(38–39) “So give the close relative his due, as well as the poor and the stranded traveler. That is best for those who seek the Face of Allah, and it is they who will be successful. * Whatever you give seeking a gain, so that it may increase through people’s wealth, will not increase with Allah. But whatever you give in alms, seeking the Face of Allah—it is they whose reward will be multiplied many times over.”
That is: Give the relative close to you—according to how closely related and needy he is—the due that the Lawgiver has made obligatory or encouraged. This includes obligatory maintenance, charity, gifts, dutiful kindness, greetings of peace, honoring him, pardoning his slips, and overlooking his mistakes. Likewise, [give] the poor person whom poverty and need have rendered helpless enough to relieve his need and meet his necessity by providing him with food, drink, and clothing.
“And the stranded traveler” means the stranger who has been cut off outside his homeland and is likely to be in dire need, since he has neither money nor a means of earning that he arranged [for] his journey. This is unlike someone in his own country: even if he has no wealth, he will generally have some trade, craft, or similar means of meeting his needs. This is why Allah allotted a share of zakat to the poor and the stranded traveler.
“That”—namely, giving to close relatives, the poor, and stranded travelers—“is best for those who seek,” through that deed, “the Face of Allah.” That is, it brings abundant good and immense reward, for it is among the finest righteous deeds: its benefit extends to others, reaches its proper recipients, and is coupled with sincerity.
If the Face of Allah is not sought through it, it brings no good to the giver, even though it still brings good and benefit to the recipient. As the Exalted says: “There is no good in much of their private conversation, except for one who enjoins charity, what is right, or reconciliation between people.” The implication is that these affirmed deeds are good because their benefit extends to others; but whoever does that seeking Allah’s pleasure, We shall grant him an immense reward.
“And it is they”—those who perform these and other deeds for the sake of Allah—“who will be successful”: those who attain Allah’s reward and are saved from His punishment.
Having mentioned the deed [of spending] through which His Face is sought, He then mentions a deed performed for a worldly aim, saying: “Whatever you give seeking a gain, so that it may increase through people’s wealth”—that is, whatever you give from the wealth left over after meeting your needs, intending thereby that it should grow in your own wealth by giving it to someone from whom you hope to receive more in return—such a deed does not increase in reward with Allah because it lacks the necessary condition of sincerity. The same applies to deeds intended to increase one’s standing or to show off before people: none of this increases with Allah.
“But whatever you give in alms”—that is, wealth that purifies you of base character traits, purifies your wealth of the taint of withholding it, and goes further toward meeting the recipient’s need—“seeking” through it “the Face of Allah—it is they whose reward will be multiplied many times over.” That is, their reward will be multiplied: their expenditures grow with Allah, and Allah nurtures them for their sake until they become something immense.
⦗643⦘
The words, “But whatever you give in alms,” indicate that if someone gives charity while those dependent upon him are in dire need, or while he has an unpaid debt that takes precedence over charity, then it is not a purifying charity for which the servant is rewarded, and his disposal of the wealth is rejected under Islamic law. As the Exalted says in praise of one “who gives his wealth to purify himself.” Merely giving wealth, therefore, is not good unless it possesses this quality—namely, that it is given in a manner by which the giver purifies himself.