Qatādah said: “It means seeking the reward.” Al-Shaʿbī and al-Kalbī said: “It means conviction within themselves”: that is, they pay zakah willingly, certain of the reward and affirming Allah’s promise. They know that what they give is better for them than what they keep. It was also said: they are certain that Allah will compensate them for it.

ʿAṭāʾ and Mujāhid said: “They make firm”—that is, they lay down their wealth. Al-Ḥasan said: When a man intended to give charity, he would deliberate: if it was for Allah, he proceeded; but if doubt was mixed into it, he refrained. According to this view, “making firm” means deliberation, as in His saying, Exalted is He: “Devote yourself wholly to Him” (Surah al-Muzzammil, 8)—that is, complete devotion.

“As the example of a garden”—that is, an orchard. Al-Mubarrad (1) and al-Farrāʾ said: If an orchard contains date palms, it is a garden; and if it contains grapevines, it is a firdaws, a vineyard-garden. “On high ground”: Ibn ʿĀmir and ʿĀṣim recited this word, as well as “to high ground” in Surah al-Muʾminūn, with the r pronounced with an a-vowel, while the other reciters pronounced it with a u-vowel. It is an elevated, level place through which rivers flow, so that it is neither inundated by water nor beyond water’s reach. It was placed on high ground because vegetation there grows better and more luxuriantly. “A heavy rainfall struck it”: that is, abundant, heavy rain. “And it yielded its produce”: that is, its fruit. Nāfiʿ, Ibn Kathīr, and Abū ʿAmr read the verb “it yielded” without consonantal doubling, whereas the remaining reciters read it with doubling. Nāfiʿ and Ibn Kathīr additionally read “its produce” and “produce” in their lighter forms; and Abū ʿAmr read “Our messengers,” “your messengers,” “their messengers,” and “Our ways” in their lighter forms.

“Twice over”: that is, it doubled its yield. ʿAṭāʾ said: In one year, it produced (2) what other gardens produce in two years. ʿIkrimah said: It bore fruit twice in one year. “Even if no heavy rainfall strikes it, then a drizzle does”: that is, a gentle shower—a weak, light rain that falls continuously.

Al-Suddī said: It is dew. This is a parable Allah, Exalted is He, has set forth for the deed of the sincere believer. He says: Just as this garden yields abundantly in every condition and never fails, whether the rain is little or plentiful, so too Allah multiplies the charity of the sincere believer who neither reminds others of his favour nor causes harm, whether his spending is little or great. For when the drizzle continues, it has the effect of a heavy downpour.