Near-synonyms: the poor

The poor

مِسْكِين / فَقِير

According to some commentators, the first is more destitute than the second; according to others, it is the reverse! A third opinion holds that the two terms are equivalent. Nevertheless, if one keeps to the order stated in the verse « إِنَّمَا الصَّدَقَاتُ لِلْفُقَرَاءِ وَالْمَسَاكِينِ » (« Alms are only for the destitute and the needy… », 9:60), it is not too hazardous to think that Qur’anic language considers the فقير poorer than the مسكين, for it seems natural to place the most needy first. Moreover, in the first verse below, the مساكين owned a boat; now it is said precisely that the مسكين is one who has income, but insufficient, while the فقير has nothing (or the reverse, for the proponents of the other view). We also know, through hadiths, that the Prophet ﷺ asked God to preserve him from فَقْر (faqr), and it is reported that he said: « O God, make me live poor (miskîn) and die poor. » Now, if the two terms were equivalent, there would be an obvious contradiction here.

In everyday language, the word مسكين is often used figuratively, to speak of someone one pities.

أَمَّا السَّفِينَةُ فَكَانَتْ لِمَسَاكِينَ

As for the boat, it belonged to needy people… (18:79)

لِلفُقَرَاءِ الَّذِينَ أُحْصِرُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ

For the destitute who are confined in the path of God. (2:273)

The other near-synonyms