Calls of Faith in the Qur'an 7: ‹Spend from What We Have Provided for You›

Occasion: Transcription of an Isha khatira delivered on 19 April 2026 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

In this series we are speaking about the seventh command among the calls of faith in the Noble Qur'an, and we have already covered those before it. The verse we have today is the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَنْفِقُوا مِمَّا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ يَأْتِيَ يَوْمٌ لَا بَيْعٌ فِيهِ وَلَا خُلَّةٌ وَلَا شَفَاعَةٌ وَالْكَافِرُونَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ﴾ (O you who believe, spend from what We have provided for you before a Day comes in which there is no trade, no friendship and no intercession; and the disbelievers, they are the wrongdoers).^[1] We will have several pauses with this verse.

The First Pause: Its Connection to the Calls That Preceded It in the Surah

The first call passed us, in which Allah the Exalted said: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَقُولُوا رَاعِنَا وَقُولُوا انْظُرْنَا وَاسْمَعُوا وَلِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ﴾ (O you who believe, do not say "Rāʿinā" but say "Unẓurnā," and listen; and for the disbelievers is a painful punishment).^[2] We paused at this verse, and we understood from it that Allah the Exalted trains the believing community to hold its source of authority sacred, and our source of authority is Allah and His Messenger ﷺ. A believer may not go beyond this authority, and it is not for a believer, when Allah and His Messenger have decided a matter, to have any choice in their affair. That matter is settled. But remaining firm in holding the source of authority sacred, and not following desire or yielding to appetites, requires patience, and this patience requires what helps in it, so the second call came: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلَاةِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ﴾ (O you who believe, seek help through patience and prayer; indeed Allah is with the patient).^[3]

And since the soul yearns and sometimes slips loose, and the first thing that concerns it is seeking provision, earning a livelihood and amassing wealth, the third command to the believers was: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُلُوا مِنْ طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ وَاشْكُرُوا لِلَّهِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ﴾ (O you who believe, eat of the good things We have provided for you, and be grateful to Allah, if it is Him that you worship).^[4] And since people in this framework transgress and overreach to the point of aggression that may require retaliation, the next call was: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْقِصَاصُ فِي الْقَتْلَى الْحُرُّ بِالْحُرِّ وَالْعَبْدُ بِالْعَبْدِ﴾ (O you who believe, retaliation is prescribed for you in cases of the slain: the free for the free, the slave for the slave), to the end of the blessed verse.^[5] And since the matter required refinement, upbringing and training in abstaining from what is lawful so that we do not reach the stage of what is forbidden, the next command was: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ﴾ (O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become mindful of Allah).^[6]

Then we moved on, after this upbringing in holding the source of authority sacred, in seeking help for that, in eating of the good things that the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, has provided, and in refraining from what leads us to destroy ourselves, such as retaliation and the like, and in abstaining from the lawful so that we train ourselves not to transgress against the forbidden; that was a particular kind of upbringing. Then comes to us the saying of Allah the Exalted: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا ادْخُلُوا فِي السِّلْمِ كَافَّةً وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ﴾ (O you who believe, enter into peace completely, and do not follow the footsteps of Satan).^[7] We mentioned in the previous session that this verse represents for us the bird on which the believing community flies while holding fast to every dimension of the Noble Qur'an; it is as though it stands in the middle of Sūrat al-Baqarah with regard to the rulings of worship and upbringing in the blessed surah, so that everything before it is one wing and everything after it is one wing, and both wings carry this bird to soar in the atmosphere of this world and apply the law of the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, with the finest kinds of performance and the most exemplary roles of excellence.

So we find that the Lord of the worlds speaks to us in the first half of the surah about the kinds of people and how they comply with the landmarks of the Sharīʿah, and then the second part comes to tell us how to apply the rulings of the Qur'an, whether we are worshipping Allah with the body or with wealth or in transactions such as usury and the like. Then we move after that to the call we have with us, which is the seventh call: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَنْفِقُوا مِمَّا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ﴾ (O you who believe, spend from what We have provided for you). After we were trained to refrain from what should not be done, the command came so that we train ourselves in giving, to be people of accomplishing effectiveness within this society in which we live.

The Second Pause: The Verses That Came Immediately Before This Verse

That was the first context: the order of the divine commands to the believers in Sūrat al-Baqarah up to the point where we are. The other context is the place of this verse among the verses in which it occurs. You see that this verse is preceded by the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted: ﴿تِلْكَ الرُّسُلُ فَضَّلْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَى بَعْضٍ مِنْهُمْ مَنْ كَلَّمَ اللَّهُ وَرَفَعَ بَعْضَهُمْ دَرَجَاتٍ وَآتَيْنَا عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ الْبَيِّنَاتِ وَأَيَّدْنَاهُ بِرُوحِ الْقُدُسِ وَلَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ مَا اقْتَتَلَ الَّذِينَ مِنْ بَعْدِهِمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَتْهُمُ الْبَيِّنَاتُ وَلَكِنِ اخْتَلَفُوا فَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ آمَنَ وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ كَفَرَ وَلَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ مَا اقْتَتَلُوا وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَفْعَلُ مَا يُرِيدُ﴾ (Those messengers, We have preferred some of them over others: among them were those to whom Allah spoke, and some He raised in degrees; and We gave ʿĪsā, son of Maryam, the clear proofs and supported him with the Holy Spirit. And had Allah willed, those after them would not have fought each other after the clear proofs had come to them; but they differed, and among them were those who believed and among them were those who disbelieved. And had Allah willed, they would not have fought each other; but Allah does what He wills), then: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَنْفِقُوا مِمَّا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ﴾.^[8]

So what is the link between the verse and what preceded it? What preceded it is a presentation from the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, to us that He has preferred some of the prophets over others. Does it make sense to your mind that some of the prophets were preferred over others? We know that to be true, but what is the aspect of preference? All of them attained the station of prophethood.

I remember once, when I was a student in secondary school, sitting with one of those who sat with us who held a doctorate, and I asked him a philosophizing question. I said to him: what grade did you get your doctorate with? Excellent or very good? For doctorates have grades. He said to me: My son, whoever obtains the doctorate, it in itself does not admit other distinctions alongside it; that is, if you obtain the doctorate in itself, even at an acceptable level, you have obtained a degree that does not admit other descriptions alongside it. From then on I understood that there are levels such that, if a person reaches them, there is nothing that rises above them.

For example, they speak about the wealthy, and this is talk people love to hear, may Allah reward you, my brother. They say: when a person has obtained a great amount of money, all the money that comes after that adds nothing to his standard of living. He keeps climbing in buildings, in houses, in kinds of cars, in yachts and the private plane and so on, until, even if his wealth multiplies many times over, no level of luxury remains to which he could rise above that. So if you have attained the level of prophethood, there is nothing above that.

So how do we justify the matter of distinction among the prophets? What I understood, and what reached my mind, and what I have grasped up to now, is that the distinction is not in one of them having a station above another, but in what one of them carried of obligations that the other did not carry; in proportion to what you were charged with is your place. Hence we saw that the best of the prophets is Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ﷺ, because he carried everything that those before him among the prophets and messengers had carried. Is it not so? Everything that the prophets and messengers before him carried, he ﷺ carried, and hence it was said: the master of the messengers and the best of the prophets, and so on.

So if the verse comes after the presentation of the context of preference among the prophets, it is as though it is pointing me to the fact that the best level a servant should reach in this world is the level of spending, to be a person of spending.

Then What Follows It: The Connection of the Verses to One Another

Then you see that the verse stood in the midst of the discussion of the prophets and messengers, and after it came: ﴿اللَّهُ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ لَا تَأْخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلَا نَوْمٌ لَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ﴾ (Allah: there is no god but Him, the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsisting; neither drowsiness nor sleep overtakes Him; to Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth).^[9] So you look: what is the relation? And always, I beg you by Allah, when you read the Qur'an pay attention to the connection between the verses, and never read a verse detached and isolated from what is before it and after it, please; for you cut it off from its context as though it were truncated, its meaning incomplete except through its connection with what came before and its connection with what followed.

So what is the relation between ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَنْفِقُوا﴾ (O you who believe, spend) and ﴿اللَّهُ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ﴾ (Allah: there is no god but Him)? It is as though my Lord, glory be to Him, is convincing me inwardly, psychologically, rationally and emotionally that if I am at some stage of doubting that spending will be compensated, then Allah speaks to me about Himself: how can you doubt the One who is like this? ﴿اللَّهُ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ لَا تَأْخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلَا نَوْمٌ﴾ (Allah: there is no god but Him, the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsisting; neither drowsiness nor sleep overtakes Him), so He will not be heedless of you, and will not withhold from you, and will give you. And He is the One who judges between His servants, and He is the One who owns all these heavens and the earth, and in His hand are the treasuries of the heavens and the earth, and so on.

Then you move on, and what comes after it is: ﴿لَا إِكْرَاهَ فِي الدِّينِ قَدْ تَبَيَّنَ الرُّشْدُ مِنَ الْغَيِّ فَمَنْ يَكْفُرْ بِالطَّاغُوتِ﴾ (There is no compulsion in religion; the right course has become clear from the wrong; so whoever disbelieves in false deities).^[10] May Allah the Exalted preserve the stations of the honorable among the people of knowledge; the commentators tell us that there is no compulsion in religion, meaning Islam, so no one is forced to enter into religiosity, and no one is forced to enter into spending. For spending is a level that only one whose trust in Allah has reached the point of certainty attains, so no one is compelled to spend unless a command has been issued from the Lord of the worlds, such as His saying: ﴿خُذْ مِنْ أَمْوَالِهِمْ صَدَقَةً تُطَهِّرُهُمْ وَتُزَكِّيهِمْ بِهَا﴾ (Take from their wealth a charity by which you purify them and cause them to grow),^[11] and that is in times of necessity, to the end of what can follow from this meaning.

You see in the Qur'anic context, by Allah, something very wonderful in these verses, as though Allah, Blessed and Exalted, had devoted this quantity of the Qur'an only to speaking about spending. But you say to me: No, I'm sorry, stop, for immediately after it comes ﴿اللَّهُ وَلِيُّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا يُخْرِجُهُمْ مِنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِ﴾ (Allah is the Protector of those who believe; He brings them out from the darkness into the light).^[12] Just like that? Fine, and over there: ﴿الشَّيْطَانُ يَعِدُكُمُ الْفَقْرَ وَيَأْمُرُكُمْ بِالْفَحْشَاءِ﴾ (Satan threatens you with poverty and commands you to immorality),^[13] or are there darknesses greater than immorality? Imagine, He links the verses to one another.

So my Lord, glory be to Him, tells me: ﴿اللَّهُ وَلِيُّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا﴾ (Allah is the Protector of those who believe). Believed in whom? In Allah, who there is no god but Him, the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsisting, ﴿لَا تَأْخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلَا نَوْمٌ لَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ مَنْ ذَا الَّذِي يَشْفَعُ عِنْدَهُ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِهِ يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ وَلَا يُحِيطُونَ بِشَيْءٍ مِنْ عِلْمِهِ إِلَّا بِمَا شَاءَ وَسِعَ كُرْسِيُّهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ وَلَا يَئُودُهُ حِفْظُهُمَا﴾ (neither drowsiness nor sleep overtakes Him; to Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. Who is it that can intercede with Him except by His permission? He knows what is before them and what is behind them, and they encompass nothing of His knowledge except what He wills. His Throne extends over the heavens and the earth, and their preservation does not weary Him). The One whom the preservation of the heavens and the earth does not weary, can you imagine that your provision would weary Him, or what you spend? When you reach sixty or seventy or a hundred and you hold back what you have, thinking that it will benefit you when you grow old, and you do not have certainty that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, may take away your well-being while you have kept the money, or may grant you a well-being in which you need no money until you meet Allah, glory be to Him?

Have we not seen many people, glory be to Allah, the Almighty, whose well-being Allah preserves, and they remain at a level of effort and sturdiness in their work and its excellence until they reach the point of death, and they die without any of them needing to visit a doctor, or needing anyone around to provide for him? And there are others. And we gave a recent example of a man who suddenly fell ill and his children left him and he had no one but Allah: O Lord, there is no refuge or escape from You except to You, help me, O Helper of the heavens and the earth. Then the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, empties the apartment beside him and a newly married groom and bride enter it, settling in, and they need some salt, so the poor girl knocks on the door of their neighbor: As-salāmu ʿalaykum, who is here? The door is open. No one answers. Come, my daughter, come in, a voice from the depths. She enters and finds the man ill on his bed: As-salāmu ʿalaykum, salt? By Allah, my children left me and so on and so forth. And they become a son and a daughter to him until he meets Allah, and they carry him on their shoulders, and from that moment he needs nothing in life but he finds it through the new daughter and son. And so their father and mother raised them over there until they would be servants to this man after this long life. So the One who guarantees provisions and preserves them is only the Lord of Might, glory be to Him.

Spending Wealth and Spending Necks

Yet there is an example set before you at which you marvel greatly, when the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, says after His saying ﴿اللَّهُ وَلِيُّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا﴾ (Allah is the Protector of those who believe): ﴿أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِي حَاجَّ إِبْرَاهِيمَ فِي رَبِّهِ أَنْ آتَاهُ اللَّهُ الْمُلْكَ إِذْ قَالَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ رَبِّيَ الَّذِي يُحْيِي وَيُمِيتُ قَالَ أَنَا أُحْيِي وَأُمِيتُ قَالَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْتِي بِالشَّمْسِ مِنَ الْمَشْرِقِ فَأْتِ بِهَا مِنَ الْمَغْرِبِ فَبُهِتَ الَّذِي كَفَرَ وَاللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ﴾ (Have you not considered the one who argued with Ibrāhīm about his Lord because Allah had given him kingship? When Ibrāhīm said, "My Lord is the One who gives life and causes death," he said, "I give life and cause death." Ibrāhīm said, "Indeed, Allah brings the sun from the east, so bring it from the west," and the one who disbelieved was confounded; and Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people).^[14]

By Allah, what is the relation between the verses of spending and this verse? You see a model of people who did not spend only money, but spent his neck when he stood before that wrongdoer reminding him of the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him. So Allah sets for you an example of spending that is not a portion of wealth; if you fear for what is in your hand, then fear Allah, for there are examples set in life of spending necks in the presence of injustice and its people. So Ibrāhīm, upon our Prophet and upon him be peace, is represented as a caller who reaches the fullness and summit of calling when he stands before that wrongdoer, reminding him of the existence of the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, and of His being singled out, glory be to Him, in oneness.

Then Allah, Blessed and Exalted, sets for us an example of His power to give life and to restore life to what has departed, and that is a parable for the one who thought his wealth was gone and he could not recover it again: if he spends, from where will the wealth come again? ﴿أَوْ كَالَّذِي مَرَّ عَلَى قَرْيَةٍ وَهِيَ خَاوِيَةٌ عَلَى عُرُوشِهَا قَالَ أَنَّى يُحْيِي هَذِهِ اللَّهُ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا﴾ (Or like the one who passed by a town that had fallen in ruins upon its roofs; he said, "How will Allah bring this to life after its death?"). And I say: How will Allah give me wealth after I spend and give charity and look to the poor and needy? You poor fellow! ﴿أَوْ كَالَّذِي مَرَّ عَلَى قَرْيَةٍ وَهِيَ خَاوِيَةٌ عَلَى عُرُوشِهَا قَالَ أَنَّى يُحْيِي هَذِهِ اللَّهُ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا فَأَمَاتَهُ اللَّهُ مِائَةَ عَامٍ﴾ (Or like the one who passed by a town that had fallen in ruins upon its roofs; he said, "How will Allah bring this to life after its death?" So Allah caused him to die for a hundred years).^[15] Why a hundred years? Three or four years would be enough, so why a hundred years? To prove to all creation that even if the time grows long for a person tried by poverty or otherwise, the power of Allah is never absent or nonexistent, and the relief of Allah, though it be delayed for a span of time, is without doubt coming. So let the believer never lose his trust in his Lord, and let the servant not be unable to have certainty in Allah, the Most High, the Almighty, glory be to Him.

Then you see the verses that follow in succession, in the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted: ﴿وَإِذْ قَالَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ رَبِّ أَرِنِي كَيْفَ تُحْيِي الْمَوْتَى قَالَ أَوَلَمْ تُؤْمِنْ قَالَ بَلَى وَلَكِنْ لِيَطْمَئِنَّ قَلْبِي قَالَ فَخُذْ أَرْبَعَةً مِنَ الطَّيْرِ فَصُرْهُنَّ إِلَيْكَ ثُمَّ اجْعَلْ عَلَى كُلِّ جَبَلٍ مِنْهُنَّ جُزْءًا ثُمَّ ادْعُهُنَّ يَأْتِينَكَ سَعْيًا﴾ (And when Ibrāhīm said, "My Lord, show me how You give life to the dead," He said, "Have you not believed?" He said, "Yes, but only that my heart may be at ease." He said, "Take four birds and incline them to yourself, then place on every hill a portion of them, then call them; they will come to you in haste").^[16] It is as though the Lord of the worlds sets an example for me: how provisions come about even if their means have been torn apart! How provisions come about even if their means have been torn apart! Let us take heed. After that you see: ﴿مَثَلُ الَّذِينَ يُنْفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ كَمَثَلِ حَبَّةٍ أَنْبَتَتْ سَبْعَ سَنَابِلَ فِي كُلِّ سُنْبُلَةٍ مِائَةُ حَبَّةٍ﴾ (The example of those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah is like a grain that sprouts seven ears, in every ear a hundred grains).^[17]

Do you not see that the verses, from their beginning to beyond two or three pages in the muṣḥaf, until we begin the talk about the verses of debt and the verses of usury, all speak about spending, even in the simplest kinds of spending: ﴿قَوْلٌ مَعْرُوفٌ وَمَغْفِرَةٌ خَيْرٌ مِنْ صَدَقَةٍ يَتْبَعُهَا أَذًى﴾ (A kind word and forgiveness are better than charity followed by injury)?^[18] I have gone on too long for you, so forgive me.

The Conclusion

But the seventh call to the believers in the Noble Qur'an is one in which the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, tells us that we should give up, at one moment in time, assessing ourselves as owning something, and move to seeing that we are in need of what is in Allah's hand; that what you have is given to others and its compensation is with your Lord; that what you gave is more beneficial to you than what you kept; and that saving, in the laws and dictionaries of this world, is not more beneficial to you than what you have saved in the presence of the All-Knowing King, glory be to Him, exalted on high.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 254. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 104. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 153. ^[4]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 172. ^[5]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 178; the speaker confined himself to the opening of the verse. ^[6]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 183. ^[7]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 208. ^[8]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verses 253 and 254. The transcript has «من بعده», and what is given here follows the spelling of the verse in the muṣḥaf. ^[9]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 255 (Āyat al-Kursī). ^[10]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 256. The transcript has «من الغيب», and what is given here is «الغيّ» following the spelling of the verse. ^[11]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat at-Tawbah, verse 103. ^[12]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 257. ^[13]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 268. ^[14]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 258. ^[15]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 259. ^[16]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 260. The transcript has «قال إبراهيم رب أرني», and «وإذ» has been supplied following the spelling of the verse. ^[17]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 261. ^[18]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 263; the speaker did not complete the verse in a way that can be clearly understood from the transcript («غني عليم» appears), so only its opening has been given.