مَن ذَا الَّذي يُقرِضُ اللَّهَ قَرضًا حَسَنًا فَيُضاعِفَهُ لَهُ وَلَهُ أَجرٌ كَريمٌ
Who is it that will lend Allah a good loan, that He may multiply it for him and [that] there may be a noble reward for him?
EXEGESIS
Once again, the surah uses a question instead of an imperative to address the faithful: Who is it that will lend Allah a good loan. This form of address was seen earlier in verses 8 and 10 and will be seen again in verse 16. This is because, as mentioned in the surah’s introduction, the surah primarily addresses the faithful and wishes to appeal to their sincerity, and it invites them to voluntarily seek elevated spirituality instead of merely submitting to what God commands and enforces.
Yet in every invitation, offer, and command, the one who benefits is only the faithful: that He may multiply it for him and [that] there may be a noble reward for him.
Qarḍ (loan) is literally to cut open or slice.[1] It came to mean a loan because one cuts out a part of one’s wealth to give to others, hoping to recover it later. And as explained under 2:245, yuḍāʿifuhu is given as a superlative of yuḍʿifuhu to denote a larger increase and profit added to the original loaned amount.
Lending God a good loan (qarḍ ḥasan) is mentioned six times in the Quran. Twice it is mentioned in this surah (verses 11 and 18) and the remaining in 2:245, 5:12, 64:17, and 73:20.
Although Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) defines qarḍ ḥasan as an interest-free loan with an unstipulated due date given to others solely for God’s pleasure, the contexts in which the expression is used, wherever it occurs in the Quran, suggests qarḍ ḥasan to mean spending to aid God’s cause rather than loaning others or giving alms in general. Hence, it is always stated as a loan to God. In the formative years of the Islamic government in Medina, this usually meant financially aiding the Muslims preparing for combat to defend Islam and repel its attackers – a dire need as the Prophet and his followers constantly faced threats and attacks by the Meccan army and its allies.
And this reason – that qarḍ ḥasan usually refers to helping God’s cause – is perhaps why many exegetes report that when the Prophet wrote to the Medinan Jews of Banī Qaynuqāʿ, inviting them to Islam and asking them to support God’s cause by offering Him a good loan, they mocked God for being poor and in need of a loan from His creatures (3:181).[2]
Ajr (reward) is what one receives as a reward, in this world or the hereafter. Similar to it is ujrah, a term used for reward in the world solely and not in the hereafter. Both these terms (ajr and ujrah) are used only when there is profit without any loss as opposed to jazāʾ (recompense) that can refer to gain or loss.[3]
EXPOSITION
Most of the verses that speak of lending God a good loan also mention that He may multiply it. And yet God’s offer to multiply and reward is a grace from Him that man, in reality, does not deserve. This is because both man and his wealth all belong to God (verses 2 and 5), and everything man does for his own good is therefore only made possible by God. But God gives him wealth to possess temporarily. Then He promises him a reward if he is willing to spend for the sake of God, what was not his in the first place, to teach him to trust his Lord. Then He rewards him for doing that. In the end, it is only the servant who benefits, in this world and the hereafter, and it makes no difference whatsoever to God. Then to complete His favours and grace, God shows His gratitude and appreciation for those who are such (76:22) and promises them an everlasting reward (41:8), assuring them that, indeed, God never breaks His promise (9:111, 39:20).
INSIGHTS FROM HADITH
- Imam Ali (a), when delivering a sermon recited the verse, Who is it that will lend Allah a good loan, that He may multiply it for him and [that] there may be a noble reward for him? and then said: ‘He does not seek your support because of any weakness, nor does He demand a loan from you because of shortage. He seeks your help although to Him belong the armies of the heavens and the earth and He is mighty and wise. And He seeks a loan from you although to Him belong the treasures of the heavens and the earth and He is all-sufficient and all-laudable. [Rather,] He intends to try you as to which of you is best in deeds.’[4]
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
As alluded to in the Exposition, in Islamic law, the term qarḍ ḥasan denotes an interest-free loan given to fellow Muslims, with an unstipulated due date, solely for the pleasure of God. But the Quran uses qarḍ ḥasan to mean spending for God’s cause and not with the meaning of individual loans to others. Exegetes like Rāzī and Ṭabrisī have dwelled on the jurisprudential meaning of qarḍ ḥasan, listing numerous (even ten) conditions for the act of generosity to others and for a loan (qarḍ) to qualify as good (ḥasan). They have further sought to prove each of these conditions with other Quranic verses,[5] but that entire discussion is unrelated to the exegesis of this verse since the Quran’s use of the expression has a completely different connotation, as explained in the Exposition.
Some of the conditions they mention may however still apply, even when giving to God’s cause to defend and uphold Islam, such as the conditions of giving only for God’s pleasure and not to brag. But other conditions are specific to alms and personal loans, such as giving the neediest first and not giving to others that which you do not need (2:267). These do not apply to the meaning of qarḍ ḥasan in the Quran’s context.
[1] Raghib, q-r-ḍ.
[2] Razi, 29/454.
[3] Raghib, ʾ-j-r.
[4] Nahj, sermon 183.
[5] Tabrisi, 9/354; Razi, 29/454.