Tafseer of The Pleading Woman · Al-Mujaadila · 58:12
O you who have believed, when you [wish to] privately consult the Messenger, present before your consultation a charity. That is better for you and purer. But if you find not [the means] - then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.
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, the Exalted: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا نَاجَيْتُمُ الرَّسُولَ فَقَدِّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيْ نَجْوَاكُمْ صَدَقَةً ذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ وَأَطْهَرُ فَإِنْ لَمْ تَجِدُوا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ (12) (O you who believe, when you hold a private conversation with the Messenger, then offer a charitable gift before your private conversation. That is better for you and purer. But if you find nothing, then Allah is indeed Forgiving, Merciful).
He, exalted is His mention, says: O you who have held Allah and His Messenger to be true, when you hold a private conversation with the Messenger of Allah, then offer, prior to your private conversation, a charitable gift (ṣadaqa) which you bestow upon the poor and the needy. ذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ (That is better for you). He says: and your giving a charitable gift prior to your private conversation with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is better for you with Allah, وَأَطْهَرُ (and purer) for your hearts against sins.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the interpreters of the tafsīr have spoken.
* The mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Waraqāʾ related to us, both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement: فَقَدِّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيْ نَجْوَاكُمْ صَدَقَةً (then offer a charitable gift before your private conversation). He said: they were forbidden to speak privately with the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, until they would give a charitable gift. No one spoke privately with him except ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, may Allah be pleased with him: he gave a dīnār and bestowed it as a charitable gift. Then the alleviation concerning this was sent down.
Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd ibn Muḥammad al-Muḥāribī related to us, saying: al-Muṭṭalib ibn Ziyād related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, said: there is indeed in the Book of Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He, a verse that no one before me put into practice, and that no one after me will put into practice: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا نَاجَيْتُمُ الرَّسُولَ فَقَدِّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيْ نَجْوَاكُمْ صَدَقَةً (O you who believe, when you hold a private conversation with the Messenger, then offer a charitable gift before your private conversation). He said: it was made obligatory, then it was abrogated.
Mūsā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Masrūqī related to me, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, on the authority of Shibl ibn ʿAbbād, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا نَاجَيْتُمُ الرَّسُولَ فَقَدِّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيْ نَجْوَاكُمْ صَدَقَةً (O you who believe, when you hold a private conversation with the Messenger, then offer a charitable gift before your private conversation). He said: they were forbidden to speak privately with the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, until they would give a charitable gift. No one spoke privately with him except ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, may Allah be pleased with him: he gave a dīnār as a charitable gift which he bestowed. Then the alleviation was sent down.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: I heard Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, said: there is a verse from the Book of Allah that no one before me put into practice, and that no one after me will put into practice. I had a dīnār which I exchanged for ten dirhams, and every time I came to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, I bestowed a dirham as a charitable gift. Then it was abrogated, and no one had put it into practice before me: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا نَاجَيْتُمُ الرَّسُولَ فَقَدِّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيْ نَجْوَاكُمْ صَدَقَةً (O you who believe, when you hold a private conversation with the Messenger, then offer a charitable gift before your private conversation).
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا نَاجَيْتُمُ الرَّسُولَ فَقَدِّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيْ نَجْوَاكُمْ صَدَقَةً (O you who believe, when you hold a private conversation with the Messenger, then offer a charitable gift before your private conversation). He said: the people asked the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, many questions, until they overwhelmed him with their questions. Then Allah admonished them with this verse. A man might have a need which he wished to present to the Prophet of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, but he could not fulfill it until he had given a charitable gift beforehand. That was burdensome for them, and then Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He, sent down the alleviation: فَإِنْ لَمْ تَجِدُوا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ (But if you find nothing, then Allah is indeed Forgiving, Merciful).
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: إِذَا نَاجَيْتُمُ الرَّسُولَ فَقَدِّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيْ نَجْوَاكُمْ صَدَقَةً (when you hold a private conversation with the Messenger, then offer a charitable gift before your private conversation). He said: it is abrogated; it did not remain in force longer than an hour of a day.
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his statement: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا نَاجَيْتُمُ الرَّسُولَ فَقَدِّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيْ نَجْوَاكُمْ صَدَقَةً (O you who believe, when you hold a private conversation with the Messenger, then offer a charitable gift before your private conversation) ... up to فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ (then Allah is indeed Forgiving, Merciful). He said: the Muslims would give a charitable gift prior to the private conversation, but when the zakāh was sent down, this was abrogated.
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his statement: فَقَدِّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيْ نَجْوَاكُمْ صَدَقَةً (then offer a charitable gift before your private conversation). And that was because the Muslims overwhelmed the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, with many questions, until they made it difficult for him. Then Allah willed to make it easier for His Prophet, and when He said that, many of the people held back and refrained from asking. Then Allah sent down: فَإِذْ لَمْ تَفْعَلُوا وَتَابَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْكُمْ فَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ (But now that you have not done it and Allah has accepted your repentance, then establish the prayer and give the zakāh). Thus Allah made it spacious for them, and did not make it difficult for them.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-Mughīra, on the authority of Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn ʿAlqama al-Anmārī, on the authority of ʿAlī, who said: the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: "What do you think? A dīnār?" He said: they cannot afford that. He said: "Half a dīnār?" He said: they cannot afford that. He said: "What do you think then?" He said: a barley-grain (in value). Then the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to him: "You are indeed one who considers it trifling." ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, said: through me Allah made it easier for this community, namely His statement: إِذَا نَاجَيْتُمُ الرَّسُولَ فَقَدِّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيْ نَجْوَاكُمْ صَدَقَةً (when you hold a private conversation with the Messenger, then offer a charitable gift before your private conversation). Then it was sent down: أَأَشْفَقْتُمْ أَنْ تُقَدِّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيْ نَجْوَاكُمْ صَدَقَاتٍ (Do you fear to offer charitable gifts before your private conversation?).
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His statement: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا نَاجَيْتُمُ الرَّسُولَ فَقَدِّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيْ نَجْوَاكُمْ صَدَقَةً (O you who believe, when you hold a private conversation with the Messenger, then offer a charitable gift before your private conversation): so that the people of falsehood would not speak privately with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, whereby this would be burdensome for the people of truth. They said: O Messenger of Allah, we cannot do that and we cannot afford it. Then Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He, said: أَأَشْفَقْتُمْ أَنْ تُقَدِّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيْ نَجْوَاكُمْ صَدَقَاتٍ فَإِذْ لَمْ تَفْعَلُوا وَتَابَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْكُمْ فَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ (Do you fear to offer charitable gifts before your private conversation? Well then, since you have not done it and Allah has accepted your repentance, then establish the prayer and give the zakāh). And He said: لا خَيْرَ فِي كَثِيرٍ مِنْ نَجْوَاهُمْ إِلا مَنْ أَمَرَ بِصَدَقَةٍ أَوْ مَعْرُوفٍ أَوْ إِصْلاحٍ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ (There is no good in much of their private conversation, except for one who enjoins a charitable gift, or what is right, or reconciliation between people). Whoever comes to you to speak privately about this, then accept his private conversation, and whoever comes to you to speak privately about something other than this, then cut it off and do not speak privately with him. He said: and the hypocrites (munāfiqūn) would sometimes speak privately about matters of which they had no need. Then Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He, said: أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ نُهُوا عَنِ النَّجْوَى ثُمَّ يَعُودُونَ لِمَا نُهُوا عَنْهُ وَيَتَنَاجَوْنَ بِالإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ وَمَعْصِيَةِ الرَّسُولِ (Have you not seen those who were forbidden the private conversation, then return to what they were forbidden, and confer privately in sin, enmity, and disobedience to the Messenger?). He said: because the corrupt one intrudes into it.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, on the authority of Yazīd, on the authority of ʿIkrima and al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī. They both said: he said concerning al-Mujādala (Surah 58): إِذَا نَاجَيْتُمُ الرَّسُولَ فَقَدِّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيْ نَجْوَاكُمْ صَدَقَةً ذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ وَأَطْهَرُ فَإِنْ لَمْ تَجِدُوا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ (when you hold a private conversation with the Messenger, then offer a charitable gift before your private conversation. That is better for you and purer. But if you find nothing, then Allah is indeed Forgiving, Merciful). Then the verse that came after it abrogated this, for He said: أَأَشْفَقْتُمْ أَنْ تُقَدِّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيْ نَجْوَاكُمْ صَدَقَاتٍ فَإِذْ لَمْ تَفْعَلُوا وَتَابَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْكُمْ فَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ وَأَطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَاللَّهُ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ (Do you fear to offer charitable gifts before your private conversation? Well then, since you have not done it and Allah has accepted your repentance, then establish the prayer and give the zakāh and obey Allah and His Messenger. And Allah is well-acquainted with what you do).
And His statement: فَإِنْ لَمْ تَجِدُوا (But if you find nothing). He, exalted is His mention, says: and if you find nothing to give as a charitable gift prior to your private conversation with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ (then Allah is indeed Forgiving, Merciful). He says: then Allah is Forgiving regarding your sins when you repent of them, Merciful toward you so that He does not punish you for it after the repentance, and He does not hold against you the private conversation with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, before you have given a charitable gift prior to your private conversation with him.
