spending. They occupy different ranks before Allah. Those likened to the downpour hold the highest rank: they spend their wealth by night and day, privately and openly, and give others preference over themselves even when they are in need. Those likened to light rain are the moderate among them.

Thus, He likens the condition and deeds of both groups to a garden on high ground, and their abundant spending to the downpour and light rain. Just as each kind of rain makes the garden’s fruit and other produce flourish many times over, so their spending, whether much or little, flourishes, increases, and is multiplied with Allah, provided it springs from seeking His pleasure and from inner resolve.

The meaning of di‘fayn has been disputed. Some say that the di‘fayn of something means twice its amount added to the original, while its di‘f means an amount equal to it.

Others say that its di‘f means twice its amount, its di‘fayn means three times its amount, and three ad‘āf means four times its amount: each additional di‘f adds another equal amount. What prompted this interpretation was the desire to avoid giving the singular and dual forms the same meaning. Its proponent understood the di‘f of something to be an equal amount added to it. Adding that equal amount produces two equal amounts, which together constitute the di‘f. Thus, if one said, “It has di‘fayn,” there would otherwise be no difference between the singular and dual. In his view, therefore, di‘fayn means two equal amounts added to the original. This necessarily means that three ad‘āf are three equal amounts added to the original, and so on indefinitely.

The correct view is that di‘fayn means only two equal amounts: the original and an amount equal to it. This is indicated by His words, Most High, “It yields twice its produce,” meaning two equal amounts, and by His words, Most High, 33:30: “Her punishment will be doubled,” meaning two equal amounts. Hence, concerning good deeds, He says, 33:31: “We shall give her her reward twice over.”

Their supposed difficulty—that the singular and dual would have the same meaning—arises from assuming that di‘f means an equal amount together with the original. That is not so. Rather, an equal amount may be considered in two ways: considered alone, it is a di‘f; considered together with its counterpart, the two are di‘fayn. And Allah knows best.

There is also disagreement over what governs the nominative case in His words, “then light rain.”