Tafseer of Muhammad · Muhammad · 47:37
If He should ask you for them and press you, you would withhold, and He would expose your unwillingness.
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.
( إن يسألكموها ) — "If He were to ask you for them" —: the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: if your Lord were to ask you for your possessions ( فيحفكم ) — He says: and were to burden you excessively therewith by the asking and press you by demanding it from you to the utmost — تبخلوا: He says: then you would be stingy with it and withhold it from Him, out of miserliness on your part with it. But He knew that of you, and the meanness of your souls, and therefore He did not ask you for them.
And His statement ( وَيُخْرِجْ أَضْغَانَكُمْ ) — "and He would bring forth your rancor" —. He says: and the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, would — if He had asked you for your possessions by demanding that from you — bring forth your rancor. He said: Allah already knew that in the asking for possessions lies the bringing forth of rancor.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement ( فَيُحْفِكُمْ تَبْخَلُوا ): al-iḥfāʾ means: that you take everything away with both your hands.
