ٱلَّذِينَ يَلْمِزُونَ ٱلْمُطَّوِّعِينَ مِنَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ فِى ٱلصَّدَقَٰتِ وَٱلَّذِينَ لَا يَجِدُونَ إِلَّا جُهْدَهُمْ
Alladhīna yalmizūna'l-muṭṭawwiʿīna mina'l-muʾminīna fi'l-ṣadaqāti wa'lladhīna lā yajidūna illā juhdahum fa-yaskharūna minhum; sakhira'llāhu minhum wa lahum ʿadhābun alīm · Istaghfir lahum aw lā tastaghfir lahum; in tastaghfir lahum sabʿīna marratan fa-lan yaghfira'llāhu lahum; dhālika bi-annahum kafarū bi'llāhi wa rasūlih; wa'llāhu lā yahdi'l-qawma'l-fāsiqīn
"Those who find fault, over the alms, with the believers who give freely, and with those who find nothing to give but their utmost, and who mock them… · Ask forgiveness for them or do not ask forgiveness for them; even if you ask forgiveness for them seventy times, God will not forgive them."
| Who | Wording | Their situation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Al-muṭṭawwiʿīna mina'l-muʾminīn | Those who give freely, beyond what is due |
| 2 | Alladhīna lā yajidūna illā juhdahum | Those who can find nothing beyond their utmost |
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is that the two groups are enumerated side by side: the mockery strikes at once the people at both ends — the one who gives much and the one who can give little. The measure of the mockery, that is, is not the amount; it is the position of the one who mocks.
The root ط-و-ع: to submit readily, to do willingly. Taṭawwuʿ — what is done freely, over and above what is obligatory. The word was treated in al-Baqara at 2/158 and 2/184.
The root ج-ه-د: strength, capacity, being strained. The root was analysed in detail in Muḥammad, and it was recorded there: "Juhd is a person's coming up against the last limit of his strength." I rely on that treatment.
Lā yajidūna illā juhdahum — "those who find nothing but their utmost." What is given, that is, is the person's last limit.
| View | The number seventy |
|---|---|
| A | A number stating multiplicity — in Arabic determinate numbers can state multiplicity rather than exactness |
| B | An actual number — a limit |
And the construction of the sentence must be recorded: istaghfir lahum aw lā tastaghfir lahum — both options are given and the outcome is the same. Almost the same sentence was treated in al-Munāfiqūn at 63/6 (sawāʾun ʿalayhim astaghfarta lahum am lam tastaghfir lahum). I rely on that treatment and do not repeat it here.
The difference here must be recorded: in al-Munāfiqūn the sentence was built with sawāʾun (it is equal); in al-Tawba a number is added. I give this as my own reading: the number added shows the equality across a distance — repetition does not change the outcome.