آمِنوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسولِهِ وَأَنفِقوا مِمّا جَعَلَكُم مُستَخلَفينَ فيهِ ۖ فَالَّذينَ آمَنوا مِنكُم وَأَنفَقوا لَهُم أَجرٌ كَبيرٌ

Have faith in Allah and His Apostle, and spend out of that wherein He has made you successors. Those of you who have faith and spend [in Allah’s way] – there is a great reward for them.

EXPOSITION

Having opened with a reminder of God’s complete and absolute sovereignty and dominion over all that exists, the surah now introduces its two major themes, which reiterate throughout the surah: faith in God and His Apostle (verses 8, 19, 21, 25, 28), and spending in God’s way (verses 10-11, 18, 24).

Exegetes are unanimous that the command Have faith in Allah and His Apostle is not addressed to the faithless or even the hypocrites. It is to the faithful, asking them to show greater faith and to prove it by spending out of what God has given them. This proves that faith has levels, and that to God, it is only real when proven by one’s actions and a display of courage, generosity, and obedience to God’s Apostle. Secondly, the mention of faith in Allah and His Apostle before spend shows that to God, spending for a good cause alone has no intrinsic value unless it stems from faith.

And spend here does not refer to alms-giving. It is specific to spending for jihad, which some exegetes have identified as being in preparation for Ghazwat al-ʿUsrah, more popularly known as the expedition of Tabūk (630 ce/8-9 ah).^[1]

This understanding is supported by the context in latter verses as well, such as: Not equal [to others] are those of you who spent and fought before the victory (verse 10), and the invitation to lend Allah a good loan (verses 11 and 18), which is also understood as being for God’s religion and not the general giving in charity for the poor. The surah also emphasises the need for justice (verse 25) and, unlike other surahs that usually mention generosity towards relatives, orphans, or the destitute, this surah makes no such mention. It is quite clear then that the persuasion to spend and not be stingy (verse 24) throughout the surah is a call to the Muslim community in general to uphold Islam and allow the faithful to arm themselves and fend off attacks. This also concurs with the fact that the surah is Medinan, a period when the Muslims had to fight multiple battles, often whilst being poorly equipped.

He has made you successors (mustakhlafīn), according to most exegetes means ‘heirs of the past generations’. It adds to the message in the previous set of verses that To Him belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and to Allah all matters are returned (verse 5). Meaning, even when you inherit from the past generations, it is God who makes you trustees and temporary custodians, before you, eventually, give it up to others and they succeed you. For the wealth that you hold on to stingily is, in reality, His; therefore, Spend from what We have provided you (63:10) that wherein He has made you successors.

Those of you who have faith means faith in God and His Apostle, though it is not explicitly mentioned because it is a repeat within the same verse. For those willing to embrace these two pillars of Islam – faith in God and His Apostle and spending in God’s way – there is a great reward for them.

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

Nasr notes that successors or trustees (mustakhlafīn) derives from the same root as vicegerent (khalīfah). So, in this way, the command to spend of what He has made you successors (mustakhlafīn) could also mean ‘spend from what He has entrusted you with’, for this is connected to the very purpose for which human beings were created (see 2:30, 6:165, and 35:39).[2] In other words, God is very able to provide for all directly, but He asks the faithful, as His vicegerent (khalīfah), to spend on His behalf and for His cause, as a way of honouring him. Conversely, refusing to spend what is ultimately God’s is a betrayal of this trust.

Or to put it in Zamakhsharī’s understanding, since ultimately God owns everything and man is only a trustee of what God provides him and makes him a successor of, before others succeed the wealth from him, it should be as easy to spend for God’s cause as spending from another’s wealth![3]

Suyūṭī, who agrees this verse was revealed at the time of the expedition to Tabūk, also believes the words Those of you who have faith and spend [in Allah’s way] – there is a great reward for them is an allusion to ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān.[4] But this is incorrect as will be explained under the Review of Tafsīr Literature for verse 10. Furthermore, the opening words in this verse, Have faith in Allah and His Apostle, and spend … is directly related to its second-half statement, Those of you who have faith and spend, and therefore, if we assume the second half was in reference to ʿUthmān, then we would also have to assume the invitation to Have faith in Allah and His Apostle was addressed to him.

Ibn Abbas interprets this verse as an address to the Meccan polytheists: ‘Have faith in Allah, O people of Mecca, and His Apostle, Muhammad, and spend out of that wherein He has made you successors. Those of you who have faith, O people of Mecca, and spend [in Allah’s way] – there is a great reward for them in the garden because of their faith and spending of their wealth.’[5]

The reason for such an interpretation may be because the verse invites its addressee to Have faith in Allah and His Apostle; but such an interpretation is misplaced for multiple reasons. First, the surah is Medinan and not Meccan. Second, it would be unusual for the Quran to be asking the polytheists to spend in God’s way in the same breath that it asks them to have faith. The invitation to faith is not because God needs the wealth of the polytheists, or anyone for that matter (35:15). The faithful are only asked to spend in God’s way to honour them and elevate their spiritual status before God. And lastly, it is not uncommon for the faithful to be invited toward greater faith: O you who have faith! Have faith in Allah and His Apostle (4:136). Hence, Have faith in Allah and His Apostle is an invitation to greater sincerity in faith. Or even greater submission before God, like the prayer of Prophet Abraham (a), much later in his prophethood, having undergone numerous trials to prove his surrender to God, when he called out to his Lord, along with his son, Ishmael (a): Our Lord, make us submissive (muslimayn) to You, and [raise] from our progeny a nation submissive (muslimatan) to You (2:128), meaning make us even more, and completely, surrendered to You.

[1] Thaalabi, 5/378; Mizan, 19/151.
[2] Nasr, p. 1332.
[3] Zamakhshari, 4/473.
[4] Jalalayn, p. 541.
[5] Ibn Abbas, p. 576.