وَإِذا قيلَ لَهُم أَنفِقوا مِمّا رَزَقَكُمُ اللَّهُ قالَ الَّذينَ كَفَروا لِلَّذينَ آمَنوا أَنُطعِمُ مَن لَو يَشاءُ اللَّهُ أَطعَمَهُ إِن أَنتُم إِلّا في ضَلالٍ مُبينٍ

When they are told: ‘Spend out of what Allah has provided you,’ the faithless say to the faithful: ‘Shall we feed [someone] whom Allah would have fed, had He wished? You are only in manifest error.’

EXEGESIS

Ḍalālin mubīn (manifest error) alludes to the conspicuousness of their error and misguidance. There are different types of misguidance, some types are such that a person cannot easily understand their falsity, while some others are such that anyone with even a little sense of reason and intelligence will immediately realise.

EXPOSITION

The previous verse was related to one of the essential pillars of faith: worship God alone. This verse is related to other essentials of faith, which are having compassion for others, helping the desperate, and feeding the poor.

Spend out of what Allah has provided you reminds us that whatever wealth and provision man has is provided by God, while He has kept the share of the poor and the desperate in whatever is excess from that wealth. The response quoted from the disbelievers in this verse is based on a fallacy which springs from their arrogance, self-conceit, and immersion in lust and desires. They justify their selfishness by supposing that God has chosen to provide for them because of their merits and has deprived others because they did not deserve anything, so they say, Shall we feed [someone] whom Allah would have fed, had He wished?

Such a response indicates their ignorance and confusion in distinguishing between the existential will of God in creation that He has executed directly and the legislative will of God that is on the creation to execute, which is based on the test and trial in guiding the people to improve the affairs of this world and the hereafter. Feeding the poor and helping them is from the legislative will, which He commands for people to execute.^{‎[1]Mizan, 17/93.}

This confusion and misperception was based on their polytheistic and pagan traditions, as is stated in various places in the Quran: The polytheists say: ‘Had Allah wished, we would not have worshipped anything besides Him – neither we nor our fathers – nor would we have held anything holy besides Him.’ Those who were before them had acted likewise. Is the apostles’ duty anything but to communicate in clear terms? (16:35); The polytheists will say: ‘Had Allah wished, we would not have ascribed any partner [to Him], nor our fathers, nor would we have forbidden anything.’ Those who were before them had denied likewise until they tasted Our punishment. Say: ‘Do you have any [revealed] knowledge that you can produce before us? You follow nothing but conjectures, and you do nothing but surmise’ (6:148); They say: ‘Had the All-Beneficent wished, we would not have worshipped them.’ They do not have any knowledge of that, and they do nothing but surmise (43:20).

The context of the verse indicates that the polytheists are addressing the believers, claiming that the believers are in clear error when they tell them to help the poor.^{‎[2]Mizan, 17/94.} They ignore the fact that social life cannot continue without such differences between its members. It is We who have dispensed among them their livelihood in the present life, and raised some of them above others in rank, so that some may take others into service, and your Lord’s mercy is better than what they amass (43:32). But that should not stop people from compassion, altruism, and mutual help. That is why God has legislated various methods to meet the needs of the needy by donations, charity, spending, self-sacrifice, forgiveness, and altruism.

Further, they think that the poor people must have done something to deserve the poverty from God, hence why should they interfere and help them? They also think that if they are rich, they must have done something to deserve it.^{‎[3]Amthal, 14/202.}

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said: ‘Whoever is relieved from stinginess will attain honour.’^{‎[4]Bihar, 67/283.}
2. Imam Ali (a) said: ‘Stinginess collects all immoral characteristics and it is a guide that leads to every evil.’^{‎[5]Bihar, 67/283.}
3. Imam Ali (a) said: ‘Being stingy in whatever is available is having thoughts of mistrust on the one who is worshipped.’^{‎[6]Bihar, 67/283.}
4. Prophet Muhammad (s) said: ‘The miser is distant from God, distant from people, and close to the fire.’^{‎[7]Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 1/233.}
5. Prophet Muhammad (s) said: ‘I am astonished at the miser who hastens [through his stinginess] the poverty from which he fled and missed the riches that he sought, so he lives the life of the poor in this world [for not spending], and he will be reckoned as one of the rich in the hereafter.’^{‎[8]Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 1/233.}

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

1. The poor are shunned by all their relatives – how much more do their friends avoid them! Though the poor pursue them with pleading, they are nowhere to be found. Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done. A corrupt witness mocks at justice, and the mouth of the wicked gulps down evil. Penalties are prepared for mockers and beatings for the backs of fools.^{‎[9]Proverbs 19:1, 4, 7, 17, 25, 28-29.}
2. A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold. Rich and poor have this in common: The Lord is the Maker of them all … The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor. Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court, for the Lord will take up their case and will exact life for life.^{‎[10]Proverbs 22:2, 7, 9-10, 16, 22-23.}
3. It is a sin to despise one’s neighbour, but blessed is the one who is kind to the needy … Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honours God.^{‎[11]Proverbs 14:6, 9, 13, 20-21, 27, 31.}

[1] Mizan, 17/93.
[2] Mizan, 17/94.
[3] Amthal, 14/202.
[4] Bihar, 67/283.
[5] Bihar, 67/283.
[6] Bihar, 67/283.
[7] Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 1/233.
[8] Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 1/233.
[9] Proverbs 19:1, 4, 7, 17, 25, 28-29.
[10] Proverbs 22:2, 7, 9-10, 16, 22-23.
[11] Proverbs 14:6, 9, 13, 20-21, 27, 31.