47:38 Muhammad (Muhammad)

أنكم { تُدْعَوْنَ لِتُنْفِقُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ } على هذا الوجه، الذي فيه مصلحتكم الدينية والدنيوية.{ فَمِنْكُمْ مَنْ يَبْخَلُ } أي: فكيف لو سألكم، وطلب منكم أموالكم في غير أمر ترونه مصلحة عاجلة؟ أليس من باب أولى وأحرى امتناعكم من ذلك.ثم قال: { وَمَنْ يَبْخَلْ فَإِنَّمَا يَبْخَلُ عَنْ نَفْسِهِ } لأنه حرم نفسه ثواب الله تعالى، وفاته خير كثير، ولن يضر الله بترك الإنفاق شيئا.فإن الله هو { الْغَنِيُّ وَأَنْتُمُ الْفُقَرَاءُ } تحتاجون إليه في جميع أوقاتكم، لجميع أموركم.{ وَإِنْ تَتَوَلَّوْا } عن الإيمان بالله، وامتثال ما يأمركم به { يَسْتَبْدِلْ قَوْمًا غَيْرَكُمْ ثُمَّ لَا يَكُونُوا أَمْثَالَكُمْ } في التولي، بل يطيعون الله ورسوله، ويحبون الله ورسوله، كما قال تعالى: { يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَنْ يَرْتَدَّ مِنْكُمْ عَنْ دِينِهِ فَسَوْفَ يَأْتِي اللَّهُ بِقَوْمٍ يُحِبُّهُمْ وَيُحِبُّونَهُ } تم تفسير سورة القتال، والحمد لله رب العالمين.

"ها أنتم هؤلاء تدعون لتنفقوا في سبيل الله فمنكم من يبخل" أي لا يجيب إلى ذلك "ومن يبخل فإنما يبخل عن نفسه" أي إنما نقص نفسه من الأجر وإنما يعود وبال ذلك عليه "والله الغني" أي عن كل ما سواه وكل شيء فقير إليه دائما ولهذا قال تعالى "وأنتم الفقراء" أي بالذات إليه فوصفه بالغني وصف لازم له ووصف الخلق بالفقر وصف لازم لهم لا ينفكون عنه. وقوله تعالى "وإن تتولوا" أي عن طاعته واتباع شرعه "يستبدل قوما غيركم ثم لا يكونوا أمثالكم" أي ولكن يكونون سامعين مطيعين له ولأوامره. وقال ابن أبي حاتم وابن جرير حدثنا يونس بن عبدالأعلى حدثنا ابن وهب أخبرني مسلم بن خالد عن العلاء بن عبدالرحمن عن أبيه عن أبي هريره رضي الله عنه قال إن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم تلا هذه الآية "وإن تتولوا يستبدل قوما غيركم ثم لا يكونوا أمثالكم" قالوا يا رسول الله من هؤلاء الذين إن تولينا استبدل بنا ثم لا يكونوا أمثالنا؟ قال فضرب بيده على كتف سلمان الفارسي رضي الله عنه ثم قال "هذا وقومه ولو كان الدين عند الثريا لتناوله رجال من الفرس" تفرد به مسلم بن خالد الزنجي ورواه عنه غير واحد وقد تكلم فيه بعض الأئمة رحمة الله عليهم والله أعلم. آخر تفسير سورة القتال ولله الحمد والمنة.

Showing the Triviality of the Worldly Life and encouraging Spending

Expressing the insignificance and worthlessness of the worldly life, Allah says,

إِنَّمَا الْحَيَوةُ الدُّنْيَا لَعِبٌ وَلَهْوٌ

(This worldly life is only amusement and diversion.) which means that such is its outcome, except for that which is done for the sake of Allah. Because of this, Allah says,

وَإِن تُؤْمِنُواْ وَتَتَّقُواْ يُؤْتِكُمْ أُجُورَكُمْ وَلاَ يَسْـَلْكُمْ أَمْوَلَكُمْ

(And if you believe and have Taqwa of Allah, He will grant you your rewards, and will not ask from you (to sacrifice all of) your possessions.) meaning, He is in no need of you, and asks you for nothing. He only ordained giving charity from your wealth so that you would help your needy brothers. The benefit of that would then come back to you, as well as the rewards. Allah then says,

ؤإِن يَسْـَلْكُمُوهَا فَيُحْفِكُمْ تَبْخَلُواْ

(If He would demand of you all of it and urge you, you would withhold.) meaning, if He pressures you much, you would become stingy.

وَيُخْرِجْ أَضْغَـنَكُمْ

(And He will expose your (secret) ill--wills.) Qatadah said, "Allah knows that extracting wealth (i.e., money from people) brings about ill-wills. " Indeed, Qatadah has said the truth, because money is dear to the people, and they do not spend it except in things that are dearer to them than it. Allah then says,

هَآ أَنتُمْ هَـؤُلاَءِ تُدْعَوْنَ لِتُنفِقُواْ فِى سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَمِنكُم مَّن

(Here you are now invited to spend in Allah's cause; but among you are those who withhold (stingily).) meaning, they refuse to spend. Allah continues,

يَبْخَلُ وَمَن يَبْخَلْ فَإِنَّمَا يَبْخَلُ عَن

(And whoever acts stingily is but stingy toward himself.) meaning, he only reduces his own rewards, and the bad outcome of that will come back to him.

نَّفْسِهِ وَاللَّهُ

(For Allah is indeed Al-Ghani) Allah is in need of nothing else, whereas everything is ever in need of Him. Thus, Allah says,

الْغَنِىُّ وَأَنتُمُ

(while you are the needy.) meaning, specifically of Him. The description of Allah as Al-Ghani (in no need) is a necessary description of Allah; on the other hand, the description of the creation as Faqr (needy) is a necessary description for them that they cannot avoid. Allah then says,

وَإِن تَتَوَلَّوْاْ

(And if you turn away, ) which means, if you turn away from obeying Him and adhering to His Laws.

تَتَوَلَّوْاْ يَسْتَبْدِلْ قَوْماً غَيْرَكُمْ ثُمَّ لاَ يَكُونُواْ

(He will replace you with other people; then they will not be like you.) meaning, rather, they will be people who will listen to Him and obey His commands. This concludes the Tafsir of Surat Al-Qital. And Allah is worthy of all praise and gratitude.

Lo! there you are O those who are being called to expend in the way of God that which has been prescribed for you; yet among you there are those who are niggardly; and whoever is niggardly is niggardly only to his own soul one may say bakhila ‘alayhi or bakhila ‘anhu to mean ‘he was niggardly to someone’. For God is the Independent One without need of your expending; while you are the needy of Him. And if you turn away from obedience to Him He will replace you with another people that is to say He will bring them in your place and they will not be the likes of you in turning away from obedience to Him but they will be obedient to Him Mighty and Majestic is He.

تُدْعَوْنَ لِتُنفِقُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّـهِ فَمِنكُم مَّن يَبْخَلُ "... you are called upon to spend in Allah's way, but some of you withhold in miserliness". Further the verse reads: وَمَن يَبْخَلْ فَإِنَّمَا يَبْخَلُ عَن نَّفْسِهِ (and he who withholds in miserliness withholds against himself - 47:38) it means that any person practising miserliness will himself suffer loss or detriment because he will have to carry the burden of failing to fulfill his obligation and thus will be deprived of reward in the Hereafter. This point is made even more clear by saying "_ and Allah is the Need-Free, and you are the needy." In other words, Allah is free of want and beyond any need but man is in need of means of comfortable subsistence. So spending in the way of Allah is for man's own good and to fulfill his own needs.

وَإِن تَتَوَلَّوْا يَسْتَبْدِلْ قَوْمًا غَيْرَ‌كُمْ ثُمَّ لَا يَكُونُوا أَمْثَالَكُم (...And if you turn away, He will replace you by some other people, then they will not be like you. - 47:38) This verse has explained that Allah is the most need-free of all. This attribute is described so lucidly that it brings to our mind the fact that let alone people's wealth, He does not even need their existence. If they stop acting upon His injunctions, He will bring another people who will not turn away from the sacred injunctions, but will obey Him completely as long as Allah wants to maintain the religion of truth, Islam. Sayyidna Hasan Basri (رح) says that the reference in this verse is to non-Arabs and Sayyidna ` Ikramah ؓ says that the reference is to Persians and Romans. Sayyidna Abu Hurairah ؓ reports that when Allah's Messenger ﷺ recited this verse in the presence of the Companions ؓ they asked him: "Who are those people that will be brought instead of us if we, God forbid, turn away from Allah's injunctions and those people will not turn away like us?" Sayyidna Salman Farisi ؓ عنہ was sitting among the Companions ؓ ، the Holy Prophet ﷺ slapped on his thigh and said: "If Faith [ i.e. the religion of truth ] were to go up to the Pleiades [ accessibility to which is difficult ], a man of Persian descent will acquire it from there and act upon it”.

Shaikh Jalal-ud-Din Suyuti wrote a book on the biography of Abu Hanifah (رح) where he identifies him and his disciples as being the people referred to in the Hadith quoted earlier, because no group among the Persians reached that high point of knowledge where Abu Hanifah (رح) and his disciples reached.

And God is the Unneedy, and you are the poor. God has no need for your obedience, and you are the poor toward His mercy. God is the Unneedy and has no need for anyone. He is One and has no associate or partner. He is the Compeller, and no one has the color of union with Him. He is the Owner of the Kingdom, and no matter what He does, no one has the gall to protest or a way to fight. If you were to gather all the deeds of the sincerely truthful among the folk of the earth and all the obedient acts of the holy ones of heaven, they would not have the weight of a gnat's wing in the scales of the majesty of the Possessor of Majesty. Beware! Never look at your own distracted deeds or your own tiny intellect with the eye of self-admiration. When you seek Him, seek Him through His bounty, not your intellect and knowledge. Were it not for God's bounty toward you, and His mercy, none of you would ever have become pure [24:21]. O chevalier! Exaltedness is His attribute and unneediness His description. How can knowl- edge, understanding, and intellect have the gall to open up before His exaltedness? Bounty is His attribute and exaltedness His attribute. Who opens up before His attributes? It is His attributes themselves that open up. When someone seeks refuge in intellect, the attribute of exaltedness comes forth and sends him back in despair. When someone seeks refuge in bounty, it escorts him to the highest of the High Chambers. When someone leans on his own deeds, he will be left to himself. When someone clings to His bounty and mercy, he will be taken beyond the Gardens of Bliss to the seat of truthfulness, at an Omnipotent King [54:55]. The Prophet said, “There is none of you who will be saved by his deeds.” They said, “Not even you, O Messenger of God?” He said, “Not even I, unless God envelops me with His mercy.”