Tafseer of The Repentance · At-Tawba · 9:34
O you who have believed, indeed many of the scholars and the monks devour the wealth of people unjustly and avert [them] from the way of Allah. And those who hoard gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah - give them tidings of a painful punishment.
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 statement concerning the explanation of His word: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِنَ الأَحْبَارِ وَالرُّهْبَانِ لَيَأْكُلُونَ أَمْوَالَ النَّاسِ بِالْبَاطِلِ وَيَصُدُّونَ عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ("O you who believe, indeed many of the rabbis and the monks consume the wealth of the people unlawfully and bar from the way of Allah").
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: O you who have believed in Allah and His Messenger and have acknowledged the oneness of their Lord, indeed many of the scholars and the readers of scripture among the Children of Israel, among the Jews and the Christians, لَيَأْكُلُونَ أَمْوَالَ النَّاسِ بِالْبَاطِلِ ("consume the wealth of the people unlawfully"). He says: they take bribes in their adjudication, they distort the Book of Allah, and they write scriptures with their own hands and then say: "This is from Allah," and they receive for it a paltry price from their rabble. وَيَصُدُّونَ عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ("and they bar from the way of Allah"). He says: they prevent the one who wishes to enter Islam from doing so, by barring them from it.
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
16648 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, he said: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِنَ الأَحْبَارِ وَالرُّهْبَانِ لَيَأْكُلُونَ أَمْوَالَ النَّاسِ بِالْبَاطِلِ ("O you who believe, indeed many of the rabbis and the monks consume the wealth of the people unlawfully"). As for the "rabbis" (al-aḥbār), they are those among the Jews. And as for the "monks" (al-ruhbān), they are those among the Christians. And as for the "way of Allah," it is Muḥammad ﷺ.
* * *
The statement concerning the explanation of His word, the Exalted: وَالَّذِينَ يَكْنِزُونَ الذَّهَبَ وَالْفِضَّةَ وَلا يُنْفِقُونَهَا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَبَشِّرْهُمْ بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ (34) ("And those who hoard up gold and silver and do not spend it in the way of Allah: announce to them a painful punishment" (9:34)).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: إِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِنَ الأَحْبَارِ وَالرُّهْبَانِ لَيَأْكُلُونَ أَمْوَالَ النَّاسِ بِالْبَاطِلِ ("indeed many of the rabbis and the monks consume the wealth of the people unlawfully"), and together with them these also consume (the wealth of the people): الَّذِينَ يَكْنِزُونَ الذَّهَبَ وَالْفِضَّةَ وَلا يُنْفِقُونَهَا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَبَشِّرْهُمْ بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ ("those who hoard up gold and silver and do not spend it in the way of Allah: announce to them a painful punishment"). He says: announce to the many among the rabbis and the monks who consume the wealth of the people unlawfully, as well as to those who hoard up gold and silver and do not spend it in the way of Allah, a painful punishment for them on the Day of Resurrection, a grievous punishment (ʿadhāb) from Allah.
* * *
The people of knowledge (ahl al-ʿilm) differed concerning the meaning of "the hoarding" (al-kanz).
Some of them said: it is every property upon which the zakāh has become obligatory but whose zakāh has not been paid. They said: and by His word وَلا يُنْفِقُونَهَا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ("and do not spend it in the way of Allah") is meant: and they do not pay its zakāh.
* Mention of who said that:
16649 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, he said: Ayyūb related to us, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, who said: Every property whose zakāh you have paid is not a "hoard" (kanz), even if it is buried. And every property whose zakāh has not been paid, that is the "hoard" which Allah mentioned in the Qurʾān, with which its owner will be branded, even if it is not buried.
16650 — Al-Ḥasan ibn al-Junayd related to us, he said: Saʿīd ibn Maslama related to us, he said: Ismāʿīl ibn Umayya related to us, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, that he said: Every property whose zakāh you have paid is not a "hoard," even if it is buried. And every property whose zakāh has not been paid, even if it is not buried, that is a "hoard."
16651 — Abū al-Sāʾib related to me, he said: Ibn Fuḍayl related to us, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, who said: Whatever property it be whose zakāh you have paid is not a "hoard," even if it is buried in the earth. And whatever property it be whose zakāh you have not paid, that is a "hoard" with which its owner will be branded, even if it is upon the surface of the earth.
16652 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: my father and Jarīr related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, who said: That whose zakāh you have paid is not a "hoard."
16653 — ...... he said: my father related to us, on the authority of al-ʿUmarī, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, who said: That whose zakāh you have paid is not a "hoard," even if it lies beneath seven layers of earth. And that whose zakāh you have not paid, that is a "hoard," even if it lies upon the surface.
16654 — ...... he said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of al-Shaybānī, on the authority of ʿIkrima, who said: That whose zakāh you have paid is not a "hoard."
16655 — 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, who said: As for الَّذِينَ يَكْنِزُونَ الذَّهَبَ وَالْفِضَّةَ ("those who hoard up gold and silver"), they are the people of the qibla (the Muslims), and the "hoard" is that whose zakāh has not been paid, even if it lies upon the surface of the earth, and even if it is little. And though it be much, if its zakāh has been paid, then it is not a "hoard."
16656 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: my father related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Jābir, who said: I said to ʿĀmir: A property upon a shelf between heaven and earth whose zakāh is not paid — is that a "hoard"? He said: Its owner will be branded with it on the Day of Resurrection.
* * *
And others said: every property that exceeds four thousand dirhams is a "hoard," whether its zakāh has been paid or not.
* Mention of who said that:
16657 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh related to us, on the authority of Abū Ḥaṣīn, on the authority of Abū al-Ḍuḥā, on the authority of Jaʿda ibn Hubayra, on the authority of ʿAlī, may Allah's mercy be upon him, who said: Four thousand dirhams and below is "expenditure" (nafaqa), and what is more than that is "hoarding" (kanz).
16658 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Abū Ḥaṣīn, on the authority of Abū al-Ḍuḥā, on the authority of Jaʿda ibn Hubayra, on the authority of ʿAlī, the same.
16659 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: al-Shaʿbī informed us, he said: Abū Ḥaṣīn informed me, on the authority of Abū al-Ḍuḥā, on the authority of Jaʿda ibn Hubayra, on the authority of ʿAlī, may Allah's mercy be upon him, concerning His word وَالَّذِينَ يَكْنِزُونَ الذَّهَبَ وَالْفِضَّةَ ("and those who hoard up gold and silver"), he said: Four thousand dirhams and below is "expenditure," and what is above that is "hoarding."
* * *
And others said: the "hoard" is everything that remains of the property beyond the owner's need for it.
* Mention of who said that:
16660 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muʿādh related to us, he said: my father related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Wāḥid: that he heard Abū Mujīb say: The pommel of Abū Hurayra's sword was of silver, and Abū Dharr forbade him that and said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Whoever leaves behind yellow (gold) or white (silver) will be branded with it."
16661 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Muʾammal related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of al-Aʿmash and ʿAmr ibn Murra, on the authority of Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd, who said: When was sent down وَالَّذِينَ يَكْنِزُونَ الذَّهَبَ وَالْفِضَّةَ وَلا يُنْفِقُونَهَا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ("and those who hoard up gold and silver and do not spend it in the way of Allah"), the Prophet ﷺ said: "Woe to the gold! Woe to the silver!" — he said that three times. He said: This weighed heavily upon the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and they said: What property then shall we acquire?! Then ʿUmar said: I shall find that out for you! He said: O Messenger of Allah, it has weighed heavily upon your Companions, and they have said: What property then shall we acquire? He said: A tongue that remembers (Allah), a heart that is grateful, and a wife who aids each one of you in his religion.
16662 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Muʾammal related to us, he said: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd, on the authority of Thawbān, with the same.
16663 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā 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 ʿAmr ibn Murra, on the authority of Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd, who said: When this verse was sent down: وَالَّذِينَ يَكْنِزُونَ الذَّهَبَ وَالْفِضَّةَ وَلا يُنْفِقُونَهَا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ("and those who hoard up gold and silver and do not spend it in the way of Allah"), the Emigrants (al-muhājirūn) said: And what property shall we acquire? Then ʿUmar said: I shall ask the Prophet ﷺ about that. He said: Then I overtook him while he was upon a camel and said: O Messenger of Allah, the Emigrants have said: What property then shall we acquire? Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: A tongue that remembers (Allah), a heart that is grateful, and a believing wife who aids each one of you in his religion.
16664 — Al-Ḥasan related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, on the authority of Abū Umāma, who said: A man of the People of the Ṣuffa died, and in his waist-wrapper a dīnār was found. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: One brand! Then another died, and in his waist-wrapper two dīnārs were found. Then the Prophet ﷺ said: Two brands!
16665 — Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, on the authority of Ṣudayy ibn ʿAjlān Abū Umāma, who said: A man of the People of the Ṣuffa died, and in his waist-wrapper a dīnār was found. Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: One brand! Then another died, and in his waist-wrapper two dīnārs were found. Then the Prophet of Allah said: Two brands!
16666 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Sālim, on the authority of Thawbān, who said: We were on a journey, and we were traveling with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. The Emigrants said: We would like to know which property is best, so that we may acquire it, now that concerning gold and silver has been sent down what has been sent down! Then ʿUmar said: If you wish, I shall ask the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about that! They said: Indeed! Then he set off, and I followed him, urging on my camel. He said: O Messenger of Allah, when Allah sent down concerning gold and silver what He sent down, the Emigrants said: We would like to know which property is best, so that we may acquire it? He said: Yes! Let each one of you acquire for himself a tongue that remembers (Allah), a heart that is grateful, and a wife who aids each one of you in his faith (īmān).
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most correct of the statements concerning this is the statement narrated from Ibn ʿUmar: that every property whose zakāh has been paid is not a "hoard" which its owner is forbidden to hoard, even if it is much; and that the owner of every property whose zakāh has not been paid will be punished and deserves the threat of Allah, unless Allah favors him with His forgiveness — even if it is little, so long as it belongs to that upon which the zakāh is obligatory.
This is because Allah, through the mouth of His Messenger, made obligatory a quarter of a tenth (1/40) upon five awāq of silver, and the same upon twenty mithqāl of gold, namely a quarter of a tenth thereof. If, then, that is the obligation of Allah upon gold and silver by the mouth of His Messenger, then it is known that much property — even if it reaches in magnitude into the millions — if, while its zakāh has been paid, it were to belong to the hoards for which Allah threatened their owners with punishment, the zakāh which we mentioned, namely a quarter of a tenth, would not suffice. For that, the paying of the whole of which is obligatory and the acquiring of which is forbidden, its purification is that the whole of it be paid to those who have a right to it, not a quarter of a tenth of it. That is like plundered property, which the plunderer is forbidden to retain, and which it is obligatory upon him to release from his hand, and the purification thereof is: to return it to its owner. If, then, that which of the property exceeds the four thousand dirhams, or that which remains beyond the indispensable need of the owner, belonged to that for which its owner, by owning it — even though he has discharged to those entitled to the shares (of zakāh) their rights out of it in charity — deserves the threat of Allah, then for its owner a quarter of a tenth would not be obligatory, but it would be obligatory upon him to pay the whole of it to those entitled to it and to expend it upon that which he is obligated to expend it upon, just as we mentioned that it is obligatory upon the plunderer of a man's property to return it to its owner.
* * *
And furthermore: there is the following: —
16667 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, he said: Maʿmar said: Suhayl ibn Abī Ṣāliḥ informed me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Abū Hurayra: that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: There is no man who does not pay the zakāh of his property, but that on the Day of Resurrection glowing plates of fire will be made (from his property), with which his forehead, his face, and his back will be branded, on a day whose duration is fifty thousand years, until judgment has been passed among the people, after which his path is shown to him (to Paradise or the Fire). And if it was camels, then he will be cast down upon the ground for them on a flat, bare plain, and they will trample him with their hooves — I think he said: and bite him with their mouths — the first of them returning over the last of them, until judgment has been passed among the people, after which his path is shown to him. And if it was sheep, then likewise, except that they gore him with their horns and trample him with their hooves.
* * *
In the like of these reports, which we did not wish to mention at length, lies the clear indication that the threat of Allah pertains only to the properties whose prescribed obligations of charity have not been paid to those entitled to them, not to the acquiring and hoarding of them. And in what we have expounded thereof lies the clear explanation that the verse has a particular import, as Ibn ʿAbbās said, and that is the following: —
16668 — 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: وَالَّذِينَ يَكْنِزُونَ الذَّهَبَ وَالْفِضَّةَ وَلا يُنْفِقُونَهَا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَبَشِّرْهُمْ بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ ("and those who hoard up gold and silver and do not spend it in the way of Allah: announce to them a painful punishment"), he says: they are the People of the Book (ahl al-kitāb). And he said: it is particular and general.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by his word "it is particular and general": it is particular with regard to the Muslims, concerning the one among them who does not pay the zakāh of his property, and general with regard to the People of the Book, because they are disbelievers (kuffār) whose expenditures are not accepted, even if they were to spend. What confirms the correctness of what we have said in the explanation of this statement of Ibn ʿAbbās is the following: —
16669 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, he said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, his word: وَالَّذِينَ يَكْنِزُونَ الذَّهَبَ وَالْفِضَّةَ وَلا يُنْفِقُونَهَا ("and those who hoard up gold and silver and do not spend it"), up to His word: هَذَا مَا كَنَزْتُمْ لأَنْفُسِكُمْ فَذُوقُوا مَا كُنْتُمْ تَكْنِزُونَ ("this is what you hoarded for yourselves; so taste what you used to hoard"). He said: they are those who do not pay the zakāh of their properties. And he said: every property whose zakāh is not paid, whether it is upon the surface of the earth or in its interior, that is a "hoard"; and every property whose zakāh is paid is not a "hoard," whether it is upon the surface of the earth or in its interior.
16670 — Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: وَالَّذِينَ يَكْنِزُونَ الذَّهَبَ وَالْفِضَّةَ ("and those who hoard up gold and silver"), he said: the "hoard" is that which is hoarded without obedience to Allah and without (fulfilling) His obligation, and that is the "hoard." And he said: the zakāh and the prayer (ṣalāh) were made obligatory together; no distinction was made between the two.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: We only said "that is in the particular sense," because the "hoard" (al-kanz) in the language of the Arabs is: everything that is heaped up, one thing upon another, whether it is in the interior of the earth or upon its surface. That is indicated by the words of the poet:
May my milk not flow if I gave to their traveler the husk of the dūm-palm fruit to eat, while I had hoarded up the wheat!
He means thereby: while I had heaped up the wheat, one thing upon another. And likewise the Arabs say of a firm, compact body "muktaniz" ("tightly packed"), because of the contraction of one part against another.
And since that is the meaning of the "hoard" with them, and the meaning of His word وَالَّذِينَ يَكْنِزُونَ الذَّهَبَ وَالْفِضَّةَ ("and those who hoard up gold and silver") is: and those who heap up gold and silver, one part against another, and do not spend it in the way of Allah — and that is general in wording, while in the verse there is no clarification of how much that quantity of gold and silver is which, when heaped up one part against another, deserves the threat — so it is known that its particular import was established only by the Messenger describing it. And that is, as we have expounded, that it is the property whose right of Allah, namely the zakāh, has not been paid, and nothing else, because of what we have already made clear of the indication of its correctness.
And a number of the Companions (ṣaḥāba) used to say: it is general with regard to every "hoard," except that it is particular with regard to the People of the Book, and that Allah meant precisely them by it.
* Mention of who said that:
16671 — Abū Ḥaṣīn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Yūnus related to me, he said: Hushaym related to us, he said: Ḥuṣayn related to us, on the authority of Zayd ibn Wahb, who said: I passed by al-Rabadha and met Abū Dharr, and said: O Abū Dharr, what has caused you to come down to this land? He said: I was in al-Shām (Syria) and read this verse: وَالَّذِينَ يَكْنِزُونَ الذَّهَبَ وَالْفِضَّةَ ("and those who hoard up gold and silver"), the verse, and then Muʿāwiya said: This verse is not about us, this verse is only about the People of the Book! He said: Then I said: It is about both us and them! He said: Over this the words flared up high between me and him, and he wrote to ʿUthmān complaining about me, whereupon ʿUthmān wrote to me that I should come to him! He said: Then I came, and when I arrived in Medina, the people crowded upon me as though they had never seen me before that day. I complained about that to ʿUthmān, and he said to me: Withdraw to a place nearby. I said: By Allah, I shall never cease to say what I used to say!
16672 — Abū Kurayb, Abū al-Sāʾib, and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, they said: Ibn Idrīs related to us, he said: Ḥuṣayn related to us, on the authority of Zayd ibn Wahb, who said: We passed by al-Rabadha — then he mentioned something similar from Abū Dharr.
16673 — Abū al-Sāʾib related to me, he said: Ibn Idrīs related to us, on the authority of Ashʿath and Hishām, on the authority of Abū Bishr, who said: Abū Dharr said: I went out to al-Shām and read this verse: وَالَّذِينَ يَكْنِزُونَ الذَّهَبَ وَالْفِضَّةَ وَلا يُنْفِقُونَهَا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ("and those who hoard up gold and silver and do not spend it in the way of Allah"). Then Muʿāwiya said: It is only about the People of the Book! He said: Then I said: It is about both us and them.
16674 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, he said: Hushaym related to us, he said: Ḥuṣayn informed us, on the authority of Zayd ibn Wahb, who said: I passed by al-Rabadha, and there I found Abū Dharr. I said to him: What has caused you to come down to this dwelling-place of yours? He said: I was in al-Shām, and I and Muʿāwiya differed concerning this verse: وَالَّذِينَ يَكْنِزُونَ الذَّهَبَ وَالْفِضَّةَ وَلا يُنْفِقُونَهَا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ("and those who hoard up gold and silver and do not spend it in the way of Allah"). He said: Then he (Muʿāwiya) said: It was sent down about the People of the Book. Then I said: It was sent down about us and about them — then he mentioned something similar to the report of Hushaym, on the authority of Ḥuṣayn.
* * *
If someone were to say: How is it that it is said وَلا يُنْفِقُونَهَا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ("and do not spend it in the way of Allah"), with the "hāʾ" and the "alif" (the pronoun) expressed as referring to only one of the two kinds (gold or silver)?
To that the answer is: that admits of two possibilities:
The first: that by "the gold and the silver" the hoards are meant, as though it were said: and those who hoard the hoards and do not spend them in the way of Allah, because the gold and the silver here are the "hoards."
And the second: that by means of the report about one of the two, in the referring pronoun that refers back to them both, one could suffice in place of the report about the other, because of the indication in the sentence to the report about the other, equal to the report about the first. And that occurs much in the language of the Arabs and their poetry. To that belongs the word of the poet:
We with what we have, and you with what you have, are content, though the opinions differ.
He said "rāḍ" ("content," singular) and did not say "riḍwān" (plural/dual). And another said:
Indeed the bloom of youth and the black of hair, so long as it is not opposed, is a kind of madness.
He said "yuʿāṣā" ("is opposed," singular) and did not say "yuʿāṣayā" (dual), in many such cases. And to that belongs the word of Allah: وَإِذَا رَأَوْا تِجَارَةً أَوْ لَهْوًا انْفَضُّوا إِلَيْهَا ("and when they see trade or amusement, they rush toward it") [sūrat al-Jumuʿa: 11], and He did not say "ilayhimā" ("toward them both").
