wealth is labelled defective when it is itself of poor quality, when it represents tainted earnings, or when it has been acquired through something unlawful.

A proof that “defective” can mean “inferior” is the Almighty’s saying: “and do not aim at the defective thereof, spending from it—while you yourselves would not accept it unless you closed your eyes to it.” This is the continuation of the verse that begins: “O you who believe, spend of the good things you have earned and of what We have brought forth for you from the earth” (Q 2:267). What emerges from the earth includes both what is wholesome and what is inferior. Hence His words: “do not aim at the defective,” meaning: do not purposely select the inferior portion to give away. “While you yourselves would not accept it unless you closed your eyes to it” means that, were the right yours, you would never accept the inferior except by turning a blind eye to its faults and doing so grudgingly. So how can you be content to hand someone else what is inferior when you refuse to take it for yourselves?

This is an argument that confronts a person with what he already admits: he will not agree to receive something defective in place of something good, so how can he agree to give something defective in place of something good?

Thus khabīth here means “inferior.” The same sense appears in the Prophet’s description—peace and blessings be upon him—of onions and leeks as “the foul plant,” for they are base, malodorous, and repugnant. If a person eats them and their smell remains on his breath, it becomes unlawful for him to enter the mosque, whether for prayer or for any other reason, because the mosque is frequented by angels. Should he enter, he would distress the angels, and angels are pure; the pure seek what is pure and detest foul deeds and foul substances. Therefore, when someone enters a mosque emitting an offensive odor, he harms the angels.