allah the Exalted said here,

فَاحْذَرُوهُمْ

(therefore, beware of them!) for your religion, according to Ibn Zayd. Mujahid explained the Ayah ,

Wealth and Children are a Trial

إِنَّمَا أَمْوَالُكُمْ وَأَوْلَادُكُمْ فِتْنَةٌ (Your riches and your children are but a trial…64:14). The word fitnah means ‘test or trial’. The purport of the verse is to say that Allah tests man by means of his wealth and children as to whether he is so much engrossed in the love of wealth and children as to become heedless of Divine laws and injunctions, or he maintains his love for them within limits and remains heedful of his duties and obligations toward Allah.

The truth of the matter is that the love of wealth and children is a great trial for man. He mostly commits sins for their love, especially when he indulges in earning livelihood through unlawful means. According to a hadith, some people will be brought on the Day of Judgment, and the people will look at him and say اَکَلَ عَیَالُہ حَسَنَاتِہٖ (His family ate up his good deeds.) [ Ruh ]. In another narration, the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، referring to the children, said: مَبخَلَۃٌ مَّجبنَۃٌ (They are the cause of one’ s miserliness and cowardice.) It means that on account of their love, man fails to spend in Allah’ s way, and on account of their love he fails to participate in jihad. Some righteous elders have said, اَلعَیِال سُوسُ الطَّاعَات (Family is the weevil of obedience.” A weevil is small beetle that feeds on grain and seeds and destroys crops. Likewise, a family feeds on man’ s good deeds and destroys them.

Man has the utmost attachment for his children. He may talk of principles on every other subject, but where his children are concerned, he becomes unprincipled. That is why it is mentioned in a tradition of the Prophet Muhammad that children cause their parents to be timid and miserly. In another tradition it is mentioned that on the Day of Judgement a man will be brought before God, and it will be said of him that his wife and children ate away all his virtues. Man, for the sake of his children, does not spend for the divine cause, though the truth is that if he spends for the sake of God, he will be recompensed by Him many times over.