معن

Core meaning

The simplest aid owed between those who live near: the last degree of what one can refuse another.

Uses

1. ٱلْمَاعُون → "assistance" : the minimal aid, withheld at the end of a list of failings.

   • «وَيَمْنَعُونَ ٱلْمَاعُونَ» — "and withhold assistance" (107:7)

Evidence from the text

The word occurs only in 107:7, at the end of a list: harshly repelling the orphan, not urging the feeding of the destitute, making contact absent-minded, seeking to be seen, and withholding assistance. The list descends from the heaviest to the smallest: after harshness toward the orphan comes the refusal of what costs almost nothing.

The verb منع, to refuse, makes it the object of a refusal: it is the simplest aid that can be asked between neighbors, and it is the one refused.

See also

منع (to refuse, the verb that governs it)