Al-Tafsīr al-Qayyim - Ibn al-Qayyim - (158)

Al-Tafsīr al-QayyimIbn al-Qayyim

This is common in the parables of the Quran; indeed, most of them follow this pattern. He then concludes the verse with two of His Most Beautiful Names that accord with its context: the All-Bountiful, the All-Knowing. The servant should therefore neither regard this multiplication as improbable nor find his heart too constrained to embrace it, for the One who multiplies the reward is boundless in His giving, His wealth, and His bounty. Yet he should not suppose that the vastness of His giving means that every giver receives this multiplication. He knows who is suited to it and worthy of it, and who neither deserves it nor is worthy of it. His generosity and bounty, exalted is He, do not contradict His wisdom. Rather, out of His boundless bounty and mercy, He bestows His favor where it belongs, and in His wisdom and knowledge, He withholds it from those unworthy of it. Then:

[Surah al-Baqarah (2): verse 262]
“Those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah and then do not follow what they have spent with reminders of their generosity or hurt will have their reward with their Lord. No fear will be upon them, nor will they grieve.” (262)

This explains what constitutes a goodly loan: it must be in His way—that is, in seeking His pleasure and following the path that leads to Him. Among the most beneficial of these paths is the path of jihad. The way of Allah has both a specific and a general sense, and the specific is part of the general. Moreover, the giver must not follow his charity with reminders of his generosity or hurt. Such reminders take two forms.

The first is to regard the recipient as indebted to him in his heart, without saying so aloud. Even if this does not invalidate his charity, it reflects his deficient awareness of Allah’s favor upon him: Allah gave him wealth while withholding it from others, and enabled him to give while denying others that opportunity. Thus, in every respect, it is he who owes gratitude to Allah. How, then, can his heart regard someone else as indebted to him for a favor?

The second is to remind the recipient verbally of his favor. He thereby wrongs the person he has helped through the very kindness he has shown him, making him feel that he has been made his beneficiary, placed under an obligation to him, and burdened with a debt of gratitude around his neck. He says, “Did I not give you such-and-such?” and enumerates the favors he has done him. Sufyān said: “He says, ‘I gave to you, yet you did not thank me.’” Abd al-Rahmān ibn Ziyād «1» said: My father used to say, “If you give a man

(1) ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Ziyād ibn An‘um al-Sha‘bānī al-Ifrīqī, the ascetic and preacher, was Ifrīqiya’s leading scholar and judge and the first Muslim born there. He narrated from Abū Abī ‘Abd al-Rahmān al-Jabalī and others of his generation. He visited al-Mansūr and admonished him with eloquent words. He was not a strong hadith transmitter. He died in 156 AH. (See Shadharāt al-Dhahab.)

وهذا كثير من أمثال القرآن بل عامتها ترد على هذا النمط، ثم ختم الآية باسمين من أسمائه الحسنى مطابقين لسياقها وهما الواسع العليم فلا يستبعد العبد هذه المضاعفة ولا يضيق عنها عطفه فإن المضاعف واسع العطاء واسع الغني واسع الفضل ومع ذلك فلا يظن أن سعة عطائه تقتضي حصولها لكل منفق فإنه عليم بمن تصلح له هذه المضاعفة وهو أهل لها ومن لا يستحقها ولا هو أهل لها فإن كرمه وفضله تعالى لا يناقض حكمته بل يضع فضله مواضعه لسعته ورحمته ويمنعه من ليس من أهله بحكمته وعلمه. ثم [سورة البقرة (٢) : آية ٢٦٢] الَّذِينَ يُنْفِقُونَ أَمْوالَهُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ثُمَّ لا يُتْبِعُونَ ما أَنْفَقُوا مَنًّا وَلا أَذىً لَهُمْ أَجْرُهُمْ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ وَلا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ (٢٦٢) هذا بيان للقرض الحسن ما هو؟ وهو أن يكون في سبيله أي في مرضاته والطريق الموصلة إليه ومن أنفعها سبيل الجهاد، وسبيل الله خاص وعام، والخاص جزء من السبيل العام وأن لا يتبع صدقته بمن ولا أذى، فالمن نوعان. أحدهما: منّ بقلبه من غير أن يصرح له بلسانه وهذا إن لم يبطل الصدقة فهو من نقصان شهود منة الله عليه في عطائه المال وحرمان غيره وتوفيقه للبذل ومنع غيره منه فلله المنة عليه من كل وجه. فكيف يشهد قلبه منة لغيره؟. والنوع الثاني: أن يمن عليه بلسانه فيعتدي على من أحسن إليه بإحسانه ويريه أنه اصطنعه وأنه أوجب عليه حقا وطوقه منة في عنقه فيقول: أما أعطيتك كذا وكذا؟ ويعدد أياديه عنده، قال سفيان: يقول: أعطيتك فما شكرت. وقال عبد الرحمن بن زياد «١» : كان أبي يقول: إذا أعطيت رجلا

(١) هو شيخ أفريقية وقاضيها وأول من ولد بها من المسلمين عبد الرحمن بن زياد بن أنعم الشعباني الأفريقي الزاهد الواعظ، روي عن أبي أبي عبد الرحمن الجبلي وطبقته وقد وفد على المنصور فوعظه بكلام حسن وليس بقوي في الحديث توفي سنة ست وخمسين ومائة (انظر شذرات الذهب) .