The Quran

264

Preface

يا أَيُّهَا الَّذينَ آمَنوا لا تُبطِلوا صَدَقاتِكُم بِالمَنِّ وَالأَذىٰ كَالَّذي يُنفِقُ مالَهُ رِئَاءَ النّاسِ وَلا يُؤمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَاليَومِ الآخِرِ ۖ فَمَثَلُهُ كَمَثَلِ صَفوانٍ عَلَيهِ تُرابٌ فَأَصابَهُ وابِلٌ فَتَرَكَهُ صَلدًا ۖ لا يَقدِرونَ عَلىٰ شَيءٍ مِمّا كَسَبوا ۗ وَاللَّهُ لا يَهدِي القَومَ الكافِرينَ

Yusuf Ali

O ye who believe! cancel not your charity by reminders of your generosity or by injury,- like those who spend their substance to be seen of men, but believe neither in God nor in the Last Day¹. They are in parable like a hard, barren rock, on which is a little soil: on it falls heavy rain, which leaves it (Just) a bare stone. They will be able to do nothing with aught they have earned. And God guideth not those who reject faith.

False charity, “to be seen of men,” is really no charity. It is worse, for it betokens a disbelief in God and the Hereafter. “God seeth well whatever ye do” (2:265). It is compared to hard barren rock on which by chance has fallen a little soil. Good rain, which renders fertile soil more fruitful, washes away the little soil which this rock had, and exposes its nakedness. What good can hypocrites derive even from the little wealth they may have amassed?