Chapter 33 – Showing Kindness to the Orphan, to Girls, and to all who are weak, poor, or broken-hearted; doing good to them, having mercy on them, dealing with them humbly, and extending to them the wing of gentleness.

Allah the Exalted said, “And lower your wing to the believers” (Al-Hijr 88). He also said, “Keep yourself patient with those who call upon their Lord morning and evening, seeking His Face, and do not let your eyes pass beyond them, desiring the adornment of the worldly life” (Al-Kahf 28).

Explanation
The author—may Allah have mercy on him—writes: “Chapter on showing courtesy to orphans, the weak, girls, and the like, those who are deserving of compassion and mercy.” Indeed, the religion of Islam is a religion of mercy, tenderness, and beneficence. Allah, exalted is He, has urged beneficence in numerous verses of His Book and has declared that He loves the doers of good. Those most in need of kindness are the ones to whom kindness is superior and more complete, and among them are the orphans.

An orphan is a child whose father dies before the child reaches puberty, whether the child is male or female; the death of the mother is not taken into account. In other words, an orphan is the minor whose father passed away before the child attained maturity, even if the mother is still alive. By contrast, if the mother has died while the father remains, the child is not considered an orphan—contrary to common folk who imagine that the orphan is the one whose mother died. Rather, the orphan is the one whose father has died.

He is called an orphan because of this separation, for the child has been left alone, cut off from