البقرة · الآية 267

Commentary

(ʾ-m-n): The Inward Address Once More

What is to be noticed is that the verse returns to the call "O you who have believed," as it stood in verse 264. This inward address recurs through Sūrat al-Baqara whenever the Quran means to raise a warning about a danger that falls inside the very structure of the believers themselves. And the danger here is the believer donating what he does not want for himself. It is a precise picture of a covered stinginess.

(ṭ-y-b): The Good as a Composite Standard

The root ṭ-y-b carries three layers in Arabic: the sensory, what is good in taste and in scent; the ethical, what was acquired lawfully; and the inward, what the soul is at ease with. The verse asks for spending from the ṭayyibāt in the sense of these layers taken together. It is not enough for the wealth to be lawful, which is the ethical layer. It must also be good in itself, which is the sensory layer, and handed over with a willing soul, which is the inward layer. Three ranks laid one upon the other.

"From the good things you have earned": The Constraint of Discernment

What becomes clear is that "from" here is partitive. The believer is not asked to give out all that he has earned of the good, but a portion of it only. What matters more, though, is that this portion come out of the good things and not out of anything else. Spending is not, in its essence, a quantity. It is a quality. A little of the good is better than much of the poor.

(kh-r-j) + (ʾ-r-ḍ): Wealth Under the Two Headings

"What you have earned, and from what We have brought forth for you from the earth" is a precise economic division. Earning takes in trade, manufacture and the work of the hand; and what God brings forth from the earth takes in cultivation, fruit and minerals. The Quran sets every source of wealth inside this verse, so that no lawful property falls outside it. And on this point it does not separate a person's own earning from the direct divine giving: both come under the same law.

(y-m-m): The Deliberate Turn Downward

What is certain is that "do not aim," lā tayammamū, has the root y-m-m, which states an intent that is meant and directed. The verse does not forbid a giving done without attention; it forbids the deliberate giving of the poor thing. Y-m-m is the root of tayammum, the turning toward the earth for prayer, in the sense of a definite aim. The prohibition falls upon the "aiming" at the bad, that is, upon turning toward it specifically in order to hand it over. This singling out uncovers the intent to divide what is consumed at home from what is offered as charity.

(kh-b-th): The Bad as the Opposite of the Good

The root kh-b-th carries poorness in substance and in quality. The khabīth is not only what is forbidden; it is what the soul finds distasteful and pushes away. Here the sense widens: offering fruit on the edge of spoiling, clothes no longer fit for anyone, a sum of money that is nothing but the surplus of laziness and not the surplus of generosity. All of that enters the Quranic khabīth.

(ʾ-kh-dh) + (gh-m-ḍ): The Measure of Exchange

"When you yourselves would not take it except with averted eyes" may be pointed to as the summit of legislative understanding. The measure is this: would you accept taking it in an ordinary transaction? If a man came to you offering you this very thing in a deal, would you accept it willingly, or would you take it only "with an averting" (ighmāḍ), overlooking its defect out of disdain or out of shyness? If the taking requires closing the eye, then handing this property over builds a position of lowliness for the one who receives it. The Quran refuses that charity be a recycling of what no longer passes in the market.

(gh-n-y) + (ḥ-m-d): The Logical Conclusion

"And know that God is rich beyond need, praised" closes the argument. God is Ghanī, and needs no one's charity; and He is Ḥamīd, praised in Himself, whether or not any human acknowledges it. Whoever presents the poor thing to God ought to know this much: he does not benefit God by such a gift, nor does he win praise with Him for it. That breaks the inward logic of the poor gift. If the giver is seeking God's praise by what he does, how can he hope for it through a poor gift? And if he is seeking the praise of people, God is rich beyond need and praised, and is no office for publicity.

The word precedes the term, and the role precedes the identity: the role of "the reversible measure, what you would not accept, do not give" precedes the role of "the gift that trades on the poverty of the one given to," and the role of "the good that is good in the senses, in the earning and in the soul" precedes the role of "the lawful that asks for nothing more than a pale legality."

The verse moves the discussion from the intent of the giver to the quality of the thing given. The good, ṭ-y-b, has three layers: the sensory, what is good in taste and scent; the ethical, what is good in its earning and its origin; and the inward, what the giver's own soul is content with. Spending from the good things gathers the three together and is not satisfied with one of them. The prohibition of "aiming at the bad," y-m-m, is a prohibition of the deliberate turn toward the poor thing: the setting aside of what is defective for charity. And the shrewd measure the verse lays down is this, ﴿وَلَسْتُم بِآخِذِيهِ إِلَّا أَن تُغْمِضُوا فِيهِ﴾: were you the one being given to, you would not accept it except by closing your eye to its defect, so why offer it to your brother? The closing of the eye, gh-m-ḍ, uncovers what is inward: when the eye must be closed, the offering is embarrassment and not generosity. And the verse closes with a pair that cuts off every excuse: rich beyond need, gh-n-y, so God has no need of the poor thing; and praised, ḥ-m-d, so God is praised in every state and needs nothing of the lowly things brought to Him.

Two Readings

🔬 Reflection

"Spend from the good things you have earned": Spending from the Chosen, not the Leftover

The ayah opens with the call to the believers and defines the subject with precision: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَنفِقُوا مِن طَيِّبَاتِ مَا كَسَبْتُمْ﴾. The choice of the word ṭayyibāt (good things) is a point of reflection. The root ṭ-y-b signifies what adheres to what suits it in essence. The ṭayyib in the Quran is not merely what is loved, but what is suited to the recipient subject from the start. Whoever spends from the good things he has earned has spent from what is appropriate for the place of spending to begin with.

The choice of "what you have earned" is another point of reflection. Kasb (earning) in the Quran usually signifies what the human has attained by his own action. The ṭayyib from what the human has earned is in his possession; he chooses from it what he spends. The command to spend from the good things indicates that what is spent is not imposed from without, but a self-choice from his possession. This moves spending from an automated act to one formed by a psychological choice.

Then comes the addition in the ayah: ﴿وَمِمَّا أَخْرَجْنَا لَكُم مِّنَ الْأَرْضِ﴾. The verb "We brought forth" is attributed to God, so what is brought forth from the earth is in the possession of Divinity from the start, even if it is in the hand of the human. Spending from this output is, in reality, returning a part of it to the One who brought it forth. The rule revealed by the ayah: wealth in the Quran is not total property of the human, but a trust he receives to be used in a specific place of good.

"Do not aim at the bad to spend from it": The Example of the Bad in its Negative Form

The warning in the ayah is eloquent. The verb tayammamū (aim) is from the root y-m-m, signifying intent toward something specifically. The choice of this verb is a point of reflection. The text did not say "do not take the bad" or "do not choose the bad," but "do not aim." Tayammum in its formulation evokes a specific intent toward the subject. One who aims for the bad (khabīth) to spend it is in the image of one who has specifically chosen the worst.

The khabīth in the root kh-b-th signifies what does not suit its place. This is the opposite of the ṭayyib. The psychological pattern revealed by the ayah: humans often choose from what they have that which they value least. In spending, they choose what they do not use themselves. The Quran rejects this logic by revealing its paradox. If the spender truly believed in the place of spending, he would spend what he loves. One who spends what he does not love reveals by his action that the place of spending in his estimation is not in its proper place.

The decisive argument in the ayah: ﴿وَلَسْتُم بِآخِذِيهِ إِلَّا أَن تُغْمِضُوا فِيهِ﴾. The choice is rhetorical: if you were in the place of the recipients, you would not accept what you spend except by "averting the eyes" from its subject. Ighmāḍ (averting the eyes) from the root g-m-ḍ signifies closing the sight from an aspect of the subject. It is as if the Quran is saying: do not do in your spending for another what you would not accept for yourself. The rule demands parallel between what the human offers and what he accepts.

"Know that God is rich beyond need, praised": The Conclusion that Reveals the Position of the One Spent Upon

The conclusion in the ayah: ﴿وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ غَنِيٌّ حَمِيدٌ﴾. The choice of the two names Ghanī (Rich) and Ḥamīd (Praised) is a point of reflection. Ghanī from the root g-n-y signifies what does not need. Ḥamīd from the root ḥ-m-d signifies what is inherently accompanied by praise. The two names together reveal that God does not need what is spent in His way, and that He is worthy of praise in His essence.

This conclusion shifts the logic of spending entirely. One who spends thinking the recipient is in need of what he has, the text reveals that the position is not in the recipient's possession from the start. God is Rich; He does not take what the spender spends because He needs it. Spending in its deal is not a transfer of something from a party that owns to a party in need, but a test of the spender's structure.

The rule revealed by the arc: spending in the Quran is not a material deal, but a psychological detection tool. One who spends from the khabīth reveals that the place of spending in his estimation is not in its place. One who spends from the ṭayyib reveals by his action that the place of spending in his estimation is in the highest position. The recipient is in the possession of the Rich, the Praised; the matter is not in His need for what is spent, but in the spender's need to choose from his possession what accords with what he claims of faith. The example in the ayah reveals the contradiction that many people harbor in the deal of spending, giving to God what they do not accept for themselves.