Verse of Infaq

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Verse of Infaq
Verse's Information
NameAl-Infaq Verse
SuraQur'an 2
Verse274
Juz'3
Content Information
Cause of
Revelation
Donation of Imam Ali (a)
Place of
Revelation
Medina
TopicMorality
AboutInfaq


The Verse of Infāq or Verse of Donation (Arabic: آية الإنفاق) was revealed about giving one’s wealth or donation (infaq) and how it should be practiced under different circumstances. Quranic exegetes believe that the verse was revealed about Imam Ali (a) when he donated four dirhams at day and night, both secretly and openly. Some people believe that the verse encompasses everyone who acts upon it.

According to this verse, donation leads to the forgiveness of one's sins, immunity to the divine punishment, and removal of one's remorse.

Text and Translation

Verse 274 of Qur'an 2 is called the Verse of Infaq or Donation.[1] Some believe the verse summarizes its fourteen preceding verses concerning donation.[2] The verse is about how to give one's wealth, its rewards,[3] and its impact on one's peacefulness,[4] indicating its virtue under all circumstances and at all times.[5]

The Verse of Infaq talks about those who give their wealth at all times and under all circumstances,[6] their readiness for donation in all conditions,[7] as well as worldly and afterlife effects of donation.[8]

Occasion of Revelation

By citing certain hadiths, Shi'a exegetes believe that the Verse of Infaq was revealed about Imam Ali (a) who donated four dirhams, one at night and the other during the day, a third secretly, and a fourth openly.[9]

Sunni exegetes offer two accounts of this verse's occasion of revelation. Some believe that it was only revealed about Imam Ali (a).[10] Others note its revelation about Imam Ali (a) but point out that there are other possibilities, such as the verse being revealed about 'Abd al-Rahman b. 'Awf[11] and Abu Bakr.[12] For example, they mention 'Abd al-Rahman b. 'Awf is the one who gave his wealth during the day, and Ali (a) is the one who gave his wealth at night.[13] Some say that the verse was revealed about everyone who gave his wealth on the path of God[14] without wastefulness,[15] or even those who provide fodder for war horses.[16]

Some Sunni exegetes have mentioned different possible accounts of the occasion of the revelation of the verse, and then suspended judgment about it.[17]

Some exegetes hold that although the verse was revealed about a particular person, what it says is not limited to that person, and indeed, it includes everyone who donates in this way,[18] although Imam Ali's (a) donation is more virtuous because he was the first person to do so.[19]

Interpretation

The Verse of Infaq points out various ways of giving one's wealth: if there is no need for the donation to be public, then it should be done secretly[20] so that the receiver's dignity is protected,[21] and if there are exigencies such as encouraging others to donation or honoring the rituals, then it can be done openly and publicly, although it had better be done at night than during the day and secretly than openly.[22] Infaq is to donate one's money and possession to fulfill someone else's financial needs.

The verse also points to the divine rewards of donation, such as forgiving one's sins and immunity to punishments. Some exegetes believe that when one donates, God prepares the ground for peace of mind and the removal of grief and remorse.[23] This is because one might refuse to donate out of anxieties about the future or fears of losing one's wealth. In this way, donators are described as those who have no anxieties about the future nor would they grieve over the loss of part of their property.[24] However, al-Tabrisi in his Majma' al-bayan[25] as well as other exegetes[26] interpret the grief in verse as having no horrors on the day of resurrection.

The verse is said to involve messages such as immunity to grief,[27] having a donating spirit, peace of mind, and security.[28]

Notes

  1. Group of Authors, Farhangnāma-yi ʿulūm-i Qurʾān, vol. 1, p. 337.
  2. Mughnīya, Tafsīr al-Kāshif, vol. 1, p. 428.
  3. Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 2, p. 667.
  4. Riḍāʾī Iṣfahānī, Tafsīr-i Qurʾān-i mihr, vol. 2, p. 323.
  5. Ālūsī, Rūḥ al-maʿānī, vol. 2, p. 46.
  6. Ibn Kathīr al-Dimashqī, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿaẓīm, vol. 1, p. 545; Jaʿfarī, Tafsīr-i kawthar, vol. 2, p. 34.
  7. Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 2, p. 400.
  8. Qirāʾatī, Tafsīr-i nūr, vol. 1, p. 434.
  9. Ibn Sulaymān, Tafsīr muqātil Ibn sulaymān, vol. 1, p. 225; Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān, vol. 2, p. 357; Shaḥāta, Tafsīr al-Qur'ān al-karīm, p. 119; ʿAyyāshī, Kitāb al-Tafsīrī, vol. 1, p. 151; Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 2, p. 360.
  10. Shaybānī, Nahj al-bayān, vol. 1, p. 352; Ṣanʿānī, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿazīz al-musamma Tafsīr-i ʿAbd al-Razzāq, vol. 1, p. 118; Dīnawarī, al-Wāḍiḥ, vol. 1, p. 92; Wāḥidī, al-Wajīz fī tafsīr al-kitāb al-ʿazīz, vol. 1, p. 191; Jurjānī, Darj al-durar, vol. 1, p. 365; Ḥaskānī, Shawāhid al-tanzīl, vol. 1, p. 140.
  11. Māturīdī, Taʾwilāt Ahl al-sunna, vol. 2, p. 268; Abū Ḥayyān Andulusī, al-Baḥr al-muḥīṭ fī al-tafsīr, vol. 2, p. 701.
  12. Bayḍāwi, Anwār al-tanzīl wa asrār al-taʾwīl, vol. 1, p. 161; Zamakhsharī, a-Kashshāf, vol. 1, p. 319; Abū Ḥayyān Andulusī, al-Baḥr al-muḥīṭ fī al-tafsīr, vol. 2, p. 701.
  13. Ibn al-Jawzī, Zād al-masīr fī ilm al-tafsīr, vol. 1, p. 246; Ṭabarānī, Tafsīr al-kabīr, vol. 1, p. 492, 493; Baghawī, Tafsir al-Baghawī, vol. 1, p. 380.
  14. Māwardī, al-Nukat wa al-ʿuyūn tafsīr-i Mawardī, vol. 1, p. 347.
  15. Qurtubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-Qurʾān, vol. 3, p. 347; Abū Ḥayyān Andulusī, al-Baḥr al-muḥīṭ fī al-tafsīr, vol. 2, p. 701.
  16. Suyūṭī, al-Durr al-manthūr, vol. 1, p. 363; Fakhr al-Rāzī, Mafātīḥ al-ghayb, vol. 7, p. 71; Zamakhsharī, a-Kashshāf, vol. 1, p. 319.
  17. Māturīdī, Taʾwilāt Ahl al-sunna, vol. 2, p. 268.
  18. Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 2, p. 360; Samarqandī, Tafsīr al-samarqandī, vol. 1, p. 182; Abū Ḥayyān Andulusī, al-Baḥr al-muḥīṭ fī al-tafsīr, vol. 2, p. 701.
  19. Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 2, p. 667.
  20. Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 2, p. 360.
  21. Mughnīya, Tafsīr al-Kāshif, vol. 1, p. 430.
  22. Fakhr al-Rāzī, Mafātīḥ al-ghayb, vol. 7, p. 71; Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 2, p. 361; Jaʿfarī, Tafsīr-i kawthar, vol. 2, p. 35.
  23. Riḍāʾī Iṣfahānī, Tafsīr-i Qurʾān-i mihr, vol. 2, p. 325.
  24. Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 2, p. 361.
  25. Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 2, p. 667.
  26. Māturīdī, Taʾwilāt Ahl al-sunna, vol. 2, p. 268; Ibn Kathīr al-Dimashqī, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿaẓīm, vol. 1, p. 545.
  27. Riḍāʾī Iṣfahānī, Tafsīr-i Qurʾān-i mihr, vol. 2, p. 325.
  28. Qirāʾatī, Tafsīr-i nūr, vol. 1, p. 435.

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