وَٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ لِلزَّكَوٰةِ فَٰعِلُونَ
The root was treated in detail at al-Shams 91/9 (qad aflaḥa man zakkāhā) and taken up again in ʿAbasa (laʿallahū yazzakkā). I do not repeat it here. The summary recorded there is this:
Beneath the root two senses stand together — purification and growth. Tazkiya is growth brought about by reduction.
And a detail of word order must be recorded here: the verse does not say yuʾtūna'l-zakāta (they give the zakāt) — which is the common counterpart of the word in other verses. The verb chosen here is فعل: "to do, to perform".
| Reading | What zakāt is | Its ground |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Giving a fixed portion of one's property — zakāt in the institutional sense | The common use of the word in the Qurʾān |
| 2 | The work of purification — the act that cleanses the self and the property | The original sense of the root; and the sūra being Meccan |
The ground of the second reading must also be recorded: the institutional form of zakāt, fixed by amount and threshold, took shape, as it is transmitted, in the Medinan period; and this sūra is counted Meccan. This does not make the second reading necessary — the word zakāt occurs in Meccan verses too — but it shows the source of the dispute.
Both readings are transmitted; I do not impose a preference. And I issue no legal ruling: the threshold, the rate and the categories of zakāt have been discussed in detail among the schools of law, and that is not the subject of this commentary.
On the choice of verb I give the following as my own reading: the word fāʿilūn is wider than giving. Fiʿl reports a work, an action. The item therefore stays wide enough to take in not only the moment of transfer but the work done towards purification.