Tafsir of Al-Baqarah 2:254

"O you who have believed, spend from that which We have provided you." It is said that this intends the obligatory (charity), such as Zakat, rather than the supererogatory, because the imperative form literally denotes obligation, and because it is accompanied by a threat. This is what is narrated from al-Hasan.

It is also said that it includes both the obligatory and the supererogatory; this is narrated from Ibn Jurayj and chosen by al-Balkhi. He considered the imperative to be for the absolute act of seeking (requesting). There is nothing hereafter except an account of the terrors and severities of the Day of Resurrection, intended to encourage spending, and it contains no threat for neglecting it such that obligation would be necessitated.

Al-Asam said: What is intended is spending in the cause of Jihad. He cites as evidence that this is mentioned after the command to Jihad in meaning, and thus the verse connects to what preceded it. It is not hidden that this evidence is such that it should not be heeded, for the connection—assuming generality—is also achieved by the inclusion of the aforementioned spending primarily; likewise, assuming the intent is the obligatory, for spending in Jihad may be obligatory if the obligation depends upon it. The word ma (what) is relative, its pronoun of reference omitted. Attributing its attainment to Him, the Exalted, is to urge and encourage spending.

"(From) before there comes a day in which there is no exchange, nor close friendship" (meaning no affection or companionship), "nor intercession" (meaning for anyone, except after the Most Merciful gives permission to whom He wills and is pleased with). He intended by this the Day of Resurrection. The purpose of describing it with what was mentioned is to point out that no one has the power therein to obtain what would benefit them in any way whatsoever; for one who has a debt, for example, might either use exchange to pay it, be helped by his friends, or resort to someone to intercede for him to have it reduced—yet all of these are negated, and there is no helper except Allah, the Mighty and Majestic.

The min (from) relates to that to which its counterpart related; there is no harm in the difference of their meanings, as the first is partitive (tab'idiyyah) and this one is for the beginning of the limit (ibtida' al-ghayah). These three negated items were put in the nominative case (raf')—even though the context demands generalization, and the fatha (accusative case) would be appropriate for that—because the speech is based on a hypothetical question: "Is there any exchange in it, or close friendship, or intercession?" In that question, "exchange" and its two companions are in the nominative case; thus, it was appropriate to use the nominative in the reply, even if it does not reach the level of the generalization obtained by using the fatha. Ibn Kathir, Abu 'Amr, and Ya'qub read them with fatha based on the original principle of mentioning what is textually definitive in its generality. That is what they said. Perhaps the most appropriate view is that the nominative is due to the weakness of the generalization in the majority of them, specifically "close friendship" and "intercession," due to the exception occurring in some verses. That which is subordinate is governed by the rule of the dominant.

As for what they said, the objection is that what follows "a day" is a sentence occurring after an indefinite noun, so it is an adjective that is not disconnected (ghayr maqtu'ah), and one does not posit a question between an adjective and the noun it describes if there is no disconnect. If one considers the indefinite noun as being described by what the tanwin implies of magnification, then the sentence would be considered an adjective that is disconnected to achieve and posit that. Consequently, the assumption of the question would become something the sound intellect would hardly accept.

"And the disbelievers—they are the wrongdoers" (meaning those deserving of this description being applied to them, due to the extremity of their wrongdoing). The sentence is conjoined to an omitted element, meaning: "The believers who fear Allah are fulfillers (of their duties), and the disbelievers, etc." Those meant are those who neglect spending entirely. He expressed "the one who neglects" as "the disbeliever" to emphasize the severity, likening his action—neglecting to spend—to disbelief, or treating it as being on the verge of it, or expressing the caused by the cause. Thus, it is either a metaphorical derivation (isti'arah taba'iyyah), a metaphor of proximity, a figurative expression (majaz mursal), or a metonymy. Similar to this is the placement of "the one who disbelieves" in place of "the one who does not perform Hajj" in the final verse of Surah Al-Imran. Some did not use the term "disbelief" figuratively, but said: It is an expression for disbelief in Allah, the Exalted, in reality. The benefit of the report in that case is to point out that the negation of those things is with respect to them, and that this is not considered injustice toward them, for they are the ones who wrong their own souls and are the ones responsible for that.