64. At-Taghabun (Mutual Loss And Gain)
Period Uncertain [108][18 verses]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
فَاتَّقُوا
اللَّهَ مَا
اسْتَطَعْتُمْ ...
64:16. So
- fear Allah as much as ye can;
C5497. "Fear Allah" combined with "as much as you can" obviously means: "lead lives of self-restraint and righteousness": the usual meaning of Taqwa:
see n. 26 to 2:2.
... وَاسْمَعُوا وَأَطِيعُوا وَأَنفِقُوا خَيْرًا لِّأَنفُسِكُمْ ...
- listen and obey;
- and spend in charity for the benefit of your own souls:
C5498. Charity is meant to help and do good to other people who need it. But it has the highest subjective value for the person who gives it. Like mercy "it blesseth him that gives and him that takes". It purifies the giver's soul: the affection that he pours out is for his own spiritual benefit and progress.
Cf. Coleridge: "He prayeth best who loveth best all things both great and small, for the Great God Who loveth us, Who made and loveth all".
... وَمَن يُوقَ شُحَّ نَفْسِهِ فَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ ﴿١٦﴾
and those saved from the covetousness of their own souls -- they are the ones that achieve prosperity.
C5499. Cf. 59:9.
Our worst enemy is within ourselves,-the grasping selfishness which would deprive others of their just rights or seize things which do not properly belong to it. If we can get over this covetous selfishness, we achieve real Prosperity in justice and truth.
إِن
تُقْرِضُوا
اللَّهَ قَرْضًا
حَسَنًا يُضَاعِفْهُ
لَكُمْ وَيَغْفِرْ
لَكُمْ ...
64: 17. If ye loan to Allah a beautiful loan, He will double it to your (credit), and He will grant you Forgiveness:
Our Charity or Love is called a loan to Allah, which not only increases our credit account manifold, but obtains for us the forgiveness of our sins, and the Capacity for increased service in the future.
... وَاللَّهُ شَكُورٌ حَلِيمٌ ﴿١٧﴾
for Allah is most Ready to appreciate (service), Most Forbearing --
C5501. Cf. 14:5, n. 1877; and 35:30, n. 3917.
Allah's appreciation of our service or our love goes far deeper than its intrinsic merits or its specific expression on our side. His reward is beyond our deserts, and passes over out defects. He judges by our motives, which He can read through and through: see next verse.
عَالِمُ
الْغَيْبِ
وَالشَّهَادَةِ
الْعَزِيزُ
الْحَكِيمُ ﴿١٨﴾
64: 18. Knower of what is hidden and what is open, exalted in Might, Full of Wisdom.
C5502. Allah's Appreciation and Forbearing Kindness can reach so far beyond our merits, because
His universal knowledge comprehends hidden motives, which others cannot see in us;
His power is so great that He can afford to reward even the unworthy; and
the Wisdom is so great that He can turn even our weakness into our strength.
Asad’s Version:
64:16 Remain, then, conscious of God as best you can, and listen [to Him], and pay heed. And spend in charity for the good of your own selves: for, such as from their own covetousness are saved it is they, they that shall attain to a happy state!"
64:17 If you offer up to God a goodly loan, He will amply repay you for it, and will forgive you your sins: for God is ever responsive to gratitude, forbearing,
64: 18 knowing all that is beyond the reach of a created being's perception as well as all that can be witnessed by a creature's senses or mind 15 - the Almighty, the Wise !