وَٱلَّذِينَ يُؤْتُونَ مَآ ءَاتَوا۟ وَّقُلُوبُهُمْ وَجِلَةٌ أَنَّهُمْ إِلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ رَٰجِعُونَ
"Those who give what they give with their hearts trembling because they are returning to their Lord…"
| Reading | Verb | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| yuʾtūna mā ātaw | إيتاء — to give (Form IV) | "They give what they give" — spending |
| yaʾtūna mā ataw | إتيان — to come / to do (Form I) | "They do what they do" — deeds |
The second reading is transmitted in the sources, and on that reading the verse describes not spending but deeds in general. Both readings are transmitted; I do not impose a preference.
And what the two readings have in common must be recorded: on both, the real question is not the act itself but the state of the heart that accompanies the act.
The word occurs regularly in the Qurʾān together with the heart: al-Anfāl 8/2 (wajilat qulūbuhum), al-Ḥijr 15/52 and 15/53, al-Ḥajj 22/35, al-Zumar 39/23 (treated in al-Zumar).
And the striking place in the verse is this, and I record it as my own reading: the sentence describes a fear felt while doing a good work. Not while committing a sin.
My ground is the build of the sentence: yuʾtūna mā ātaw (they give) and qulūbuhum wajila (their hearts tremble) take place at the same time — the second is a circumstantial clause.
And the ground of the fear is given in the verse: annahum ilā rabbihim rājiʿūn — "that they are returning to their Lord."
The lexicographers differ over the parsing of the construction, and the difference bears on the meaning:
| Reading | What stands before anna (understood) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | li-anna (cause) | "Their hearts tremble because they are returning to their Lord" |
| 2 | min anna / bi-anna | Close to the same direction |
| 3 | The object of the verb wajila | "They fear that they are returning to their Lord" |
The third reading is worth recording, because its outcome differs: on the first reading what is feared is that the deed will not be enough, on the third the return itself.
And the line recorded at Fāṭir 35/28 and al-Mulk 67/12 holds here too: in the Qurʾān khashya is named together with knowledge, wajal with the expectation of a meeting.
I record this as my own reading, its ground being the arrangement of the list: the first three of the four items reported states (trembling, faith, not associating partners). The fourth brings a deed (yuʾtūna) and places a state beside the deed.
The list, that is, in descending from states to a deed, sets the state inside the deed. And this is the reverse of the first list: there the acts were enumerated and their fields fixed; here the states are enumerated and at the end attached to a deed.