Surah Luqman Ayat 4 (31:4 Quran) With Tafsir

Ala-Maududi

(31:4) who establish Prayer and pay Zakah, and have firm faith in the Hereafter.^[3]

3. It does not mean that the righteous people bear only these three qualities. By using the common epithet of righteous for them, it has been pointed out that they refrain from all those evils which this Book forbids and practice all those good things which this Book enjoins. Then, the three qualities of the righteous person have been especially mentioned in order to show that all other good acts depend on these three things. They establish the Salat which engenders God worship and piety as a permanent habit with them. They pay the Zakat which strengthens the spirit of sacrifice in them, subdues the love of the world and arouses a desire for the goodwill of Allah. And they believe in the Hereafter, which instills the sense of responsibility and answerability. This does not allow them to live like an animal which is free to graze at will in the pasture, but allows a man who is fully conscious of the fact that he is not independent but the slave of a Master before Whom he is answerable for all his activities of life. Owing to these three qualities, these righteous people are not the kind of the righteous persons who happen to do good just by chance, who may commit evil as often and as freely as they would do good. Contrary to this, these qualities inculcate in them an enduring system of thought and morality owing to which goodness issues forth from them in a regulated and systematic manner, and the evil, if at all committed, is committed just by chance. They do not have any deeprooted motives, which might be arising from their own system of thought and morality and leading them on to the evil way under their own nature impulse.

Ibn-Kathir

The tafsir of Surah Luqman verse 4 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Luqman ayat 1 which provides the complete commentary from verse 1 through 7.