Ibn Kaysan said: “This does not concern obligatory charity; rather, it concerns charity given as expiation for an oath.”

Ikrimah said: “It is obligatory charity. When the acceptance of these people’s repentance was revealed, those among the ones who had remained behind and had not repented said, ‘Only yesterday, these men were with us: they were neither spoken to (1) nor sat with. So what has become of them?’”

“Do they not know that it is Allah who accepts repentance from His servants and receives charities, and that Allah alone is the Accepter of Repentance, the Most Merciful? And say, ‘Work, for Allah will see your deeds, as will His Messenger and the believers. Then you will be returned to the Knower of the unseen and the seen, and He will inform you of what you used to do.’ And others are deferred pending Allah’s command: He may punish them, or He may turn to them in mercy. And Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.” (104–106)

Allah Most High says, “Do they not know that it is Allah who accepts repentance from His servants and receives charities,” meaning, He accepts them; “and that Allah alone is the Accepter of Repentance, the Most Merciful.”

Abd al-Wahhab ibn Muhammad al-Khatib informed us; Abd al-Aziz ibn Ahmad al-Khallal informed us; Abu al-Abbas Muhammad ibn Yaqub al-Asamm narrated to us; al-Rabi ibn Sulayman informed us; al-Shafii informed us; Sufyan ibn Uyaynah informed us, from Ibn Ajlan, from Said ibn Yasar, from Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: I heard Abu al-Qasim, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say: “By Him in whose Hand is my soul, no servant gives charity from lawful earnings—and Allah accepts only what is good, and only what is good ascends to heaven—without it being as though he has placed it in the Hand of the Most Merciful. He then nurtures it for him as one of you raises his foal, until even a morsel will come on the Day of Resurrection as great as a mighty mountain.” Then he recited: “It is Allah who accepts repentance from His servants and receives charities.” (2)

Allah Most High says, “And say, ‘Work, for Allah will see your deeds, as will His Messenger and the believers. Then you will be returned to the Knower of the unseen and the seen, and He will inform you of what you used to do.’” Mujahid said: “This is a warning to them.” It was said: the Prophet’s seeing is by Allah Most High informing him, while the believers’ seeing is through Allah placing love in their hearts for the righteous and hatred for those who spread corruption.

Allah Most High says, “And others are deferred pending Allah’s command: He may punish them, or He may turn to them in mercy. And Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.” The reciters of Medina and Kufa, apart from Abu Bakr, read “deferred” without a hamzah, while the others read it with a hamzah. Postponement means deferral; “deferred” means those whose case has been postponed. “Pending Allah’s command” means pending Allah’s decree concerning them. They are the three whose account follows: Kab ibn Malik,