“Pour Upon Us Some Water”: What the Cry of the People of the Fire Teaches Us About the Excellence of Charity

وَنَادَىٰ أَصْحَابُ النَّارِ أَصْحَابَ الْجَنَّةِ أَنْ أَفِيضُوا عَلَيْنَا مِنَ الْمَاءِ أَوْ مِمَّا رَزَقَكُمُ اللَّهُ قَالُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ حَرَّمَهُمَا عَلَى الْكَافِرِينَ ۞

“And the companions of the Fire will call to the companions of Paradise: ‘Pour upon us some water or from whatever Allah has provided you.’ They will say: ‘Indeed, Allah has forbidden them both to the disbelievers.'” (Sūrat al-Aʿrāf 7:50)

This verse contains three points of discussion.

The First: The Meaning of “They Will Call”

It has been said that when the people of al-Aʿrāf (the Heights) proceed into Paradise, the people of the Fire become hopeful, saying, “Our Lord, we have relatives in Paradise, so grant us permission that we might see them and speak with them.” Yet the people of Paradise do not recognise them, on account of the blackness of their faces.

Regarding the statement “pour upon us some water or from whatever Allah has provided you,” this makes clear that the son of Ādam cannot do without food and drink, even while enduring punishment. Their reply, “Indeed, Allah has forbidden them both to the disbelievers,” refers to the food and drink of Paradise specifically. Al-ifāḍah (pouring forth) denotes abundance and generous outpouring; one says, “He poured forth his blessings upon him” (afāḍa ʿalayhi niʿamahu).

The Second: This Verse as Evidence for the Excellence of Providing Water

This verse serves as evidence that giving water to drink is among the most excellent of deeds. Ibn ʿAbbās was asked, “Which form of charity is most excellent?” He replied, “Water. Have you not considered the people of the Fire, when they cried out to the people of Paradise for help, saying, ‘Pour upon us some water or from whatever Allah has provided you’?”

Abū Dāwūd narrated that Saʿd (ibn Abī Waqqāṣ) came to the Prophet ﷺ and asked, “Which form of charity is most beloved to you?” He replied, “Water.” In another narration, Saʿd then dug a well and said, “This is for the mother of Saʿd.” It is also narrated from Anas  that Saʿd said, “O Messenger of Allah, my mother loved charity. Would it benefit her if I gave charity on her behalf?” He replied, “Yes, and let it be water specifically.” In another narration, the Prophet ﷺ instructed Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah to provide water in charity on her behalf.

This demonstrates that giving water to drink is among the greatest means of drawing near to Allah, the Exalted. Some of the Successors said, “Whoever has accumulated many sins, let him give water in charity.” Indeed, Allah forgave the sins of a man who merely gave water to a thirsty dog, so how much greater, then, is the reward of one who gives water to a believing, monotheistic man and thereby saves his life.

Al-Bukhārī narrated from Abū Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “While a man was walking along a path, he became severely thirsty. He came upon a well, descended into it, and drank from it. Upon emerging, he found a dog panting and eating the moist earth out of thirst. The man said, ‘This dog has suffered thirst just as I did.’ So he descended into the well again, filled his shoe with water, held it in his mouth, climbed back up, and gave the dog to drink. Allah was grateful to him for this and forgave him.” The Companions asked, “O Messenger of Allah, is there truly reward for us even in [caring for] animals?” He replied, “In every living creature with a moist liver, there is reward.”

The opposite of this is found in what Muslim narrated from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “A woman was punished on account of a cat which she had confined until it died, and she thereby entered the Fire because of it: she neither fed it nor gave it water while she had imprisoned it, nor did she release it to eat from the vermin of the earth.”

In the ḥadīth of ʿĀʾishah, from the Prophet ﷺ: “Whoever gives a Muslim a drink of water where water is [otherwise] available is as though he had freed a slave, and whoever gives a Muslim a drink of water where water is not available is as though he had brought that person back to life.” This was recorded by Ibn Mājah in his Sunan.

The Third: On the Right of an Owner to Withhold Water

Some have used this verse as evidence that the owner of a watering-trough or a water-skin has the greatest right to its water, and that he may withhold it from whoever seeks it, since the meaning of the people of Paradise’s statement, “Indeed, Allah has forbidden them both to the disbelievers,” is understood as meaning, “You have no right to it.”

Al-Bukhārī  devoted a chapter heading to this very meaning: “The Chapter on Whoever Holds the View That the Owner of a Watering-Trough or a Water-Skin Has the Greatest Right to Its Water,” and included within this chapter the narration from Abū Hurayrah, from the Prophet ﷺ, who said: “By the One in whose Hand is my soul, I shall indeed drive certain men away from my Cistern, just as a stray camel is driven away from a watering-trough.”

Al-Muhallab (d. 435 AH/1044 CE) said: “There is no disagreement that the owner of a watering-trough has the greatest right to its water, on account of his statement, peace be upon him, ‘I shall indeed drive certain men away from my Cistern.'”

References

Al-Qurʾān al-Karīm, Sūrat al-Aʿrāf (7:50).

Al-Bukhārī, Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl (d. 256 AH/870 CE), Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī.

Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj (d. 261 AH/875 CE), Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim.

Abū Dāwūd, Sulaymān ibn al-Ashʿath al-Sijistānī (d. 275 AH/889 CE), Sunan Abī Dāwūd.

Ibn Mājah, Muḥammad ibn Yazīd al-Qazwīnī (d. 273 AH/887 CE), Sunan Ibn Mājah.

Al-Qurṭubī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad (d. 671 AH/1273 CE), Al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān, pp. 194–195.