Birr
\r\n Al-Baqara (The Cow) Chapter 2: Verse 177
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"The birr does not consist in your turning your faces towards the East or the West, but true birr is this, that one believes in God, and the Last Day, and the angels, and the Scripture, and the Prophets; that one gives one's own wealth howsoever cherished it may be, to kinsfolk, orphans, the needy, the wayfarer, and beggars, and also for the sake of slaves; that one performs the ritual prayer, pays the alms. And those who keep their covenant when they have once covenanted and who are patient in distress and hardship: there are they who are sincere; these are they who are Godfearing."
The word Birr is perhaps among the most elusive of the Quranic moral terms. In any case, the usage of the word in Quran indicates that a very prominent place is given to factors relating to justice and love in human relations, so much so that - to take two representative elements - the act of rendering religious service to God and that of feeding the poor are made to stand almost on the same footing. This should not surprise us, for the Quran as a whole gives an outstanding emphasis to justice and love in social life. Piety, in other words, cannot be piety unless it manifests itself in various works motivated by the will to practice justice and love towards others.
\r\nThe word birr seems to lend further confirmation to this view. The above verse furnishes a contextual definition of the word. A glance at the elements here enumerated as constituting true birr would make us understand at once that there is practically nothing to distinguish it from true iman. We see at the same time why this term has been so variously translated in English. It may very well be rendered as 'piety'; it may no less justifiably be rendered as 'righteousness' or 'kindness'. But any of these translations taken alone, cannot possibly do justice to the original word which includes all these and perhaps still others in its complex meaning.
\r\nCompiled From:
\r\n "Ethico Religious Concepts in the Quran" - Toshihiko Izutsu, pp. 207, 208