O you who have believed,
He turned to address them immediately after stating what He stated, by way of the utmost absence (as if speaking to someone not present) to signify the mandatory requirement to act according to the prohibition. For this reason, He called them by the attribute of faith.
"Do not invalidate your charities by reminders of generosity or by injury"—meaning by either one of them, because negation is more appropriate for generality and more indicative of it. The meaning of "reminders of generosity" (al-mann) is reminding the poor person of the charity, as previously mentioned, which is the well-known interpretation. From Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with both of them) it is reported that the meaning is the reminder of generosity toward Allah the Exalted. As for "injury" (al-adha), it is the injury caused to the poor person.
Ibn Atiyyah questioned this verse, stating that its literal meaning requires that the reward of charity be invalidated by one of these two matters. However, it is not possible for the invalidation to be directed toward the charity itself, because it has already occurred in reality, and it is inconceivable to invalidate what has already happened. It is also an article of creed that bad deeds do not invalidate good deeds—contrary to the Mu'tazilah, and this verse is one of their supports.
It has been answered that the charity for which Allah the Exalted knows the giver will later follow up with reminders and injury is not accepted; it is even said that He, the Exalted, places a mark for the angel so that he does not record it. The "invalidation" under dispute only applies to a righteous deed that had occurred in the sight of Allah the Exalted within the realm of acceptance, whereas this is not the case here. The meaning of "do not invalidate" is therefore: "Do not bring about this deed in a state of invalidity." That is what they have said. It is not hidden that this is contrary to the apparent meaning. However, His saying, "Like one who spends his wealth to be seen by the people," provides a type of support for it, based on the fact that "like one" (ka-alladhi) is in the position of an accusative, either as an adjective for an omitted verbal noun—meaning "do not invalidate them with an invalidation like the invalidation of one who..."—or as a state (hal) from the subject of "do not invalidate," meaning: "Do not invalidate them while resembling the one who spends," i.e., the one who invalidates his spending through showing off (riya'). The face of this support is that the one who shows off has, by consensus, not brought forth an accepted, valid deed; rather, he brought it forth invalid and rejected, and the comparison has occurred between the two. Ponder this.
The accusative case of "riya'" (showing off) is either as a cause for "spending"—meaning "for the sake of their showing off"—or as a state (hal) from its subject, meaning "he spends his wealth while showing off." To make it an adjective for an omitted verbal noun, meaning "a spending of showing off to people," is not strong. Similar to this is making the prepositional phrase a state for the pronoun of the implied verbal noun, because that only works according to the opinion of Sibawayh. The root of riya' is ri'a'; the first hamza is the middle letter of the root, and the second is a replacement for a ya' which is the final radical because it fell at the end of the word after an additional alif. It is permissible to lighten the first hamza by turning it into a ya' to avoid the heaviness of the hamza after the kasra; al-Khuza'i, al-Shumuni, and others have recited it this way. The mufa'ala form in its verb, according to al-Samin, is in its literal sense because the one who shows off makes people see his deeds, and people make him see their praise and glorification of him.
The intended meaning of the relative pronoun (the "one who" - alladhi) is that which includes both the believer and the disbeliever, as has been said, though the majority of exegetes are of the opinion that it refers to the hypocrite because of His saying: "And he does not believe in Allah or the Last Day," until he hopes for a reward or fears a punishment.
"His likeness"—meaning the one who shows off in his spending, and the fa is to connect what follows to what precedes—"is the likeness of a smooth stone"—meaning a large, smooth rock. It is the plural of safwana or safa', or a generic noun. It is supported by the fact that the pronoun returns to it in the singular in His saying, "upon which is dust"—meaning a small amount of it—"and a downpour strikes it"—meaning a heavy, persistent rainfall; the pronoun refers to the rock, though it is said it refers to the dust—"and leaves it bare"—meaning smooth, with no dust left upon it at all. This simile can be interpreted as a distinct one: the hypocritical spender is like the rock in the lack of benefit, his charity is like the dust in the hope of benefit from both through reward and growth, and his showing off is like the downpour which destroys it quickly, harmful precisely where benefit was expected. If it is made a compound simile, it is also valid, and it is said that this is the correct view, while the first is of no account.
"They are unable to do anything with what they have earned"—meaning they will not find the reward for any of that which they spent for show, nor will they benefit from it at all. The sentence explains the aspect of the comparison, or it is a new beginning based on a question, as if it were said: "What will be their state then?" So it was said: "They are unable..." Making it a state (hal) for "the one who," as al-Samin said, is a weak statement, as is not hidden. The pronoun returns to the relative pronoun (the "one who") in terms of meaning after having observed its wording, as it acts as an adjective for a singular in wording but plural in meaning, like a group, or it is used for the plural, as in His saying: "And you indulged in talk like the one who indulged" (at-tawba: 69), according to one opinion, and the saying: "Those whose blood flowed at Falaj are the people, all the people, O Umm Khalid." It is also said that "man" (who) and "alladhi" (the one who) alternate, so it was treated as such here; but its remoteness is not hidden. The return of the pronoun to "those who have believed" mentioned earlier by way of shift (iltifat) is something that should not be considered.
"And Allah does not guide the disbelieving people"—to that which benefits them. The sentence is a concluding confirmation for the content of what preceded it, and it contains an insinuation that both showing off and the reminder of generosity and injury in spending are among the attributes of the disbelievers, and it is necessary for the believers to avoid them.
