الذين يبخلون ويأمرون الناس بالبخل ويكتمون ما آتاهم الله من فضله وأعتدنا للكافرين عذابا مهينا · والذين ينفقون أموالهم رئاء الناس ولا يؤمنون بالله ولا باليوم الآخر · وماذا عليهم لو آمنوا بالله واليوم الآخر وأنفقوا مما رزقهم الله
Alladhīna yabkhalūna wa yaʾmurūna'l-nāsa bi'l-bukhli wa yaktumūna mā ātāhumu'llāhu min faḍlih … Wa'lladhīna yunfiqūna amwālahum riʾāʾa'l-nāsi wa lā yuʾminūna bi'llāhi wa lā bi'l-yawmi'l-ākhir … Wa mādhā ʿalayhim law āmanū bi'llāhi wa'l-yawmi'l-ākhiri wa anfaqū mimmā razaqahumu'llāh
"They are miserly and they enjoin miserliness upon others, and they conceal what God has given them of His bounty… And those who spend their wealth to be seen by others and believe neither in God nor in the Last Day… What harm would it have done them, had they believed in God and the Last Day and spent of what God has provided them?"
The thirty-sixth verse gave a list. These three verses describe two states in which that list does not work.
| State | Verse | Verb | The problem |
|---|---|---|---|
| The first | 37 | Yabkhalūn — they do not give | The holding back of property |
| The second | 38 | Yunfiqūn riʾāʾa'l-nās — they do give | The direction of the giving |
And setting the two states side by side produces a record, which I set down as my own reading: the verses are not concerned only with not giving; they say that giving too can be corrupted. In the thirty-eighth verse property is actually spent, and it is rejected all the same.
| Order | Verb | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yabkhalūn | He himself does not give |
| 2 | Yaʾmurūna'l-nāsa bi'l-bukhl | He urges others not to give either |
| 3 | Yaktumūna mā ātāhumu'llāh | He conceals what has been given him |
The second step is worth recording: the verse says that the attitude has a spreading side. This pattern is present at al-Māʿūn 107/3 as well (wa lā yaḥuḍḍu ʿalā ṭaʿāmi'l-miskīn — he does not urge the feeding of the poor): there too the matter passes from not giving to not urging.
The third step also produces an observation: yaktumūna mā ātāhumu'llāhu min faḍlih — to conceal what one has. To hide what is in one's hand, that is, ensures that none of the addresses in the list ever comes to the door.
The word riʾāʾ is the verbal noun of Form III (mufāʿala) from the root ر-أ-ي: it states reciprocity. Ostentation, that is, is not a one-sided business: someone who sees is required.
The word was treated at al-Māʿūn 107/6 (alladhīna hum yurāʾūn) and at al-Baqara 2/264 (ka'lladhī yunfiqu mālahū riʾāʾa'l-nās). The verse in al-Baqara is almost identical with this one:
| Place | Expression |
|---|---|
| al-Baqara 2/264 | Ka'lladhī yunfiqu mālahū riʾāʾa'l-nās wa lā yuʾminu bi'llāhi wa'l-yawmi'l-ākhir |
| al-Nisāʾ 4/38 | Alladhīna yunfiqūna amwālahum riʾāʾa'l-nās wa lā yuʾminūna bi'llāhi wa lā bi'l-yawmi'l-ākhir |
The two verses set the same two things side by side: ostentation and not believing in the hereafter. This is a repetition between two sūras that can be verified.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the shared word order of the two verses: what is set over against ostentation is not a rule of morals but the question of where the return is expected.
The thirty-ninth verse is a question, and the form of the sentence must be recorded: wa mādhā ʿalayhim — "what would it have cost them?"
The question is not a threat but a question of cost. And this fits the general language of the sūra: in verses twenty-six to twenty-eight the intention behind the rulings was stated after them; here what is lost by refusing is asked.