al-Ḥadīd 57:24

Alladhīna yabkhalūna wa yaʾmurūna'n-nāsa bi'l-bukhl; wa man yatawalla fa-inna'llāha huwa'l-ghaniyyu'l-ḥamīd "Those who are miserly and enjoin miserliness upon people. And whoever turns away — God is the Rich, the Praiseworthy."

Root: ب-خ-ل: to hold back, not to give. Bukhl is not giving where giving is due — the lexicographers enter this note: not every withholding is miserliness; withholding where there is a right is miserliness.

This is the striking side of the verse, and it describes a step further.

Miserliness is described in two stages: 1. He himself does not give 2. He wants others not to give either

Why is the second necessary? Because a behaviour does not like to be left alone.

We may explain it thus, and this is my own assessment: the existence of people who give unsettles the position of one who does not. If no one gives, not giving is normal; if others give, not giving becomes a choice, and a choice has to be defended. The easiest defence is to make the choice general.

For this reason the verse adds the second stage. Miserliness does not stay by itself; it tries to produce a norm.

The Qurʾān uses this twofold structure elsewhere as well: "They are those who are miserly and enjoin miserliness upon people and conceal what God has given them of His bounty" (al-Nisāʾ 4/37). There a third stage is added: concealing what one has.

تولّى — root و-ل-ي. It was taken up in verse 15 in the word mawlā: the sense of the root is nearness.

Tawallā, however, interestingly carries the opposite sense: to turn one's back, to turn away. The lexicographers explain this thus: walā can also convey turning one's back on someone and going off — leaving a relation of nearness.

That is, the same root conveys both "to draw near" and "to draw away". This is not rare in Arabic.

غني — root غ-ن-ي: to be without need, to be sufficient. Ghanī means, before "rich", the one who has no need. From the same root come ighnāʾ (to enrich) and istighnāʾ (to have no need).

حميد — root ح-م-د: to praise. Fully treated in the section on al-Fātiḥa. Ḥamīd is an intensive pattern in the sense of "praised" (maḥmūd).

That these two names should stand in this verse sets the sūra's whole demand for spending in its place.

For in verse 11 God had asked for a loan. And it was recorded there: the boldness of the expression lies in placing the absolutely rich in the position of one asking for a loan.

Now, thirteen verses later, the note on that boldness is entered: الْغَنِيُّ — the one who has no need.

That is, the sūra qualifies its own expression itself. The one who asked for a loan did not ask because He was in need.

And the practical consequence of this is: spending is not a contribution to God. The one who does not give produces no deficiency; he fails to take his own share.

The Qurʾān says this plainly elsewhere: "Here you are, called to spend in the way of God. And some of you are miserly. Whoever is miserly is miserly only against himself. God is the Rich, and you are the poor." (Muḥammad 47/38)

The addition of the name حميد is meaningful as well. Had ghanī been said alone, it would have set up a distance: "He has no need, therefore no interest either." Ḥamīd balances this — the one without need is at the same time worthy of praise; that is, the relation continues.