Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:262
Those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah and then do not follow up what they have spent with reminders [of it] or [other] injury will have their reward with their Lord, and there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The discourse on the explanation of His saying: الَّذِينَ يُنْفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ثُمَّ لا يُتْبِعُونَ مَا أَنْفَقُوا مَنًّا وَلا أَذًى لَهُمْ أَجْرُهُمْ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ وَلا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ (2:262)
(Those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah and then do not follow what they have spent with reproach or with injury — for them is their reward with their Lord; no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve) (2:262).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, means thereby: he who gives his wealth to those who wage the struggle in the way of Allah (al-mujāhidūn), as aid to them in their struggle against the enemies of Allah. The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: those who assist those who struggle in the way of Allah by spending on their behalf — on their beasts of burden and on other things that belong to their provisions — and who thereafter do not follow up the expenditure they have spent on their behalf with a reproach against them on account of that spending in their favour, nor with injury against them.
The reproach (mann) against them consists in this, that he makes known to them that he has conferred a favour upon them — through his action and through the gift he has bestowed upon them as reinforcement in the struggle against their enemy — and that he makes this public, whether with the tongue or by a deed. As for the "injury" (adhā): that is, that he complains about them on account of what he has given them and with which he has reinforced them by spending in the way of Allah, namely that they did not do what was their duty in the struggle, and similar utterances by which he injures the one on whose behalf he has spent.
He has imposed this condition only upon the one who spends in the way of Allah, and He has made the reward obligatory only for the one who does not make reproach and does not inflict injury upon the one on whose behalf he has spent in the way of Allah, because the spending that is in the way of Allah is that by which the Face of Allah is sought and by which is requested that which is with Him. Now when the meaning of spending in the way of Allah is what we have described, then there is no ground for the reproach of the spender against the one on whose behalf he has spent, for he has no claim against him, and no favour for which — if the latter does not requite him — reproach and injury are due to him, since his spending, that which he has spent, took place out of expectation of the heavenly reward and in the pursuit of the reward of Allah and the seeking of His good pleasure; and it is for Allah to reward him for that, not for the one on whose behalf he spent it.
* * *
And in accordance with the meaning we have stated concerning this, several of the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
6034 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: (Those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah and then do not follow what they have spent with reproach or with injury — for them is their reward with their Lord): Allah knew that there would be people who would make reproach with their gift, and He abhorred that and put before it, saying: قَوْلٌ مَعْرُوفٌ وَمَغْفِرَةٌ خَيْرٌ مِنْ صَدَقَةٍ يَتْبَعُهَا أَذًى وَاللَّهُ غَنِيٌّ حَلِيمٌ (A kind word and forgiveness are better than a charity followed by injury; and Allah is Free of need, Forbearing).
6035 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: He said to the others — that is to say: Allah said to the others, and they are those who do not go forth in the struggle against their enemy —: (Those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah and then do not follow what they have spent with reproach or with injury). He said: thus He imposed upon them a condition. He said: and upon the one who goes forth He imposed no condition, neither small nor great — he means by "the one who goes forth," the one who goes forth in the struggle which Allah mentioned in His saying: مَثَلُ الَّذِينَ يُنْفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ كَمَثَلِ حَبَّةٍ (The likeness of those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah is as the likeness of a grain) — the verse. Ibn Zayd said: and my father used to say: If anyone of those who give something of this or reinforce you injures you, while you have been reinforced in the way of Allah, and you suspect that your greeting weighs heavily upon him, then withhold your greeting from him. Ibn Zayd said: thus he then forbade the best of Islam. He said: and a woman said to my father: O Abū Usāma, point out to me a man who truly goes forth in the way of Allah, for they only go forth to eat fruits! I have a quiver and in it are arrows. Then he said to her: May Allah grant you no blessing in your quiver, nor in your arrows, for you have already injured them before you have given them anything! He said: and there was a man who used to say to them: Go forth and eat fruits!
6036 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Zuhayr related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His saying: (do not follow what they have spent with reproach or with injury). He said: that a man does not spend his wealth is better than that he does spend it and then follows it with reproach and injury.
* * *
As for His saying: (for them is their reward with their Lord) — thereby He means: for those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah, in the manner He has set forth. And the "hāʾ and mīm" in "lahum" (for them) refer back to "alladhīna" (those who).
* * *
And the meaning of His saying: (for them is their reward with their Lord) is: for them is their requital and reward for their spending which they have spent in the way of Allah, and which they thereafter did not follow with reproach nor with injury.
* * *
And His saying: (no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve) — He says: and they — besides the requital and reward that is due to them for their spending which they have spent in the manner that we have set as a condition — (no fear shall come upon them) at their coming to Allah and their separation from the worldly life, nor amid the terrors of the Resurrection, that anything of its horrors should strike them or anything of Allah's punishment should befall them therein — (nor shall they grieve) over what they have left behind in the worldly life.