Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:264
O you who have believed, do not invalidate your charities with reminders or injury as does one who spends his wealth [only] to be seen by the people and does not believe in Allah and the Last Day. His example is like that of a [large] smooth stone upon which is dust and is hit by a downpour that leaves it bare. They are unable [to keep] anything of what they have earned. And Allah does not guide the disbelieving people.
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.
Explanation of the words of the Exalted: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لا تُبْطِلُوا صَدَقَاتِكُمْ بِالْمَنِّ وَالأَذَى كَالَّذِي يُنْفِقُ مَالَهُ رِئَاءَ النَّاسِ وَلا يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ (O you who believe, do not nullify your alms by reproach and injury, like he who spends his wealth to be seen by the people and does not believe in Allah and the Last Day.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By this the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, means: يا أيها الذين آمنوا (O you who believe), that is to say: you who hold Allah and His Messenger to be truthful — لا تبطلوا صدقاتكم (do not nullify your alms). He says: do not nullify the rewards of your alms by reproach (mann) and injury (adhā), just as the unbelief (kufr) of him who spends his wealth nullified it — رئاء الناس (to be seen by the people), which is his display of himself to them by means of his action, and that is that he spends his wealth in a manner that outwardly makes the people suppose that he intends thereby Allah, the Exalted whose praise is exalted, so that they may praise him for it, while he does not thereby intend Allah, nor does he seek the reward from Him. He only spends it outwardly in that manner so that the people may praise him for it and say: "He is generous and noble, he is a righteous man," so that they may remember him with good praise for it, while they do not know what his hidden intention is in spending what he spends. Thus they do not perceive what state he is in with respect to the denial of Allah, the Exalted whose praise is exalted, and of the Last Day.
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As for His words: ولا يؤمن بالله واليوم الآخر (and does not believe in Allah and the Last Day), the meaning of that is: he does not hold to be true the oneness of Allah and His sovereignty, nor that he will be raised after his death and then be requited for his deed — so that he would perform his deed for the sake of the Face of Allah and out of seeking His reward and that which is with Him at his return. This is the characteristic of the hypocrite (munāfiq). We say that he is a hypocrite, because of him who openly displays his unbelief (kufr) and proclaims his shirk, it is known that with none of his deeds does he wish to make anyone believe anything falsely. For he who deludes (al-murāʾī) is he who deludes the people with the deed that is outwardly for Allah, while inwardly the hidden disposition (sarīra) of the doer is dubious, and he thereby intends the praise of the people. The unbeliever (kāfir), by contrast, leaves nothing of his affair obscure for anyone, namely that all his deeds are only for Satan — when he openly proclaims his unbelief — and not for Allah. And whoever is thus cannot be one who deludes with his deeds.
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And in accordance with what we have said about this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
6039 — Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Abū Hāniʾ al-Khawlānī said, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Ḥurayth, who said: Indeed, a man goes out to fight, does not steal, does not commit fornication (zinā), and does not embezzle spoils, and yet he does not even return with a reward equal to it! He was asked: Why is that? He said: Indeed, a man goes out, and when there then befalls him of the trial of Allah that which is decreed over him, he curses his commander and curses the hour in which he went out to fight, and says: I will never go out to fight with him again! This therefore counts against him and not in his favor — just like the spending on the path of Allah that is followed by reproach and injury. For Allah has given a parable for that in the Qurʾān: يا أيها الذين آمنوا لا تبطلوا صدقاتكم بالمنّ والأذى (O you who believe, do not nullify your alms by reproach and injury), to the end of the verse.
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Explanation of the words of the Exalted: فَمَثَلُهُ كَمَثَلِ صَفْوَانٍ عَلَيْهِ تُرَابٌ فَأَصَابَهُ وَابِلٌ فَتَرَكَهُ صَلْدًا لا يَقْدِرُونَ عَلَى شَيْءٍ مِمَّا كَسَبُوا وَاللَّهُ لا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْكَافِرِينَ (264) (His likeness is as the likeness of a smooth rock upon which there is dust; then a downpour strikes it and leaves it bare. They have no power over anything of what they have earned. And Allah does not guide the unbelieving people.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By this the Exalted whose praise is exalted means: The likeness of this one who spends his wealth to be seen by the people and does not believe in Allah and the Last Day — and the "hāʾ" in His words فمثله (his likeness) refers back to "he who" (alladhī) — كمثل صفوان (is as the likeness of a smooth rock). And "ṣafwān" is both singular and plural. Whoever regards it as a plural, for him its singular is "ṣafwāna," in the manner of "tamra" (a single date) and "tamr" (dates), and "nakhla" (a single palm) and "nakhl" (palms). And whoever regards it as a singular forms the plural as "ṣifwān, ṣufiyy and ṣifiyy," as the poet said:
* The places where the birds alight upon the smooth rocks (al-ṣufiyy) *
And "al-ṣafwān" is the same as "al-ṣafā," and those are the smooth stones.
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And His words: عليه تراب (upon which there is dust), that is to say: upon the smooth rock there is dust — فأصابه (then it strikes it), that is to say: there strikes the smooth rock — وابل (a downpour), and that is the violent, mighty rain, as Imruʾ al-Qays said:
For an hour long, then there poured down upon her a downpour, with hanging fringes, abundantly streaming forth.
Of that one says: "wabalat al-samāʾ fa-hiya tabil wablan" (the heaven poured down a violent rain, and she pours it down), and also: "wubilat al-arḍ fa-hiya tūbal" (the earth was struck by violent rain, and she is struck).
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And His words: فتركه صلدًا (and leaves it bare), He says: thus the downpour leaves the smooth rock bare.
And "al-ṣald" with respect to stones is: the hard stone upon which there is nothing of vegetation or anything else, and with respect to lands: that in which nothing grows, and likewise with respect to heads, as Ruʾba said:
When she saw me, worn out from the luster, with gleaming bald brow-edges, the forehead stripped bare of her —
And of that one says of the thick cooking-pot that comes slowly to the boil: "qidr ṣalūd," and "qad ṣaladat taṣludu ṣulūdan" (it came slowly to the boil). And to that belongs the saying of Taʾabbaṭa Sharran:
And I am no [cloud] of thunder and cold, nor a bare smooth rock, stripped of good.
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Then the Exalted whose praise is exalted returned to the mention of the hypocrites for whose deeds He has given the parable, and said: Thus, then, are their deeds, equivalent to the smooth rock upon which there was dust, and which the downpour of rain then struck, so that it carried away the dust that lay upon it and left it pure, without dust and without anything upon it — the Muslims see them outwardly as though they have deeds — just as the dust is seen upon this smooth rock — because of that which they delude them with. But when the Day of Resurrection arrives and they return to Allah, all of that perishes, because it was not for Allah — just as the downpour of rain carried away the dust that lay upon the smooth rock and left it smooth with nothing upon it.
And those are His words: لا يقدرون (they have no power), by which He means: those who spend their wealth to be seen by the people and do not believe in Allah nor in the Last Day. He says: on the Day of Resurrection they will have no power over any reward for anything of what they earned in the life of this world, because they did not act for their return, nor out of seeking that which is with Allah in the Hereafter, but they performed it to be seen by the people and out of seeking their praise. Their share from their deeds is only that which they intended and sought thereby.
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Then the Exalted whose praise is exalted informed that He لا يهدي القوم الكافرين (does not guide the unbelieving people). He says: He does not bring them onto the right way to attaining the truth in their spending and in other matters, so that He would enable them to it, while they prefer falsehood therein; rather He leaves them blindly wandering about in their error.
The Exalted whose praise is exalted thus said to the believers: Do not be like the hypocrites whose deeds are described by this parable, so that you would nullify the rewards of your alms by your reproach to those to whom you gave them as alms and by your injury of them, just as the reward of the spending of the hypocrite was nullified, who spent his wealth to be seen by the people, while with Allah he was no believer in Allah and the Last Day.
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And in accordance with what we have said about this, the people of interpretation have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
6040 — Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His words: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لا تُبْطِلُوا صَدَقَاتِكُمْ بِالْمَنِّ وَالأَذَى (O you who believe, do not nullify your alms by reproach and injury) — and he continued reading until he reached: عَلَى شَيْءٍ مِمَّا كَسَبُوا (over anything of what they have earned). This is a parable that Allah has given for the deeds of the unbelievers on the Day of Resurrection. He says: on that day they will have no power over anything of what they have earned, just as this rain left the smooth stone with nothing upon it, purer than it ever was.
6041 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ: لا تُبْطِلُوا صَدَقَاتِكُمْ بِالْمَنِّ (do not nullify your alms by reproach), up to His words: والله لا يهدي القوم الكافرين (and Allah does not guide the unbelieving people). This is a parable that Allah has given for the deeds of the unbelievers on the Day of Resurrection. He says: on that day they will have no power over anything of what they have earned, just as this rain left the smooth rock pure, with nothing upon it.
6042 — Mūsā related to me, he said: ʿAmr related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: لا تُبْطِلُوا صَدَقَاتِكُمْ بِالْمَنِّ وَالأَذَى (do not nullify your alms by reproach and injury), up to His words: على شيء مما كسبوا (over anything of what they have earned). As for the smooth rock upon which there was dust: the rain struck it, carried away its dust, and left it bare. So too is this one who spends his wealth to be seen by the people: the ostentation has carried away his spending, just as this rain carried away the dust of this smooth rock and left it pure. Thus the ostentation left him without his having power over anything of what he sent forward. Then He said to the believers: لا تُبْطِلُوا صَدَقَاتِكُمْ بِالْمَنِّ وَالأَذَى (do not nullify your alms by reproach and injury), so that they would become void just as the alms of ostentation became void.
6043 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: Abū Zuhayr related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, who said: That a man does not spend his wealth is better than that he spends it and then follows it up with reproach and injury. Allah has therefore given a parable for him, like the likeness of an unbeliever who spends his wealth while he does not believe in Allah and does not believe in the Last Day, and Allah has given for the two of them together the parable: كمثل صفوان عليه تراب فأصابه وابل فتركه صلدًا (as the likeness of a smooth rock upon which there is dust; then a downpour strikes it and leaves it bare). Such, then, is he who spends his wealth and then follows it up with reproach and injury.
6044 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: my father related to me, he said: my uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لا تُبْطِلُوا صَدَقَاتِكُمْ بِالْمَنِّ وَالأَذَى (O you who believe, do not nullify your alms by reproach and injury), up to كمثل صفوان عليه تراب فأصابه وابل فتركه صلدًا (as the likeness of a smooth rock upon which there is dust; then a downpour strikes it and leaves it bare), with nothing upon it. So too will the hypocrite, on the Day of Resurrection, have no power over anything of what he has earned.
6045 — Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, he said: Ibn Jurayj said concerning His words: لا تُبْطِلُوا صَدَقَاتِكُمْ بِالْمَنِّ وَالأَذَى (do not nullify your alms by reproach and injury), he said: He makes his alms into a reproach and injures him with it, until he nullifies it.
6046 — Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His words: ثُمَّ لا يُتْبِعُونَ مَا أَنْفَقُوا مَنًّا وَلا أَذًى (and who then do not follow up what they have spent with reproach and injury), and he read: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لا تُبْطِلُوا صَدَقَاتِكُمْ بِالْمَنِّ وَالأَذَى (O you who believe, do not nullify your alms by reproach and injury), until he reached: لا يقدرون على شيء مما كسبوا (they have no power over anything of what they have earned). Then he said: Do you suppose that the downpour leaves even anything of the dust upon the smooth rock? So too your reproach and your injury left nothing of what you have spent. And he read His words: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لا تُبْطِلُوا صَدَقَاتِكُمْ بِالْمَنِّ وَالأَذَى (O you who believe, do not nullify your alms by reproach and injury), and he read: وَمَا أَنْفَقْتُمْ مِنْ نَفَقَةٍ (and whatever spending you make), and he continued reading until he reached: وَأَنْتُمْ لا تُظْلَمُونَ (and you will not be wronged). [Al-Baqarah: 270-272].
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Explanation of the words of the Almighty and Exalted: صَفْوَانٍ (a smooth rock)
We have already set out sufficiently the meaning of "al-ṣafwān," except that we wish to mention who of the people of interpretation made a statement like ours about this.
6047 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: my father related to me, he said: my uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words: كمثل صفوان (as the likeness of a smooth rock): as the likeness of the smooth stone (al-ṣafāt).
6048 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: Abū Zuhayr related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: كمثل صفوان (as the likeness of a smooth rock), and "al-ṣafwān" is "al-ṣafā" (the smooth stone).
6049 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, something similar.
6050 — Mūsā related to me, he said: ʿAmr related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: As for صفوان (ṣafwān), that is the stone that is called "al-ṣafāt."
6051 — Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, something similar.
6052 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words: صفوان (ṣafwān): that is to say the stone.
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Explanation of the words of the Almighty and Exalted: فَأَصَابَهُ وَابِلٌ (then a downpour strikes it)
The exposition concerning this has already passed. And this is the mention of who shared our statement in this:
6053 — Mūsā related to me, he said: ʿAmr related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: As for "wābil": that is violent rain.
6054 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: Abū Zuhayr related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: فأصابه وابل (then a downpour strikes it), and "al-wābil" is the violent rain.
6055 — Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, something similar.
6056 — It was related to me, on the authority of ʿAmmār, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, something similar.
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Explanation of the words of the Almighty and Exalted: فَتَرَكَهُ صَلْدًا (and leaves it bare)
* Mention of who said something in the manner of what we have said about this:
6057 — Mūsā related to me, he said: ʿAmr related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: فتركه صلدًا (and leaves it bare), he says: pure.
6058 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: my father related to me, he said: my uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: فتركه صلدًا (and leaves it bare), he said: He left it pure, with nothing upon it.
6059 — Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, he said: Ibn Jurayj said: Ibn ʿAbbās said concerning His words: فتركه صلدًا (and leaves it bare), he said: with nothing upon it.
6060 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: Abū Zuhayr related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: صلدًا (bare): He left it stripped.
6061 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda: فتركه صلدًا (and leaves it bare): with nothing upon it.
6062 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: فتركه صلدًا (and leaves it bare): with nothing upon it.
