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الَّذِينَ يَبْخَلُونَ وَيَأْمُرُونَ النَّاسَ بِالْبُخْلِ وَيَكْتُمُونَ مَا آتَاهُمُ اللّهُ مِن فَضْلِهِ وَأَعْتَدْنَا لِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابًا مُّهِينًا {37}
37. "Those who are niggardly and enjoin people to niggardliness and hide what Allah has given them out of His grace; and We have prepared for the disbelievers a humiliating chastisement."
Commentary:
Hypocritical and Godly Charities
This verse, in fact, is the continuation of the subject of the former verses which refers to the arrogant persons and haughty ones. Such persons not only refrain from doing good to human beings themselves, but also invite people to niggardliness. It says:
"Those who are niggardly and enjoin people to niggardliness ..."
Moreover, they often try to conceal that which Allah has bestowed them out of His Grace lest people of their society expect something from them.
"... and hide what Allah has given them out of His grace...."
Then, the Qur'an states about the fate and the end of these persons as this:
"... and We have prepared for the disbelievers a humiliating chastisement."
Perhaps the key to the secret of mentioning the word 'the disbelievers' in this verse is that: 'niggardliness' often originates from infidelity, because the niggardly persons, indeed, have not a complete faith upon the endless merits of Allah unto the good-doers. So, when it says that their punishment is "a humiliating chastisement ", it is for the reason that they may see the retribution of 'arrogance' and 'self-admiration' through this way.
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وَالَّذِينَ يُنفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ رِئَـاء النَّاسِ وَلاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللّهِ وَلاَ بِالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ وَمَن يَكُنِ الشَّيْطَانُ لَهُ قَرِينًا فَسَاء قِرِينًا {38}
38. "And (the arrogant ones are) those who spend their wealth to be seen by people and neither believe in Allah nor in the Last Day; and anyone whose companion be Satan, (what) an evil companion then he is!"
Commentary:
Sometimes Satan whispers and tempts something from a long distance into some persons, and sometimes it does it from a short distance. The believers usually flee from the temptations of Satan, but sometimes Satan becomes as a constant friend and companion of some people. It may approach them very nigh, and in a manner that Sura Al-Zukhruf, No.43, verse 36 refers to. It states: "And whoever turns himself away from the remembrance of the Beneficent God, We appoint for him a Satan, so he becomes his associate."
Explanations:
1. Both to abandon giving charity and to give charity hypocritically are bad. In the previous verse, niggardliness was blamed, and here in the above verse, hypocritical remittals are remonstrated.
2. Hypocrisy is the sign of the lack of true faith in Allah and the Hereafter. A hypocrite relies on people, and then he is deprived from the full reward in the Hereafter.
3. The goal of giving charity is not only satiating the hungry, since this aim can be gained by hypocrisy either. So, the aim of giving charity is also the spiritual growth of the giver of charity.
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وَمَاذَا عَلَيْهِمْ لَوْ آمَنُواْ بِاللّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ وَأَنفَقُواْ مِمَّا رَزَقَهُمُ اللّهُ وَكَانَ اللّهُ بِهِم عَلِيمًا {39}
39. "And what (harm) would it have done them if they had believed in Allah and the Last Day, and spent in charity of what Allah had provided them with? And Allah is ever aware of them."
Commentary:
In this verse, as an expression of sympathy and regret for the state of this group, it says that what would happen to them if they returned from this deviated-path and believed in Allah and the Last Day? They could also spend a part of the bounties that Allah had given them to the servants of Allah with a sincere intention and through a pure thought. By this way, they would earn the felicity and happiness of this world and the next world both.
"And what (harm) would it have done them if they had believed in Allah and the Last Day, and spent in charity of what Allah had provided them with?
However, Allah is aware of their intentions and deeds, and He will give them an appropriate reward and retribution accordingly.
"..And Allah is ever aware of them."
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إِنَّ اللّهَ لاَ يَظْلِمُ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ وَإِن تَكُ حَسَنَةً يُضَاعِفْهَا وَيُؤْتِ مِن لَّدُنْهُ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا {40}
40. "Verily Allah does not do injustice even of the weight of an atom, and if there he a good deed He multiplies it and gives from Himself a great reward."
Commentary:
This verse, addressing the faithless and niggardly persons, whose status was introduced in the former verses, says:
"Verily Allah does not do justice even of the weight of an atom...."
The Arabic term /Ẓarrah/ originally means very small ant which is not seen easily; but, gradually it has been applied for every small thing. Accordingly, nowadays, 'atom', which is any of the smallest particles of an element, is also called /Ẓarrah/. And, in view of the fact that the Arabic word /miṣqal/ means 'weight', the Qur'anic phrase /miṣqala Ẓarratin/ means 'the weight of an extraordinary small thing'.
Then, the verse adds that: not only Allah does not do injustice, but also:
"... and if there he a good deed He multiplies it and gives from Himself a great reward."
Why Does Allah not Do Injustice?
The root of injustice is usually either ignorance, or fear, or need, or greed, etc, but Allah, Who is the Self-Sufficient, Omniscient, and Glorified, does not do injustice. Moreover, Allah has enjoined people to equity and goodness Himself, then how does He do injustice? Yet, His reward is manifold: (ten-fold, hundred-fold, or more).
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فَكَيْفَ إِذَا جِئْنَا مِن كُلِّ أمَّةٍ بِشَهِيدٍ وَجِئْنَا بِكَ عَلَى هَـؤُلاء شَهِيدًا {41}
41. "How will it be, then, when We bring from every people a witness and We bring you a witness over those (witnesses)?"
Commentary:
The content of this verse, which refers to the Messenger of Allah, as a witness over the Ummah, has also occurred in some other verses of the Qur'an (such as: Sura Al-Baqarah, No.2, verse 143, Sura An-Nahl, No.16, verse 89, and Sura Al-Hajj, No.22, verse 78).
Whenever Ibn-Mas'ud recited this verse to the Prophet (s), the tears of the Messenger of Allah (s) would shed. (Narrated from Sahih-i-Bukhari, Tarmathi, and Nisa'i in Tafsir-ul-Kabir by Fakhr-i-Razi and Tafsir-i-Maraqi)
Allah does not need, of course, to bring any witnesses, but human beings are in a condition that the more they feel the presence of witnesses, the more effective it is for strengthening their training and their piety.
As the verses of the Qur'an indicate, there are many sorts of witnesses in the Hereafter; among them are: Allah: "Verily Allah is a witness over all things!." [3] the prophets: the above verse, [4] the immaculate Imams: "And thus have We made you an Ummah of middling stand that you may be witnesses over mankind, ..." [5]; the angels: "And every soul shall come, with it a driver and a witness." [6]; the earth: "On that Day, she will recount (all) her news:"[7]; the time: A tradition says that: every day the time addresses man by saying: "I am a new day and I am a witness over you" [8]; and the limbs of the body: "On the Day when their tongues and their hands and their feet shall bear witness against them as to what they did." [9] And, again, we should be aware that the day of Resurrection is the Day on which the witnesses will stand forth: "on the day when shall stand forth the witnesses." [10]
Explanations:
1. Prophets are some examples for people in the world and the witnesses over them in the Hereafter.
2. It is Allah's way of treatment that the prophet of every nation be a witness over that nation. After the departure of the Prophet (s) there should be someone with the same qualities of the Prophet (s) (the immaculate Imams) to be witness over people. Imam Sadiq (a) in a tradition said: "In any Age an Imam from us, Ahlul-Bayt, is a witness over people, and the Messenger of Allah is a witness over us" [11]
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Notes: [3] Sura Al.Hajj, No.22, verse 17
[4] The verse under discussion
[5] Sura Al-Baqarah, No.2, verse 143
[6] Sura Qaf, No.50, verse 21
[7] Sura Az-Zilzal, No.99, verse 4
[8] Nur-uth-Thaqalayn, vol. 5, 11. 112
[9] Sura An-Nur, No.24, verse 24
[10] Sura Al-Mu'min (Qafir), No.40, verse 51
[11] Nur-uth-Thaqalayn, vol. 1, p. 399
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