Welcome Friends: Ahlan wa sahlan!
Today’s reading (as well as tomorrow’s) is all about how BEST to spend what we see as ‘our’ wealth, and the resources we ‘control.’
Although -in reality- it is NOT our wealth and we are only entrusted with it temporarily, we ARE fully responsible for it as long as it is within our reach (HQ57:7):
“BELIEVE in God and His Messenger, and spend (on others)
out of that of which He has made you trustees/successors:
for, those of you who have attained to faith and who spend freely
[in God’s cause] shall have a great reward.”
COMMENTS:
1. We stopped yesterday at verse 264 which offered a similitude, an example (made clear by the term “as in a person who …..كالذي”) about someone who spends for public recognition and does not believe in God. That theme continues today with Verse 265, offering a contrasting example ‘mathalمثل-’ in a community that is spending out of a longing for God’s good pleasure, and in inner affirmation ‘from their Selves.’ This is like a fertile garden on high ground upon which there is heavy rain. It will yield its crop twofold- and will even be productive with a light shower or a sprinkling of dew.
The difference is in the foundation, the quality of the land itself, each of our individual selves… and NOT in whatever much or little may sustain us. Hypocrisy is indeed incomparable to Genuineness.
2. Since we are all ‘trustees/successors’ on earth, inheriting earth’s bounties to dispose of and regenerate for future benefit, the next verse (266) calls upon us to behave indeed as responsible parents would, giving each other AND leaving the next generation the best we can provide. How would we feel in our weak old age, if we suddenly found all the wealth and gardens we’d left for our children… go up in flames? That picture elicits our response, a potent realization to deal with now, when there STILL is something we can do about it!
3. Although we might spend out of what we don’t need, Verse 267 deters us from giving things we do not like to others, or things we consider unpleasant/unwholesome/foul (خبيث). This is so important; God addresses our innermost intentions here, for only He knows them well and can call our genuineness to account.
4. Verse 268 tells us of the ‘prodding’ we get from our base desires (the Deviant/Satan), in that generosity “would bring us to poverty,” or that we should indeed feel free to “breach the limits imposed upon us (by our higher conscience).”
When we compare both translators’ rendering of ‘FaH-shaa’(فحشاء), we find that Y. Ali calls it ‘unseemly conduct, while M. Asad says it is ‘to be niggardly’ or miserly. I disagree, thanks to the Tanzil search-engine which shows us that FaH-shaa is ALWAYS about illicit sex.
In Arabic, (فحش) ’faHasha’ denotes the spread of something outside its boundaries, something pervasive, and is only about something corrupt and repulsive.
Our Lexicon[1] did add that some people have said that a miser is a ‘faaHish’ because miserliness is a person’s most repulsive trait (but the lexicon considers that a ‘broadened’ concept and I think it does not apply).
[1] فحش: كلمةٌ تدلُّ على قُبحٍ في شيء وشَناعة. من ذلك الفحْش والفَحْشاء والفاحشة. يقولون: كلُّ شيء جاوَزَ قَدرَه فهو فاحش؛ ولا يكون ذلك إلاّ فيما يُتَكَرَّه. ويقولون: الفاحش: البخيل، وهذا على الاتِّساع، والبخلُ أقبحُ خِصال المرء.
5. Verse 269 tells us the value of Wisdom; not a single word can we add to Yusuf Ali’s note 318!
Verses 270- 271, 273- 274 provide guidance on spending. In comparison to the spender for public recognition, Verse 271 speaks of our genuine, heartfelt gifts ‘sadaqaat’ (plural of ‘Sadaqahصدقة/’ from the root-verb ‘Sadaqaصَدَقَ/’ which is about being true/genuine, from which we get the word ‘Sadeeq/true friend’). We should try to give those genuinely heartfelt gifts to the poor privately, although allowing it to be known would also be good.
The Qur’an speaks of such gifts as ‘Sadaqah/Sadaqaat,’ while Zakaat/زكاة in the Qur’an is a much broader concept of purification that encompasses not just everything we give, but everything we do and everything we feel -now and in FUTURE GROWTH IN PURITY. In Q.2:151 we were told that one of the reasons why the Messenger ﷺ was sent was to ‘yuzakkeekum/purify you all (and help you grow in purity).’ The nouns ‘Communion/Salaat’ and ‘Growth in Purification /Zakaat’ go hand in hand in the Qur’an no less than 26 times.
Scholars have traditionally considered ‘Sadaqa’ to refer to what we give as gifts, after we have already given the poor of our wealth what is rightfully theirs (Zakaat). The dues/Zakaat are a RIGHT the poor have upon the wealthy. Although we should not humiliate the poor by publicizing WHO gets the Zakat, it is believed to be a good idea to make it publicly known that the wealthy DO indeed pay their dues as good citizens. That would encourage other wealthy people to pay their dues, and deflect the resentment or humiliation poor people might feel.) See Y. Ali’s notes 319-322.
IMPORTANT NOTE: God’s ‘covering’ of our misdeeds against others/تكفير السيئات is not as simple and straightforward as His forgiveness of our misdeeds against ourselves غفران الذنوب. The latter is just between us and Him, without any third-party in the same account.
The former however, requires the people whom we have wronged to forgive us now, before we arrive together with them at the time of Account.
But this verse shows us how God ‘covers/تكفير’ for us; He will cover what we owe to those we have wronged. It is He who holds both our account and theirs!
Our generosity with the less fortunate in life will make us eligible for His ‘covering’ for us on the Day of Account. AlHamdulil-Lah!
6. Verse 272 tells the Messenger, peace upon him, that he is NOT required to make sure people are guided (see HQ 28:56); well-explained by Muhammad Asad in note 260.
Let us take notice of the beautiful ending to Verse 274, about those who shall have their reward with their Lord, and ‘…on them shall be no fear nor shall they grieve/لا خوف عليهم ولا هم يحزنون’. This reassurance is mentioned 12 times in the Qur’an. It would do us well to go through these verses and attempt to be so reassured!
7. As we have seen, the Qur’an considers us ‘trustees/successors,’ generation after generation, inheriting earth’s bounties and accountable for its use AND regeneration to provide continued benefit to all.
Some might ask: If that’s the case, then what, if anything, can we truly call ‘ours?’ (Even our bodies fall apart -despite our care- and disintegrate..)
The answer is:
There is only one thing that remains OURS throughout. It began before our lowly Life in Proximity on earth (الحياة الدنيا), and will be carried into the Later, Final Life (الحياة الآخرة) .
It is our Relationship with our Creator; a relationship WE DEFINE in this life by our intentions and deeds.
Only when that Single, Essential, relationship remains sound, can all the other beautiful relationships we enjoy in this life….live on to the next.
Enough said!
Tomorrow’s reading is from verse 275-282.
Peace unto all!
[1] فحش: كلمةٌ تدلُّ على قُبحٍ في شيء وشَناعة. من ذلك الفحْش والفَحْشاء والفاحشة. يقولون: كلُّ شيء جاوَزَ قَدرَه فهو فاحش؛ ولا يكون ذلك إلاّ فيما يُتَكَرَّه. ويقولون: الفاحش: البخيل، وهذا على الاتِّساع، والبخلُ أقبحُ خِصال المرء.
[2] ناس” لفظ يخصّ من يأنس ويؤنس له.