pure (1). Another opinion holds that they do not cleanse them with sincerity; it is as though—Allah knows best—he meant the people who show off, for ostentation is a form of polytheism (2).

Al-Hasan said: they do not believe in the zakāt nor acknowledge it. Al-Ḍaḥḥāk said: they neither give charity nor spend in obedience. Ibn al-Sāʾib said: they do not pay the zakāt due on their wealth; he added, “They used to perform the Hajj and the ʿUmrah but would not give zakāt” (3).

The correct view is that the verse covers everything by which a person becomes purified—whether through monotheism or through righteous deeds. Thus Moses said to Pharaoh (4): “Then say, ‘Would you be willing to purify yourself?’” (al-Nāziʿāt 79:18), and Allah says, “He has certainly succeeded who purifies himself.”

Moreover, the obligatory charity had not yet been prescribed when the verse was revealed—namely His words: “Say: I am only a man like you; it is revealed to me that your god is One God. So remain steadfast toward Him and seek His forgiveness. And woe to the polytheists—those who do not give the zakāt” (Fussilat 41:6–7) (5).

If someone objects that the verb yuʾtā is transitive, the answer is that it functions here just as in His words: “And if an enemy force had entered upon them from every side, and they had been asked to turn traitor, they would have done so” (al-Aḥzāb 33:14), and His words: “And those who give what they give while their hearts tremble, knowing that they will return to their Lord” (al-Muʾminūn 23:60). It has also been recited: “what…"