“Not upon you is their guidance, but Allah guides whom He wills. And whatever you spend in good, it is for yourselves, when you spend not except seeking Allah’s sake. And whatever you spend in good, it will be repaid to you in full, and you shall not be wronged.”

The verse continues about spending, but during it Allah mentions part of the verse as if it has no relation to spending. It is known that in the language of the Arabs that the most clear (faseeh) Arab would not have his words ‏disorganised, so if during his speech he began a part unconnected to what was before or what comes after, then it was intended, but the speaker had concealed the link between this part and the rest of the speech, not making it appear explicitly, so as to encourage pausing there to go deep into it to discover its meaning, and so drawing attention to it with this rhetorical style.‏

This is taken from the book “Taysir fi usool at-tafsir” by Sheikh Ata bin Khalil Abu Rashta, the Ameer of Hizb ut-Tahrir.

لَيْسَ عَلَيْكَ هُدَاهُمْ وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَهْدِي مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَمَا تُنْفِقُوا مِنْ خَيْرٍ فَلِأَنْفُسِكُمْ وَمَا تُنْفِقُونَ إِلَّا ابْتِغَاءَ وَجْهِ اللَّهِ وَمَا تُنْفِقُوا مِنْ خَيْرٍ

يُوَفَّ إِلَيْكُمْ وَأَنْتُمْ لَا تُظْلَمُون

“Not upon you is their guidance, but Allah guides whom He wills. And whatever you spend in good, it is for yourselves, when you spend not except seeking Allah’s sake. And whatever you spend in good, it will be repaid to you in full, and you shall not be wronged.” [Al-Baqarah, 2:272]

The verse continues about spending, but during it Allah mentions part of the verse as if it has no relation to spending. It is known that in the language of the Arabs that the most clear (faseeh) Arab would not have his words ‏disorganised, so if during his speech he began a part unconnected to what was before or what comes after, then it was intended, but the speaker had concealed the link between this part and the rest of the speech, not making it appear explicitly, so as to encourage pausing there to go deep into it to discover its meaning, and so drawing attention to it with this rhetorical style.‏

This verse is like that, as what preceded it is about spending and what follows it is about spending, with the apparent meaning of the words about other than that. So, the focus is on it as we pause to discover the link and consider it deeply, as intended by Allah the glorified.

Contemplation of this verse shows that we do not have to force the people onto guidance and entering Islam. That is not in our capability, rather Allah guides whom He wills.

As for us, we call to Islam and command what is good and censure what is bad. If they respond, then it is a favour from Allah, as Allah alone is capable of guiding all people.

(وَلَوْ شِئْنَا لَآتَيْنَا كُلَّ نَفْسٍ هُدَاهَا)
“And if We had willed, surely We would have given every person his guidance.” [As-Sajdah:13]

Contemplation of this meaning makes one wonder now about the link between this part of the verse with what is before, which is about spending, and with what came after, which is also about spending.

If man worried about guiding their loved ones and the embracing Islam of relatives or friends, it would push him to pressure them and force them to enter Islam, and to use money as a method to do that. So, if he used to provide for them, then he could prevent their maintenance in order to get them to become Muslim or make Islam a condition for provisions. Therefore, Allah prohibited Muslims from using maintenance as a method of coercion for relatives or those with whom they have a relationship to enter Islam.

Pausing to consider the verse benefits us in two ways:

First: entering Islam, or guidance, needs conviction, satisfaction and choice and not duress and coercion.

Second: not to exploit the maintenance of relatives or those with whom there is a relationship to coerce people to convert to Islam.

This is confirmed by what some of the sahabah narrated of the cause for this verse’s revelation: Ibn Jarir extracted by way of Ibn Abbas – may Allah be pleased with them both – that he said: “They – the Muslims – used not to يرضخون their relatives of the idol worshippers, so Allah sent down (لَيْسَ عَلَيْكَ هُدَاهُمْ وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَهْدِي مَنْ يَشَاءُ) (Not upon you is their guidance, but Allah guides whom He wills.)”. يرضخون: to give something of their money, i.e. they did not spend on their relatives as they were polytheists until they become Muslims.

In another account from Ibn Abbas – may Allah be pleased with him – he said: “Some people from the Ansar had in-laws and relations with the tribe of QurayDha and an-NaDir, and they were cautious to give sadaqah, wanting them to become Muslims, so (لَيْسَ عَلَيْكَ هُدَاهُمْ) (Not upon you is their guidance) was sent down.”

‘Give sadaqah’ as it comes in the story means keeping relations and maintenance; because charity is worship and draws one closer to Allah and is not allowed for non-Muslims.

Also, Ibn Jarir extracted by way of Said bin Jubayr: they were cautious to give something of their money to the polytheists from their relatives until it was revealed: (لَيْسَ عَلَيْكَ هُدَاهُمْ وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَهْدِي مَنْ يَشَاءُ) (Not upon you is their guidance, but Allah guides whom He wills).

Qurtubi mentioned that some of mufassireen said Asmaa’ bint Abi Bakr as-Siddeeq wanted to keep relations with her grandfather, Abu Fahafah, and then declined to do that as he was a non-Muslim, so the verse was sent down about that.

Thus, the context of the verses continue with one format, with the focus on not using maintenance or preventing it to compel people to enter into Islam.

It is worth mentioning that not forcing people to enter into Islam does not mean not forcing them to submit to the shar’iah rules, nor the non-application of the shar’iah rules on them by the Islamic State, as that is obligatory. We have stated that in the tafseer of the verse (لَا إِكْرَاهَ فِي الدِّينِ) (no compulsion in religion) [Al-Baqarah, 2:256], so refer to it.

Then Allah completes His verse about spending, so He explains other rules about spending. It came already that Allah explained that spending must be free of harm and any expectation of returning the favour, and not be to show off, and is not ill-gotten money.

In this verse Allah shows that for the one who spends, the best is for him, as he is the one who is rewarded for it and redeemed in this world and the Hereafter and in particular, as he spent it wanting Allah’s pleasure. (لَيْسَ عَلَيْكَ هُدَاهُمْ) (Not upon you is their guidance).

The address is to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, and it is an address to his ummah as well. The meaning is: You are not charged with forcing them to guidance.

The meaning of charging (at-takleef) comes from (عَلَيْكَ) (upon you). Guidance: Islam.

(وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَهْدِي مَنْ يَشَاءُ) (But, Allah guides whom He wills), that is to say that Allah is capable of guiding all the people, but the wisdom of the Almighty required leaving them to choose:(فَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ ءَامَنَ وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ كَفَرَ) (From them is he who believes and from them is he who disbelieves) [Al-Baqarah:253]

(وَمَا تُنْفِقُوا مِنْ خَيْرٍ فَلِأَنْفُسِكُمْ) (And whatever you spend in good, it is for yourselves)

‘What’ Ma (مَا) puts a condition, while ‘From’ min (مِنْ) means ‘a part’, i.e. a part of goodness. ‘Goodness’ khair (خَيْرٍ) is money, because al-khair, if it is connected to spending, then it means the money, whereas if it is not connected to it, then it does not necessarily mean money, rather it could come about other than it:

(فَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَهُ)

“So, whoever does an atom’s weight of good khair will see it” [Al-Zalzalah: 7]

(فَلِأَنْفُسِكُمْ) (it is for yourselves) i.e. it is for yourselves and none but you will benefit from it in the next life. The letter Fa ف introduces the conditioned thing (jawab ash-shart).

(وَمَا تُنْفِقُونَ إِلَّا ابْتِغَاءَ وَجْهِ اللَّه) (And you are not spending except desiring Allah’s pleasure) i.e. the reward is for yourselves as you are in the state of desiring Allah’s pleasure.

(وَمَا تُنْفِقُونَ) (And you are not spending) i.e. you do not spend. The wa و introduces the state/situation (Haal) with the whole sentence being the situation itself. (i.e. the state of desiring Allah’s pleasure) (ابْتِغَاءَ) (desiring) is maf’ool li-ajlihi, which is the reason for which an action is done.

(وَجْهِ اللَّهِ) (literally: Allah’s face) is an expression used to mean Allah Himself, and in this usage it means the pure sincerity to Allah. So the saying (in Arabic): I did this for Zayd’s sake (فعلت هذا لأجل زيد) carries the meaning that you did it for Zayd alone, or that you did it for Zayd and for other than Zayd, i.e. that this expression (لأجل) contains the meaning of sharing. However, if you said (in Arabic): I did this for Zayd’s face (فعلته لوجه زيد), it was purely for Zayd alone.

Thus, (ابْتِغَاءَ وَجْهِ اللَّهِ) (desiring Allah’s pleasure) i.e. purely for Allah alone. (وَمَا تُنْفِقُوا مِنْ خَيْرٍ يُوَفَّ إِلَيْكُمْ وَأَنْتُمْ لَا تُظْلَمُونَ) (And whatever you spend in good, it will be repaid to you in full, and you shall not be wronged) is an explanation for the conditional sentence (وَمَا تُنْفِقُوا مِنْ خَيْرٍ فَلِأَنْفُسِكُمْ) (And whatever you spend in good, it is for yourselves) i.e. an explanation of (لأنفسكم) (for yourselves) that you will be recompensed in this life and the next, without being wronged, i.e. without neglecting anything of the recompense, as Allah is al-Muwafi and the best of judges, in this life with the blessing of money, and in the next life with great reward.

“اللهم اجعل لمنفق خلفاً ولممسك تلفاً” “O Allah, make for the spender succession and for the withholder ruin” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim) as the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said.