[Commentary]

The author—may Allah have mercy on him—entitled this section: “Chapter on Spending from What Is Obligatory and from the Good Portion.”

After he had explained the duty of providing for one’s wife and relatives, he went on to say that a believer should be high-minded and spend from the choicest part of his wealth as well as from that which he personally cherishes. There is a difference between what is objectively the best and what one happens to love. Most of the time a person loves what is best, but on occasion his heart clings to something that is not the finest of his possessions. If he gives away what is good and desirable to people in general—and also what he himself loves, even when it is not the finest—this shows that he is truthful in his dealings with Allah.

For this reason voluntary charity is called ṣadaqah (from ṣidq, “truthfulness”), because it points to the giver’s sincerity. A person, then, should spend the good part of his wealth and spend from what he loves, thereby proving that he prefers what Allah loves to what his own soul desires.

The author, may Allah have mercy on him, then cited two verses from the Book of Allah. The Exalted says: “You will never attain righteousness until you spend of that which you love” (Q 3:92). Al-burr (righteousness) means abundant goodness; from the same root the open wilderness is called barr because of its vastness. Thus al-burr is great goodness: you will not attain abundant goodness, nor reach the rank of the righteous, until you give of what you love.

All wealth is beloved, yet some of it is dearer to a person than the rest. When you give from what you love, that is proof of your sincerity, and through it you gain the station of the righteous.

He, the Exalted, also says: “Do not aim at the defective thereof, spending from it—while you yourselves would not accept it unless you closed your eyes to it” (Q 2:267). The term khabīth (defective, inferior) differs according to each commodity; the inferior of