The precise conclusion is that hearing has a wider range, whereas sight is more specific and more elevated. Although hearing perceives more, sight perceives more completely. Hence He swore that the Prophet would inevitably recognize them through hearing; recognizing them by sight, through their distinguishing marks, however, might or might not occur.

He, glorified be He, thus declared that He would certainly brand the person possessing these vile traits on his snout—that is, his nose, the prominent feature that first catches the eye when one looks at him—so that the mark would be apparent at first sight. This is evident in wicked oppressors whom people leave alone for fear of their evil and foul conduct: they bear a mark of evil by which they are recognized. The same applies to the openly sinful and those of dubious conduct.

His words,

“Indeed, We have tested them,”

and what follows explain the condition of the miserly and the punishment they suffer in this world before the Hereafter: the destruction of their wealth through flooding, fire, plunder, confiscation, its dissipation on sinful desires, or other punishments inflicted upon misers who withhold what is due. Nor do they take the initiative in acts of kindness. This is expressed in His words,

“A withholder of good.”

This is one of the two forms of wrongdoing, as they acknowledged about themselves when they said:

“Woe to us! We were indeed transgressors.”

Likewise, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“For a person of means to delay payment is wrongdoing.”

The passage also entails punishment for the wrongdoer who withholds what is due or oversteps the bounds of what is right, just as Allah punishes the one who withholds zakat—who is a withholder of good—and the one who consumes gains from usury and gambling, which constitutes consuming wealth wrongfully. Concerning each of the two, Allah has stated in His Book that He punishes him with the opposite of