And, describing their stinginess, He said:

“Nothing prevents their contributions from being accepted except that they disbelieve in Allah and His Messenger, come to prayer only sluggishly, and spend only reluctantly.”

Such is the condition of someone who spends reluctantly; what, then, of someone who does not spend at all? He also said:

“Among them are those who criticize you concerning the distribution of charity. If they are given some of it, they are pleased; but if they are given none, they become resentful.”

And He said:

“Among them are those who pledged to Allah, ‘If He gives us of His bounty, we will surely give charity and be among the righteous.’ But when He gave them of His bounty, they were stingy with it and turned away in aversion.”

He also said in the surah:

“O you who believe, many rabbis and monks wrongfully consume people’s wealth and bar others from Allah’s path. Those who hoard gold and silver and do not spend it in Allah’s cause—give them tidings of a painful punishment.”

“On the Day when it is heated in the Fire of Hell and their foreheads, sides, and backs are branded with it: ‘This is what you hoarded for yourselves, so taste what you used to hoard!’”

Thus, this verse encompasses everyone who takes wealth without any right to it or withholds it from those entitled to it. The rabbis are the scholars, and the monks are the devout worshippers. Allah states that many of them wrongfully consume people’s wealth and turn away—that is, they turn away themselves and prevent others from following the truth. One says, sadda ‘an al-haqq sudūdan (he turned away from the truth), and sadda ghayrahu saddan (he prevented someone else).

This includes wealth wrongfully consumed from an endowment or a gift granted on the basis of