alternative.” He also said:

“A man will keep begging from people until he comes on the Day of Resurrection with not a shred of flesh on his face.”

Another reason is that anything received beyond the value of his gift is in the nature of charity, which is unlawful for him. Another interpretation has been given of the saying of Allah, Almighty and Majestic:

“Do not give in order to receive more.” [al-Muddaththir: 6]

It means: do not hold your gifts and deeds over others, nor consider them great. This is the view of al-Hasan. According to this interpretation, the Prophet, peace be upon him, is addressed, but his community is intended. Mujāhid said instead that it means: do not grow too weak to do good in abundance. He thus interprets lā tamnun as “do not grow weak,” from the Arabic expression habl manīn, meaning a weak rope. Zayd said that it means: do not hold prophethood and the Quran over people, seeking payment and worldly goods from them in return. The interpretation we presented earlier is more widely held and more appropriate.

Section

A gift intended for recompense takes one of three forms:

First: the giver hopes for recompense but neither specifies it nor stipulates it.

Second: the giver stipulates recompense but does not specify it.

Third: the giver specifies recompense but does not stipulate it.

The first form—giving a gift in the hope of recompense without specifying or stipulating it—is, according to Ibn al-Qāsim’s position, like a marriage contracted without a specified dower. So long as the gift remains in existence and its return is still an option, the recipient may choose either to provide recompense covering its value or to return it to the giver. Payment of its value becomes obligatory only when return is precluded.

According to Mutarrif’s view and his report from Mālik, and the apparent meaning of Umar ibn al-Khattāb’s statement, the giver is not obliged to accept the gift’s value until its return is precluded by the loss of the gifted item itself. This resembles Ibn al-Mājishūn’s view concerning a man who marries a woman leaving the determination of her dower to her: she is not obliged to accept the customary dower for a woman of her standing until after consummation. This differs from the position of Ibn al-Qāsim, Ibn Abd al-Hakam, and Asbagh, who hold that she must accept the customary dower once he fixes it for her, exactly as in a marriage contracted without a specified dower.