(272–274) “It is not for you to guide them; rather, Allah guides whom He wills. Whatever good you spend is for your own benefit, and you spend only to seek Allah’s pleasure. Whatever good you spend will be repaid to you in full, and you will not be wronged. * Charity is for the poor who are committed to Allah’s cause and cannot travel through the land to earn a living. The uninformed person thinks them self-sufficient because of their restraint. You will recognize them by their marks. They do not beg people importunately. Whatever good you spend, Allah knows it fully. * Those who spend their wealth by night and day, privately and publicly, will have their reward with their Lord. They will have no fear, nor will they grieve.”
Allah Most High says to His Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—“It is not for you to guide people.” Your duty is only to convey the message clearly, while guidance rests with Allah Most High. This indicates that spending may be directed to a Muslim or a disbeliever, even if the latter is not guided. Hence He says, “Whatever good you spend”—whether little or much, and whether upon a Muslim or a disbeliever—“is for your own benefit”; that is, its benefit returns to you.
“And you spend only to seek Allah’s pleasure.” This informs us that the believers’ spending, arising from their faith, is undertaken solely for Allah’s sake, because their faith prevents them from pursuing corrupt aims and requires sincerity of them. “Whatever good you spend will be repaid to you in full”: on the Day of Resurrection, you will receive your rewards in full. “And you will not be wronged”; that is, none of your deeds will be diminished in the slightest—not even by an atom’s weight—just as nothing will be added to your evil deeds.
Allah then mentions the recipients most deserving of such spending and describes them with six characteristics. The first is poverty. The second is conveyed in His words, “committed to Allah’s cause”; that is, they have devoted themselves to obeying Allah through jihad and other acts. They stand ready for that and are wholly dedicated to it. The third is their inability to travel in search of a livelihood. He therefore says, “They cannot travel through the land,” meaning that they cannot journey to earn a living.
The fourth is His statement, “The uninformed person thinks them self-sufficient because of their restraint.” This demonstrates the sincerity of their patience and the excellence of their restraint. The fifth is His statement, “You will recognize them by their marks,” meaning by the sign Allah mentioned in describing them. This does not contradict His statement, “The uninformed person thinks them self-sufficient,” because one who is unaware of their circumstances lacks the discernment to perceive their true condition. A discerning and perceptive person, however, recognizes them by their marks as soon as he sees them (1).
The sixth is His statement, “They do not beg people importunately”; that is, they do not ask with importunity or persistence. If they do happen to ask because they need to, they do not press those whom they ask. Such people are the most deserving and entitled to charitable gifts because of the admirable qualities with which Allah has described them. As for spending considered in itself, regardless of the recipient, it is goodness, kindness, and righteousness for which the giver will be rewarded. Hence He says, “Whatever good you spend, Allah knows it fully.”
Allah then describes those who give charity at all times and in every circumstance, saying, “Those who spend their wealth in Allah’s cause”—that is, in obedience to Him and upon the path that earns His pleasure, not on forbidden or disliked things or on their own desires—“by night and day, privately and publicly, will have their reward with their Lord”; that is, a tremendous reward and abundant good from the Merciful Lord. “They will have no fear” when those who fell short are afraid, “nor will they grieve” when the negligent grieve. Thus they attain the desired goal and are delivered from evils and all that is feared.
Having completed His description of those who do good to His servants through the various forms of spending, Allah Most High then describes the wrongdoers who harm them in the worst manner, saying: