Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:180
And let not those who [greedily] withhold what Allah has given them of His bounty ever think that it is better for them. Rather, it is worse for them. Their necks will be encircled by what they withheld on the Day of Resurrection. And to Allah belongs the heritage of the heavens and the earth. And Allah, with what you do, is [fully] Acquainted.
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 statement: وَلا يَحْسَبَنَّ الَّذِينَ يَبْخَلُونَ بِمَا آتَاهُمُ اللَّهُ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ هُوَ خَيْرًا لَهُمْ بَلْ هُوَ شَرٌّ لَهُمْ ("And let not those who are miserly with what Allah has given them of His bounty think that it is better for them; nay, it is worse for them.")
Abū Jaʿfar said: The reciters differed concerning its recitation:
A group of the people of the Ḥijāz and Iraq recited it: ("walā taḥsabanna alladhīna yabkhalūna") with the tāʾ in "taḥsabanna" [second person].
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And another group recited it: (walā yaḥsabanna) with the yāʾ [third person].
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Then the people of Arabic differed concerning its explanation.
Some of the grammarians of Kūfa said: the meaning of it is: let not the misers think that miserliness is better for them = and he was content with mentioning "they are miserly" (yabkhalūna) in place of "miserliness" (al-bukhl), just as you say: "so-and-so arrived and I was delighted by it," while you mean: I was delighted by his arrival. And "it" (huwa) is an ʿimād (a supporting/separating pronoun).
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Some of the grammarians of Baṣra said: he intended only by His statement "and let not those who are miserly with what Allah has given them of His bounty think that it is better for them; nay, it is worse for them" = "let [them] not reckon miserliness to be better for them," whereby he omitted the noun to which the "thinking" (al-ḥusbān) was applied, namely miserliness, because he had already mentioned the "thinking" and had mentioned "what Allah has given them of His bounty," and he kept both implicit since he had mentioned both. He said: and there has come of omission what is even more drastic than this; He said: لا يَسْتَوِي مِنْكُمْ مَنْ أَنْفَقَ مِنْ قَبْلِ الْفَتْحِ وَقَاتَلَ ("Not equal among you is he who spent before the conquest and fought"), and He did not say: "and he who spent after the conquest," because, when He said: أُولَئِكَ أَعْظَمُ دَرَجَةً مِنَ الَّذِينَ أَنْفَقُوا مِنْ بَعْدُ [sūrat al-Ḥadīd: 10] ("they are higher in rank than those who spent afterwards"), there was in that an indication that He intended them.
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Some of the people of Baṣra who disapproved of the statement of the one we mentioned said: the word "man" (whoever) in His statement "not equal among you is he who spent before the conquest" has the meaning of a plural. And the meaning of the statement is: not equal among you are those who spent before the conquest, in their ranks and their states, so how then with those who spent after the conquest? So the first is sufficient. And he said: in His statement "let not those who are miserly with what Allah has given them of His bounty think that it is better for them" there is something omitted, except that it was not omitted without there being in the statement something that takes the place of what was omitted, for "it" (huwa) refers back to miserliness, and "better for them" refers back to the nouns, so these two referring words indicate that before them there were two nouns, and he was content with His statement "they are miserly" in place of "miserliness."
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He said: and this is when it is recited with the tāʾ, then "miserliness" is before "those"; and when it is recited with the yāʾ, then "miserliness" is after "those," and he was content with "those who are miserly" in place of miserliness, as the poet said:
When the fool is reproved, he hastens toward [folly] and acts contrarily, and the fool inclines to contradiction.
It is as though he said: he hastens toward folly, and he was content with "the fool" (al-safīh) in place of "folly" (al-safah). Likewise he was content with "those who are miserly" in place of "miserliness."
Abū Jaʿfar said: and the correct of the two recitations therein, in my view, is the recitation of the one who recited: ("walā taḥsabanna alladhīna yabkhalūna") with the tāʾ, with the explanation: and do not think, O Muḥammad, that the miserliness of those who are miserly with what Allah has given them of His bounty is better for them = then the mention of "miserliness" was left out, since in His statement "that it is better for them" there was an indication that it is intended in the statement, since it was preceded by His statement "those who are miserly with what Allah has given them of His bounty."
And we said only: the recitation of it with the tāʾ is more correct than the recitation of it with the yāʾ, because the "thinking" (al-maḥsaba) by its nature requires a subject and a predicate, so when His statement "and let not those who are miserly think" is recited with the yāʾ, then the "thinking" has no subject of which His statement "that it is better for them" would be the predicate. And when it is recited with the tāʾ, then His statement "those who are miserly" is a subject for it that conveys the meaning of "miserliness" - which is the omitted subject of the "thinking" - and His statement "that it is better for them" is a predicate for it, and this runs along the well-known path of the eloquent speech of the Arabs. Therefore we chose the recitation with the tāʾ therein, on the basis of what we have set forth, even though the recitation with the yāʾ is not incorrect, but it is not the most eloquent nor the most well-known of the speech of the Arabs.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: and as for the explanation of the verse, which is its explanation according to the recitation that we have chosen therein: and do not think, O Muḥammad, that the miserliness of those who are miserly with what Allah has given them in this world of possessions, such that they do not spend from it the right of Allah which He has obligated upon them therein of the alms (zakawāt), is better for them with Allah on the Day of Resurrection; nay, it is worse for them with Him in the Hereafter, as:
8278 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "and let not those who are miserly with what Allah has given them of His bounty think that it is better for them; nay, it is worse for them," they are those to whom Allah gave of His bounty, and they were miserly to spend it in the way of Allah, and they did not pay its zakāh.
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And others said: nay, by it were intended the Jews who were miserly to expound to the people what Allah had sent down in the Torah concerning the matter of Muḥammad ﷺ and his description.
Mention of who said that:
8279 - 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 statement: "and let not those who are miserly with what Allah has given them of His bounty think," up to سَيُطَوَّقُونَ مَا بَخِلُوا بِهِ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ ("that with which they were miserly will be hung around their necks on the Day of Resurrection"), by it He means the People of the Book: that they were miserly with the Book, to expound it for the people.
8280 - Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, [concerning] His statement: "and let not those who are miserly with what Allah has given them of His bounty think," he said: they are the Jews, up to His statement وَالْكِتَابِ الْمُنِيرِ [sūrat Āl ʿImrān: 184] ("and the illuminating Book").
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And the correct of the two explanations for the explanation of this verse is the first explanation, namely that by "miserliness" in this place is intended the withholding of the zakāh, because of the abundance of the reports from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that he explained His statement "that with which they were miserly will be hung around their necks on the Day of Resurrection" thus [and] said: the miser who withheld the right of Allah from it, he is made into a serpent on his neck = and because of Allah's statement after this verse: لَقَدْ سَمِعَ اللَّهُ قَوْلَ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ فَقِيرٌ وَنَحْنُ أَغْنِيَاءُ ("Indeed, Allah has heard the statement of those who said: Allah is poor and we are rich"), by which He, exalted is His praise, described the statement of the polytheists among the Jews, who, when Allah commanded them the zakāh, claimed that Allah is poor.
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The discourse on the explanation of His statement: سَيُطَوَّقُونَ مَا بَخِلُوا بِهِ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ ("That with which they were miserly will be hung around their necks on the Day of Resurrection")
Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by His statement, exalted is His praise: "it will be hung around their necks," Allah will make that with which the withholders of the zakāh were miserly into a collar around their necks, in the form of the well-known collars, as:
8281 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Qazaʿa related to me, he said: Maslama ibn ʿAlqama related to us, he said: Dāwud related to us, on the authority of Abū Qazaʿa, on the authority of Abū Mālik al-ʿAbdī, he said: there is no servant to whom a relative of his comes asking him for something of the abundance with him, and he is miserly toward him, but that with which he was miserly toward him is brought forth for him as a bald serpent (shujāʿ aqraʿ). He said: and he recited: "and let not those who are miserly with what Allah has given them of His bounty think that it is better for them; nay, it is worse for them; that with which they were miserly will be hung around their necks on the Day of Resurrection," to the end of the verse.
8282 - Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Dāwud related to us, on the authority of Abū Qazaʿa, on the authority of a man, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, he said: there is no relative who comes to his relative and asks him for something of the abundance that Allah has placed with him, and he is miserly with it toward him, but there is brought forth for him from hell (jahannam) a serpent that flicks its tongue, until it is hung around his neck.
8283 - Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, he said: Abū Muʿāwiya Muḥammad ibn Khāzim related to us, he said: Dāwud related to us, on the authority of Abū Qazaʿa Ḥujr ibn Bayān, he said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: there is no relative who comes to his relative and asks him for something of the abundance that Allah has given him, and he is miserly with it toward him, but there is brought forth for him on the Day of Resurrection a serpent from the Fire that flicks its tongue, until it is hung around his neck. Then he recited: "and let not those who are miserly with what Allah has given them of His bounty think," until he ended at His statement: "that with which they were miserly will be hung around their necks on the Day of Resurrection."
8284 - Ziyād ibn ʿUbayd Allāh al-Murrī related to me, he said: Marwān ibn Muʿāwiya related to us = and ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Kilābī related to me, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Bakr al-Sahmī related to us, and Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, he said: ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Wāṣil Abū ʿUbayda al-Ḥaddād related to us, and the wording is that of Yaʿqūb = all of them, on the authority of Bahz ibn Ḥakīm ibn Muʿāwiya ibn Ḥayda, on the authority of his father, on the authority of his grandfather, he said: I heard the Prophet of Allah ﷺ say: no man comes to his patron (mawlā) and asks him for something of the abundance of the wealth that is with him, and he refuses it to him, but that there is summoned for him on the Day of Resurrection a serpent that licks back and forth the abundance which he refused.
8285 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Abū Wāʾil, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd: "that with which they were miserly will be hung around their necks on the Day of Resurrection," he said: a serpent (thuʿbān) that pecks at the head of one of them and says: I am your wealth with which you were miserly!
8286 - Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, he said: I heard Abū Wāʾil relate: that he heard ʿAbd Allāh say concerning this verse: "that with which they were miserly will be hung around their necks on the Day of Resurrection," he said: a serpent that winds itself around the head of one of them.
8287 - Ibn al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, he said: Khallād ibn Aslam related to us, he said: al-Naḍr ibn Shumayl informed us, he said: Shuʿba informed us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Abū Wāʾil, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, in the same manner - except that they both said, he said: a black serpent.
8288 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: al-Thawrī informed us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Abū Wāʾil, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, he said: his wealth comes on the Day of Resurrection as a serpent, and it pecks at his head and says: I am your wealth with which you were miserly! Then it winds itself around his neck.
8289 - It was related to me on the authority of Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna, he said: Jāmiʿ ibn Abī Rāshid and ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Aʿyan related to us, on the authority of Abū Wāʾil, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, he said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: there is no one who does not pay the zakāh of his wealth, but that a bald serpent is depicted for him that is hung around his neck. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ recited to us: "and let not those who are miserly with what Allah has given them of His bounty think that it is better for them," the verse.
8290 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to me, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: as for "that with which they were miserly will be hung around their necks," his wealth is made on the Day of Resurrection into a bald serpent that is hung around his neck, and it seizes him by his neck and follows him until it throws him into the Fire.
8291 - Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Khalaf ibn Khalīfa related to us, on the authority of Abū Hāshim, on the authority of Abū Wāʾil, he said: it is the man to whom Allah grants wealth, and he refuses his kin the right that Allah has set for them in his wealth, so it is made into a serpent that is hung around his neck, and he says: what have I to do with you! Then it says: I am your wealth!
8292 - Al-Muthannā related to us, he said: Abū Ghassān related to us, he said: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Ḥakīm ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd, on the authority of Masrūq, he said: I asked Ibn Masʿūd about His statement: "that with which they were miserly will be hung around their necks on the Day of Resurrection," he said: a bald serpent is hung around their necks that bites his head.
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And others said: the meaning of it is: "that with which they were miserly will be hung around their necks on the Day of Resurrection," a collar of fire is placed around their necks.
Mention of who said that:
8293 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: "that with which they were miserly will be hung around their necks on the Day of Resurrection," he said: a collar of the Fire.
8294 - Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, that he said concerning this verse: "that with which they were miserly will be hung around their necks on the Day of Resurrection," he said: a collar of fire.
8295 - Al-Ḥasan related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: al-Thawrī informed us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, [concerning] His statement: "it will be hung around their necks," he said: a collar of fire.
8296 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: "that with which they were miserly will be hung around their necks on the Day of Resurrection," he said: a collar of fire.
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And others said: the meaning of it is: those who concealed the prophethood of Muḥammad ﷺ, from the rabbis of the Jews, will [have to] carry that which they concealed of it.
* Mention of who said that:
8297 - 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 statement: "that with which they were miserly will be hung around their necks on the Day of Resurrection," have you not heard that He said: يَبْخَلُونَ وَيَأْمُرُونَ النَّاسَ بِالْبُخْلِ [sūrat al-Nisāʾ: 37, sūrat al-Ḥadīd: 24] ("they are miserly and command the people to miserliness"), by it He means the People of the Book: He says: they conceal, and they command the people to conceal.
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And others said: the meaning of it is: it will be imposed upon them on the Day of Resurrection that they come with that with which they were miserly in this world of their possessions.
* Mention of who said that:
8298 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, [concerning] His statement: "that with which they were miserly will be hung around their necks on the Day of Resurrection," he said: it will be imposed upon them that they come with that with which they were miserly, up to His statement "and the illuminating Book."
8299 - Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, he said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "it will be hung around their necks," it will be imposed upon them that they come on the Day of Resurrection with the like of that with which they were miserly of their possessions.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: and the most fitting of the statements for the explanation of this verse is the explanation that we have given therein at the beginning of His statement: "that with which they were miserly will be hung around their necks," because of the reports that we have mentioned about it from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and no one is better informed of what Allah, blessed and exalted, intended by His revelation than he, peace be upon him.
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The discourse on the explanation of His statement: وَلِلَّهِ مِيرَاثُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأرْضِ وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرٌ (180) ("And to Allah belongs the inheritance of the heavens and the earth, and Allah is All-Aware of what you do." (180))
Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by it, exalted is His praise: that He is the Living who does not die, and the Abiding after the perishing of His entire creation.
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If a questioner were to say: what is the meaning of His statement "to Him belongs the inheritance of the heavens and the earth," while the well-known "inheritance" (mīrāth) is that which passes from the ownership of an owner to his heir by his death, and the world belongs to Allah before the perishing of His creation and after it?
It is said: the meaning of it is what we have described, namely His describing of Himself with everlastingness, and the making known to His creation that perishing has been prescribed for them. That is because the ownership of the owner does not become inheritance until after his passing; so He, exalted is His praise, said only "and to Allah belongs the inheritance of the heavens and the earth" as a making known of that on His part to His servants, that the possessions of His entire creation pass from them by their death, and that there is none but that he is perishable, except Him. For He is the one who, when He causes His entire creation to perish so that their possessions vanish from them, there remains no one to whom belongs what they possessed, except Him.
And the meaning of the verse is only: "let not those who are miserly with what Allah has given them of His bounty think that it is better for them; nay, it is worse for them; that with which they were miserly will be hung around their necks on the Day of Resurrection," after they have perished and their possessions have vanished from them, at the moment when they possess nothing, and the inheritance of it and the inheritance of the others of His creation has reverted to Allah.
Then the Exalted informed that He, concerning what these who are miserly with what Allah has given them of bounty do, and the others of the rest of His creation, possesses knowledge and awareness encompassing all of that, until He recompenses each of them according to the measure of what he deserves: the doer of good with good, and the doer of evil according to what the Exalted sees fit.
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