Surah Al-Ma'un Word by Word + The Seven-Link Method

Surah Al-Ma'un is seven verses and twenty-five words, and it does something no other short surah does: it takes a question about belief and answers it entirely with behaviour. It never asks what a person says. It asks how they treat an orphan, whether they bother about a hungry neighbour, and what their prayer is actually for. For Muslims in the UK and the United States this is one of the most uncomfortable and most useful surahs in the juz. This guide gives the complete word-by-word meaning of Surah Al-Ma'un and applies the Seven-Link Method to it.

📌 At a glance

• Surah: Al-Ma'un (الماعون, "Small Kindnesses") — number 107

• Also called: Ara'ayta, after its opening word, and Ad-Din

• Length: 7 verses — 25 words in total

• Revealed: Makkah (Makki)

• Theme: denying the Day of Judgement is not a statement — it is a way of behaving

💎 Did you know?

Surah Al-Ma'un contains the only place in the Qur'an where woe is pronounced on people who pray. The threat in verse 4 is not aimed at those who abandon prayer but at those who perform it — and the three verses that follow explain exactly which kind.

📖 What is Surah Al-Ma'un?

Surah Al-Ma'un (سُورَةُ الماعون) is the 107th surah of the Qur'an. Its name comes from its final word, al-ma'un, understood by the commentators as the small everyday items people lend one another — a pot, a bucket, a tool — the kind of help that costs almost nothing to give.

The surah has two halves that mirror each other. The first three verses describe someone who denies the Judgement, and prove it not by what he believes but by what he does: he pushes the orphan away and does not concern himself with feeding the poor. The last four verses turn to people who pray, and find the same failure in them.

That structure is the surah's argument: worship that does not reach other people is not yet worship. It is a short chapter, and it is one of the most direct in the Qur'an.

🕋 The full text and translation

"Have you seen the one who denies the Judgement? That is the one who repulses the orphan and does not urge the feeding of the poor. So woe to those who pray — those who are heedless of their prayer, those who make a show of it, and withhold small kindnesses."
(Surah Al-Ma'un 107:1–7)

🔑 Surah Al-Ma'un: word by word

Here is every word of Surah Al-Ma'un in order, with its transliteration and English meaning. Take it a few lines at a time rather than trying to absorb the whole table at once.

👉 Want to hear each word and see its syllables and grammar? Study Surah Al-Ma'un interactively — with audio for every word — using Eaalim's free Quranic Words tool for Surah Al-Ma'un.

🎓 Learn this surah with a teacher, not just a table

Reading the meanings is the first half. Hearing your own recitation corrected is the other. Eaalim gives new students two free trial lessons — one-to-one on Zoom with an Al-Azhar certified teacher, never a group class — booked around your own time zone in the UK, the United States or anywhere else. Paid plans start at £9 per hour.

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📜 Surah Al-Ma'un verse by verse

أَرَءَيْتَ ٱلَّذِى يُكَذِّبُ بِٱلدِّينِ ︑١︒

A-ra'ayta lladhī yukadhdhibu bi-d-dīn

"Have you seen the one who denies the Judgement?"

The surah opens with a question put to the listener — not a statement. Ad-din here means the Recompense: the Day on which actions are settled.

فَذَٰلِكَ ٱلَّذِى يَدُعُّ ٱلْيَتِيمَ ︑٢︒

Fa-dhālika lladhī yaduʿʿu l-yatīm

"That is the one who repulses the orphan."

Yaduʿʿu is a forceful verb — to shove away roughly. The answer to "who denies the Judgement?" is not a creed but a scene at a doorway.

وَلَا يَحُضُّ عَلَىٰ طَعَامِ ٱلْمِسْكِينِ ︑٣︒

Wa lā yaḥuḍḍu ʿalā ṭaʿāmi l-miskīn

"And does not urge the feeding of the poor."

Note what is not said: he is not condemned only for failing to feed, but for failing to urge others to feed. Indifference is enough.

فَوَيْلٌ لِّلْمُصَلِّينَ ︑٤︒

Fa-waylun li-l-muṣallīn

"So woe to those who pray."

The turn of the surah, and its most striking line. Wayl is a word of severe warning — and it lands on people who are praying. The three verses that follow narrow down which ones.

ٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ عَن صَلَاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ ︑٥︒

Alladhīna hum ʿan ṣalātihim sāhūn

"Those who are heedless of their prayer."

The preposition matters: ʿan ṣalātihim — heedless about the prayer itself, delaying it or treating it as an interruption, rather than merely being distracted inside it.

ٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ يُرَآءُونَ ︑٦︒

Alladhīna hum yurā'ūn

"Those who make a show of it."

Riyā' — performing worship to be seen. The word shares its root with "seeing", which is the point: the audience has been changed.

وَيَمْنَعُونَ ٱلْمَاعُونَ ︑٧︒

Wa yamnaʿūna l-māʿūn

"And withhold small kindnesses."

The surah ends not with a great sin but with a small refusal — the pot not lent, the favour not done. Having begun with denying the Day of Judgement, it closes with something almost trivial, and treats them as the same disease.

💡 Understanding the meaning behind the words

A few words carry most of the weight of this surah, and each rewards a closer look.

Ad-Din — Here it means the Recompense or Judgement rather than "religion", though the two senses are related: what you will be repaid by, and the way of life that leads there.

Yaduʿʿu — To push away harshly. Arabic has gentler verbs for refusing; this one carries physical force, which is why translations use "repulses" or "drives away".

Sahun — From sahw — forgetfulness and inattention. Scholars distinguish being distracted during prayer, which happens to everyone, from being heedless about prayer, which is what the verse describes.

Al-Ma'un — The small things people lend each other in daily life. Some commentators extend it to zakat. Either way, the surah's final measure of a person is what they will hand over when it costs them almost nothing.

🔗 The Seven-Link Method applied to Surah Al-Ma'un

Al-Ma'un repeats its relative pronouns and rhymes almost every verse, which makes it feel easy — until you try to recite it in order and find the last four verses sliding around. Seven links fix that.

Verbal link (1) — the relative pronoun that structures everything

Alladhi / alladhina appears four times (verses 1, 2, 5, 6), and hum twice (verses 5 and 6). Each one introduces a description of the same kind of person. Count them: two singular in the first half, two plural in the second.

Phonetic link (2) — one long rhyme with a break in the middle

The endings run bi-d-dīn, al-yatīm, al-miskīn, li-l-muṣallīn, sāhūn, yurā'ūn, al-māʿūn. The first four rhyme on -īn, the last three on -ūn. That shift from -īn to -ūn happens exactly where the surah turns from the denier to the worshipper — the sound marks the hinge.

Thematic link (3) — two halves, one diagnosis

Verses 1–3: a man who denies the Judgement, shown by how he treats the orphan and the poor. Verses 4–7: people who pray, shown by the same failure. The surah's claim is that the two are the same illness in different clothes.

Narrative link (4) — a question, an answer, then a turn

It opens by asking you to picture someone, describes him, and then — just when you are comfortable judging him — turns the description onto people who pray. The order is the argument; it cannot be moved.

Visual link (5) — four scenes

A child pushed back from a doorway; a meal nobody thinks to offer; a person praying while glancing at who is watching; and a hand closing over something small that a neighbour asked to borrow.

Numerical link (6) — the counts

7 verses, 25 words, 4 relative pronouns, 2 halves, 5 failings named (repulsing the orphan, not urging the feeding of the poor, heedlessness, showing off, withholding). If you can list fewer than five, a verse is missing.

Similar-verse link (7) — the famous one-letter difference

Verse 5 says alladhīna hum ʿan ṣalātihim sāhūn — heedless of their prayer. Surah Al-Mu'minun 23:2 says alladhīna hum fī ṣalātihim khāshiʿūn — in their prayer, humbly submissive. Same opening four words, opposite people. The preposition (ʿan versus fī) is the whole difference, and it is worth learning the two verses side by side rather than separately.

🎥 The visual film

Run this sequence in your mind twice after Fajr and twice before sleep — one image per stage:

1. Verse 1 — a question asked directly to you: have you seen this man?

2. Verses 2–3 — a child turned away from a door; a hungry neighbour nobody mentions.

3. Verse 4 — the camera pans to a row of people praying — and the warning lands there.

4. Verses 5–6 — one of them checks who is watching; another has been meaning to pray for an hour.

5. Verse 7 — a hand closes over a small object that was asked for, and does not give it.

📚 How to learn Surah Al-Ma'un word by word

1. Day 1 — verses 1–3, the first half. Twelve words, and one scene.

2. Day 2 — verses 4–7. Notice the rhyme changing from -īn to -ūn as you cross into it.

3. Day 3 — drill verse 5 against Al-Mu'minun 23:2 out loud until ʿan ṣalātihim sāhūn and fī ṣalātihim khāshiʿūn no longer compete.

4. Then — recite the whole surah listing the five failings on your fingers as you go.

A qualified teacher shortens all of this: correct Tajweed, honest feedback on the verses you only think you know, and answers to the questions that come up once you start understanding the words.

🇬🇧 🇺🇸 Studying Surah Al-Ma'un from the UK or the United States

Most people reading this guide are not learning Arabic in an Arabic-speaking country. They are fitting the Qur'an around school runs in Birmingham, shift work in Manchester, or an evening after the commute home in Chicago or Toronto — and the practical problem is rarely motivation. It is finding a teacher who will correct one surah properly, at a time that actually exists in your week.

That is the gap Eaalim Institute was built for. We are a London-based institute teaching English-speaking Muslims across Britain, the United States, Canada and Europe:

• One-to-one, never group. Every lesson is private on Zoom, so the whole session is spent on your recitation rather than waiting your turn in a halaqa.

• Al-Azhar certified teachers. Male and female teachers, matched to the student — which matters for families booking for children.

• Scheduled around your time zone. Evening and weekend slots, arranged around school hours and prayer times rather than against them.

• Two free trial lessons before you pay anything, and plans from £9 per hour after that.

If you have read this far into a word-by-word guide, you are already doing the hard part. A teacher simply makes it faster — and stops you memorising a mistake.

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🎓 Learn it properly with Eaalim

The two halves of this guide match two Eaalim courses. Our Quranic Words Course teaches Qur'anic vocabulary word by word to English-speaking students across the UK, the United States and worldwide. Our Qur'an Memorisation (Hifz) Course applies the Seven-Link Method surah by surah with Al-Azhar certified teachers, one to one.

Start with 2 free trial lessons →  |  Explore the Quranic Words Course →

✨ Key takeaways

• Surah Al-Ma'un is 7 verses and 25 words, named after its final word — the small kindnesses people lend.

• It answers a question about belief entirely with behaviour: how the orphan and the poor are treated.

• Verse 4 is the only place in the Qur'an where woe is pronounced on people who pray.

• The rhyme shifts from -īn to -ūn exactly at the hinge between the surah's two halves.

• Verse 5 (ʿan ṣalātihim sāhūn) is easily confused with Al-Mu'minun 23:2 (fī ṣalātihim khāshiʿūn) — the preposition is the difference.

Continue with Surah Al-Kawthar word by word + the Seven-Link Method, or read our fuller UK guide in Surah Al-Ma'un.

✨ Conclusion

Twenty-five words that refuse to let worship stay private. Learned word by word — yatīm, miskīn, sāhūn, māʿūn — and held with seven links, Surah Al-Ma'un stops being a short surah you recite in the third rak'ah and becomes a checklist you can run on yourself in about a minute.

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