A disheartening spectacle:
If you measure the present condition of Muslims against these sound texts, lofty manners, noble sense of honor, chivalrous protectiveness, and their traditional concern to safeguard chastity, honor, and lineage, you will find that many Muslims have flung their religion behind their backs and slipped away from it. Modesty and moral restraint are now derided as backwardness and rigidity, whereas moral laxity—discarding the cloak of bashfulness and chastity—is hailed as progress and enlightenment. To Allah we belong, and to Him we shall return.

Chapter: The Expiatory Offering (fidya)

Hadith 1
ʿAbdullāh ibn Maʿqil reported: I sat with Kaʿb ibn ʿUjrah and asked him about the fidya. He said, “The verse was revealed about me in particular, yet it applies to all of you in general. I was carried to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while lice were falling onto my face. He said, ‘I did not think the pain had reached the extent I now see—or: I did not think the hardship had reached the extent I now see. Can you afford a sheep?’ I replied, ‘No.’ He said, ‘Then fast three days, or feed six needy people, giving each needy person half a sāʿ.’ ”

In another narration: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ instructed him to distribute a faraq of food among six needy people, or to offer a sheep, or to fast three days.”

Unfamiliar terms
• “Nuzilat fiyya” (It was revealed about me): i.e., the verse, “Whoever among you is ill or has an ailment of the head must make a fidya: fasting, charity, or sacrifice” (Q 2:196).
• “Humiltu” (I was carried): passive construction.
• “Mā kuntu urā” — with the hamzah pronounced — means “I did not think.”
• “Mā arā” — with the hamzah open — means “I now see.”
• “al-Jahd” — with the jīm in fatḥah — means “hardship” (when with ḍammah it can mean “capacity” or “ability”; the first sense is intended here).
• “al-Faraq” — with fatḥah on both the fāʾ and rāʾ — is a measure that holds three prophetic sāʿs.

The prophetic sāʿ, its modern equivalents, and the comparison between the two were discussed earlier in the section on zakāh.