who turns away from his Lord, rebels against Allah, behaves arrogantly toward the servants of Allah, is infatuated with himself, and trumpets his words in swollen pride and contempt for creation. In reality he is the lowest and most despised of men. For that reason Allah says, “Indeed, Allah does not love anyone who is conceited and boastful” (4:36). Such ugly qualities impel them to withhold the obligatory rights, and by their words and actions they incite others to do the same.

“And they conceal what Allah has granted them of His bounty” (4:37)—namely, the knowledge by which the lost could be guided and the ignorant could seek direction. They hide it from the people and present them with falsehood that bars them from the truth. Thus they combine miserliness with wealth and miserliness with knowledge, working for the ruin of their own souls and the ruin of others. These are the traits of the disbelievers; therefore Allah says, “We have prepared for the disbelievers a humiliating punishment” (4:37)—because, just as they belittled the truth, grew arrogant toward people, and disdained fulfilling their obligations, Allah will abase them with painful torment and everlasting disgrace.

Allah the Exalted also says, “Do not keep your hand chained to your neck, nor spread it out to its full extent” (17:29), meaning: beware of these two reprehensible traits:

• stinginess—holding back what is obligatory or failing to spend where spending is required;
• squandering—spending on what is unbefitting, or in amounts that exceed what is fitting.

“If you do so, you will sit reproached” (17:29), that is, you will be blamed for your extravagance, for every rational person knows that wastefulness clashes with sound reason just as it contradicts the Sacred Law. Allah has made wealth a means of sustaining the interests of His creatures. Just as withholding it from the purposes for which it was created is condemnable, so too is spending it on harmful things or overspending—even on permissible matters. Such behavior destroys wealth without benefit, betrays poor judgment and warped management. Weak, disorderly management is censured in every matter, whereas prudent stewardship is praiseworthy and beneficial both to the one who practices it and to others.