Tafsir of An-Nisa' 4:37

(Those who are stingy and enjoin upon people stinginess): There are several grammatical possibilities for this:

1. That it is a badal (substitutive) of the word man (in the previous verse), acting as a badal kull min kull (total substitution).
2. That it is an adjective for it, based on the opinion of those who permit a mawsul (relative pronoun) to be qualified, which is the view of al-Zajjaj.
3. That it is in the accusative case (nasb) as a form of censure.
4. That it is in the nominative case (raf') as a form of censure.
5. That it is the predicate of an omitted subject, meaning: "They are those who..."
6. That it is a subject whose predicate is omitted, meaning: "They are hated," or "They are deserving of every reproach," or similar meanings derived from the context. It was omitted so that the mind of the listener might wander into every possibility, and estimating it after the completion of the silah (relative clause) is more appropriate.
7. That it is, as Abu al-Baqa’ said, a subject, and the "those who" (wa-alladhina) coming later is conjoined to it, with the predicate being (Indeed, Allah does not do injustice), meaning He does not do injustice to them. This is very far-fetched.

Al-Tibi distinguished between it being a predicate and a subject by stating that, in the former case, it is connected to what precedes it, because this is of the same genus as the descriptions by which they were known. In the latter case, it is disconnected, brought forth to clarify their states. He mentioned that the [correct] aspect is connection, and he elaborated at length on it.

Regarding al-bukhl (stinginess), there are four dialects:

• Fath (vowel 'a') on both the kha and the ba, recited by Hamzah and al-Kisa'i.
• Damm (vowel 'u') on both, recited by al-Hasan and 'Isa ibn 'Umar.
• Fath on the ba and sukun (vowel-less) on the kha, recited by Qatadah.
• Damm on the ba and sukun on the kha, which is the recitation of the majority.

(And hide what Allah has given them of His bounty): That is, of wealth and affluence, or of the descriptions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).

(And We have prepared for the disbelievers a humiliating punishment): Meaning, We have readied that for them. The noun (disbelievers) is used in place of the pronoun (them) to signal that whoever is of this character is a disbeliever in the blessings of Allah Almighty. Whoever disbelieves in His blessings, for him is a punishment that humiliates him, just as he humiliated the blessings through stinginess and concealment. It is also permissible to interpret the disbelief in its literal sense. The mention of the pronoun of glorification (i.e., the greatness of the punishment) is for intimidation, for the punishment of the Great One is great, and the anger of the Forbearing is calamitous. The sentence is an interrogative appendage, confirming what preceded it.

The reason for the revelation of the verse is what was extracted by Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Jarir, and Ibn al-Mundhir with a sound chain from Ibn Abbas, who said: Kurdum ibn Zayd, an ally of Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf, Usamah ibn Habib, Nafi' ibn Abi Nafi', Bahri ibn 'Amr, Huyayy ibn Akhtab, and Rifa'ah ibn Zayd al-Tabut used to approach men of the Ansar to "advise" them, saying: "Do not spend your wealth, for we fear poverty for you if it is gone, and do not be hasty in spending, for you will not reach what is to come." So Allah Almighty revealed (Those who are stingy...) up to His saying: (And Allah is Ever-Knowing of them).

It is also said: It was revealed regarding those who concealed the description of Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), and this is narrated from Sa'id ibn Jubayr and others. 'Abd ibn Humayd and others extracted from Qatadah that he said regarding the verse: They are the enemies of Allah Almighty, the People of the Book, who were stingy with the right of Allah Almighty upon them and concealed Islam and Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) while they found him written with them in the Torah and the Gospel.

Stinginess in this narration is clearly regarding wealth, and Ibn Jubayr explicitly stated this in one of his two narrations. In the other narration, it is stinginess regarding knowledge, and their "enjoining people" means their followers. It is possible that this is literal, and it is possible that it is metaphorical, treating them as if they were those who enjoin it because they know that their followers will follow them.