that righteousness lay in this. Allah, exalted is He, then informed them that righteousness is not their religion and practice; rather, it is what He has set forth in this verse. This was the view of Qatadah and Muqatil ibn Hayyan.

Others said that those intended are the believers. In the beginning of Islam, before the obligatory duties were revealed, if a man professed the two testimonies of faith and performed the prayer in whichever direction it was, then died in that state, Paradise was assured for him. ⦗24a⦘

When the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, emigrated, the obligatory duties were revealed, the prescribed limits were established, and the direction of prayer was turned towards the Ka'bah, Allah revealed this verse and said: “It is not righteousness” (1)—that is, righteousness does not consist entirely in your praying towards the east or the west while doing nothing else besides that—“but righteousness” is what has been mentioned in this verse. This was the view of Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, Ata', and al-Dahhak.

Regarding “but righteousness”: Nafi' and Ibn Amir recited walakin with a light nun and read “righteousness” in the nominative case. The rest recited it with a doubled nun and read “righteousness” in the accusative case.

His saying, exalted is He, “one who believes in Allah”: He made “one who,” though a noun, the predicate of “righteousness,” which denotes an action; for one does not say, “Righteousness is Zayd.” They differed concerning the explanation of this. It was said that, since “one who” occurs in the place of a verbal noun, it was made the predicate of “righteousness,” as though He had said: “Rather, righteousness is faith in Allah.” The Arabs may make a noun the predicate of a verb. Al-Farra' cited:

“By your life, youth is not the growing of beards;
Rather, youth is every generous young man.”

Thus, he made the growing of beards the predicate of youth. It was also said that there is an ellipsis, meaning: “Rather, righteousness is the righteousness of one who believes in Allah.” The second occurrence was omitted because the first sufficed, as in their saying, “Generosity is Hatim,” meaning, “Generosity is Hatim’s generosity.” It was also said to mean: “Rather, the person possessing righteousness is one who believes in Allah,” as in His saying, exalted is He: “They are degrees with Allah” (163—Al Imran), meaning, possessors of degrees. It was further said to mean: “Rather, the righteous person is one who believes in Allah,” as in His saying, exalted is He: “The final outcome belongs to God-consciousness” (132—Taha), meaning, to the God-conscious person. What is meant here by righteousness is faith and God-consciousness.

“And the Last Day, the angels, the Book”—that is, the revealed Books—“and all the prophets; and gives wealth”: that is, he gives wealth “despite loving it.” They differed over this pronoun. Most commentators said that it refers to wealth: he gives wealth while he is healthy and loves it. Ibn Mas'ud said: “That you give it while you are healthy and miserly, hoping for wealth and fearing poverty.”

Abd al-Wahid ibn Ahmad al-Mulayhi informed us; Ahmad ibn Abd Allah al-Nu'aymi informed us; Muhammad ibn Yusuf informed us; Muhammad ibn Isma'il informed us; Musa ibn Isma'il informed us; Abd al-Wahid informed us; Umarah ibn al-Qa'qa' related to us from Abu Zur'ah, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: A man came to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and said, “O Messenger of Allah, which charity carries the greatest reward?” He said: “That you give charity while you are healthy and miserly, fearing poverty and hoping for wealth; and do not delay until your soul reaches your throat and you say, ‘For so-and-so