الَّذينَ يَبخَلونَ وَيَأمُرونَ النّاسَ بِالبُخلِ ۗ وَمَن يَتَوَلَّ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ الغَنِيُّ الحَميدُ

Such as are [themselves] stingy and bid [other] people to be stingy. And whoever turns away [should know that] indeed Allah is the all-sufficient, the all-laudable.

EXEGESIS

Stinginess is given as bukhl which, besides miserliness, can also mean avarice and greed.[1] Rāghib defines bukhl as ‘withholding acquisitions from something or someone inappropriately’ and it is the opposite of jūd (generosity).[2] A bakhīl also implies one who is excessively stingy because it is the intensive form of bākhil (a miser) just like raḥīm (extremely merciful) is the intensive form of rāḥim (merciful).[3] [4]

And whoever turns away is given in Arabic as wa man yatawalla, the word yatawalla being the jussive mood of yatawallā. On its own, tawallā means to turn towards or in the direction of someone or something: We will surely turn you (nuwalliyannaka) to a qibla of your liking: so turn (walli) your face towards the Holy Mosque, and wherever you may be, turn your faces (fa wallū) towards it! (2:144), and when it is followed by the preposition ʿan (from), it does the opposite and means turning away, desisting, refraining, or forgoing from someone or something. Very often though, as in the case of this verse, the ʿan is omitted (3:63-64, 3:82, 8:40, 47:38, 64:12, 88:23) because no object is explicitly specified after tawalla that the ʿan could refer to, and the meaning of turning away is implied.

Also noteworthy is that tawallā can mean turning (away or toward) in the literal sense (2:144, 20:60) or metaphorically, to mean distancing oneself and withdrawing from supporting or believing in someone or something (or its opposite), as in this verse, where And whoever turns away means withholds his support by being stingy and refusing to help God’s cause, or even by spending begrudgingly, then he should know that God is needless of him, for indeed Allah is the all-sufficient. Indeed, whoever is stingy is stingy only to himself. Allah is the all-sufficient, and you are all-needy, and if you turn away He will replace you with another people, and they will not be like you (47:38).

The divine names concluding the verse – all-sufficient (al-ghanī) and all-laudable (al-ḥamīd) are often mentioned together. Ghināʾ denotes self-sufficiency. It is to be free from want or need, often contrasted with faqr (poverty, destitution) (35:15, 47:38). God alone is al-ghanī (2:267, 3:97, 6:133, 10:68, 14:8, 27:40, 29:6, 39:7, 64:6), for He alone is needless of anyone or anything. But ghināʾ can be applied to people as well (2:273, 3:181, 4:6, 9:93), with various meanings and in specific contexts, all of which are detailed under 2:273 and 3:181.

And ḥamīd is from ḥamd (praise), from which also are derived the names muḥammad (praised) (3:144, 33:40, 47:2, 48:29) and aḥmad (most praised) (61:6). God alone is al-ḥamīd (the Praiseworthy) and so ḥamd (praise) too is usually reserved for God alone. The faithful are taught to express gratitude to God by exclaiming al-ḥamdu li-llāh (all praise be to God) (7:43, 23:28, 27:15, 35:34, 39:74). Muslims use this phrase daily and copiously, to thank God, often before and after meals, upon hearing of some good news, or the deflection of a hardship. It is expressed as a reminder to safeguard from conceit lest one should exult in what they have done, and love to be praised (yuḥmadū) for what they have not done (3:188). Instead, all good is acknowledged as coming from God alone. Any virtue, ability, or praiseworthy action found in any existent is inherited from God, To Him belongs all praise (ḥamd) (64:1. Cf. 28:70). For more on the etymology of ḥamd (the praise) of God, see the Exegesis of 1:2.

EXPOSITION

In continuing from the previous, this verse describes the conceited [and] boastful (verse 23) as being stingy and who bid others to stinginess as well.

They are stingy themselves because Satan frightens them with poverty (2:268), so they hold firmly on to a false belief and illusion that their wealth will offer them security, that hoarding makes them independent and needless of God, and that they can hold on to what they possess forever. And so, having forgotten they are only custodians of what they possess (57:7, 4:39, 13:22, 35:29), they exult and pride themselves over others. Until Judgement Day, when they will lament: My wealth did not avail (aghnā) me (69:28) meaning their possessions will neither suffice them in place of God nor defend them from His punishment (Cf. 3:10, 3:116, 26:207, 111:2, 36:23, 58:17, 77:31).

And they bid [other] people to be stingy (also 4:37) because if generosity and spending in God’s way are seen by people as a virtue then stinginess would be seen as a vice. As well, the stingy hope that if others hold on to their own wealth, they will never fall in need and come asking them for help. From Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) it is reported: ‘The people who wish self-sufficiency for others the most, are the misers; because if people become self-sufficient, they will keep away from their wealth!’^[5] In every way then, the stingy person’s bidding others to stinginess is only a form of self-preservation.

So disliked is stinginess, that in 4:37, Those who are stingy and bid [other] people to be stingy are associated with the faithless. And just like the stingy are reminded in this verse, that God is needless of them – indeed Allah is the all-sufficient, the all-laudable – the exact words are told to those who choose faithlessness over faith (14:8).

This stinginess, Makārim Shīrāzī remarks, is not restricted to wealth alone but can include withholding knowledge and other such matters that benefit others.^[6]

Quite clearly, there were some in the community who withheld from giving and were trying to dissuade others from giving, no different from those who disbelieve and try to persuade others to disbelieve. Except these described as stingy and bid [other] people to be stingy here are the hypocrites, who only give charity for self-serving purposes (2:264), and everything they do is only to impress and mislead others (4:142, 8:47, 107:4-7). They are the ones who say: ‘Do not spend on those who are with the Apostle of Allah until they scatter off.’ Yet to Allah belong the treasures of the heavens and the earth, but the hypocrites do not understand (63:7).

In contrast, this surah praises those who give for the betterment of the community, materially and of their selves (verse 10; see also 9:41, 61:11, cf. 3:186). At the time of the Quran’s revelation, there was no standing Muslim army as such, and, to a large degree, any participation was voluntary. If the Quran permitted the faithful to fight those who attack them (2:191) it also urged them to Spend in the way of Allah, and do not cast yourselves with your own hands into destruction (2:195). Those who could not fight could still help by giving generously and financially aiding those who could. In a prophetic tradition: ‘Anyone able to equip someone going on the campaign will himself be considered a campaigner.’[7]

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. From the Prophet: ‘The stingy is far from God, far from the people, near the fire.’[8]
2. From Imam Ali (a): ‘Stinginess with what one has is a sign of mistrust in God.’[9]
3. From Imam Ali (a): ‘The stingy is only a treasurer for his heirs,’[10] and he said: ‘Looking at the stingy hardens the heart.’[11]
4. From Imam Ali (a): ‘I am amazed at one who is stingy; he rushes to the very poverty from which he flees and the prosperity he seeks escapes him; so he lives in the world the life of a pauper but will be made to account in the hereafter like the rich!’[12]
5. Imam Ali (a): ‘Plenty of excuses is a sign of stinginess.’[13]
6. Imam Ali (a) in his letter to his governor, Mālik al-Ashtar, when sending him to Egypt wrote: ‘And do not consult a miser for he will hold you back from being generous and attempt frightening you with poverty.’[14]
7. Imam al-Hasan (a) defined stinginess as: ‘To see what is with you an honour and what you spend as waste.’[15]

Note: The traditions on miserliness are plenty but those quoted here are the more general sort that can be applied to stinginess in helping God’s cause as well, besides the ones that are specifically regarding those opposed to being charitable with alms to the poor and those in need.

[1] Hans Wehr, b-kh-l.
[2] Raghib, b-kh-l.
[3] Raghib, b-kh-l.
[4] The Arabic form faʿīl can serve as the intensive form of the subject (fāʿil), as in the examples offered by Raghib here, but at times, also in place of the object (mafʿūl), such as qatīl which can mean maqtūl (the one killed), and jarīḥ which can mean majrūḥ (the injured).
[5] Amali.S, 316/8.
[6] Nemuneh, 23/369.
[7] Bukhari, 3/214.
[8] Bihar, 73/308.
[9] Ghurar, h. 1258.
[10] Ghurar, h. 464.
[11] Tuhaf, p. 214.
[12] Bihar, 72/119.
[13] Bihar, 77/209.
[14] Nahj, letter 53.
[15] Bihar, 73/305.