In contrast to their having “clenched their hands,” Allah says of the believers:
“and they give the zakah” (al-Tawbah 9:71).
Although zakah has come to be a technical term reserved for the obligatory alms, in its original sense it denotes every form of benefit extended to people—whether through physical service or monetary aid. Thus the two interpretive possibilities here are the same as those noted for the phrase “clenching the hand.”
Next He says:
“They forgot Allah, so He forgot them” (al-Tawbah 9:67).
Allah’s “forgetting” them is His abandoning them to oblivion; and set against that, in describing the believers, He says:
“and they establish the prayer” (al-Tawbah 9:71).
Prayer, too, embraces both the prescribed prayers and voluntary acts; indeed, every remembrance of Allah may come under its heading, whether verbal or internal. Ibn Masʿūd—may Allah be pleased with him—said, “So long as you are remembering Allah, you are in prayer, even if you are in …”
(1) Qur’an, Surah al-Tawbah (9:71).
(2) The printed edition reads: ḥaqīqa sharʿiyya (legal usage).
(3) Qur’an, Surah al-Tawbah (9:67).
(4) The printed edition adds: “he said.”
(5) Manuscripts A and B read: niʿam al-mafrūḍa (the obligatory livestock).
(6) Manuscripts A and B read: “or a meaning.”
(7) The illustrious Companion is ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd ibn Ghāfil ibn Ḥabīb al-Hudhali, Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, an ally of Banū Zuhra. He accepted Islam early in Mecca, at the same time as Saʿīd ibn Zayd and his wife Fāṭima bint al-Khaṭṭāb; some report that he was the sixth person to embrace the faith. He was the first to recite the Qur’an aloud in Mecca and was beaten for it. He served the Prophet, migrated twice, prayed facing both qiblahs, and fought at Badr, Uḥud, and every subsequent campaign. Renowned among the Companions for his mastery of the Qur’an and its exegesis—a fact affirmed by the Prophet himself—he was sent by ʿUmar to Kūfa as a teacher and later summoned by ʿUthmān to Madina, where he died in 32 AH/652 CE. See: Usd al-Ghabah 3:256–260; al-Iṣābah 2:368–370, no. 4954.