Tafsir of At-Tawbah 9:34

"O you who have believed" is the commencement of an exposition regarding the state of the rabbis and the monks in their misleading of their base followers, following the exposition of the evil state of the followers in taking them as lords. In this, there is a warning to the believers so that they do not hover around that prohibited sanctuary; hence, the address was directed toward them: "Indeed, many of the rabbis and the monks consume the wealth of the people in falsehood."

They take it through bribery to alter judgments and laws, and for mitigation and leniency regarding them. Expressing the act of taking as "consuming" is a synecdoche (majāz mursal), where the relationship is either causality and effect or necessity and the necessary. Consumption is a necessary consequence of taking, as it has been said. It is also permitted that what is meant by "wealth" is the food that is consumed by means of it, as a synecdoche—from which is the saying: "They consume every night a pack-saddle," for it intends fodder purchased with the price of a pack-saddle. The scholar al-Tayyibi chose this, and it is one of two views mentioned by al-Zamakhshari. The second is that "consuming" is metaphorically used for "taking." According to what the scholar established, this is to liken the state of their taking the wealth of the people—without distinguishing between truth and falsehood or separating the lawful from the forbidden, in their intense greed to collect its crumbs—to the state of a starving, gluttonous person who does not distinguish between one food and another in his eating. Then, he claimed that there is no substance to this metaphor and that his citing the taking and consumption of food is crude. It was answered that the citation is to show that there is a resemblance between taking and consuming; otherwise, that would be the opposite of the intended meaning. The benefit of the metaphor is to exaggerate that it is a taking by falsehood, because consumption is the ultimate form of seizing a thing. The saying of the Exalted, "by falsehood," increases the exaggeration in this; this would not be the case if one simply said "they take."

"And they hinder [people] from the way of Allah"—meaning the religion of Islam, or from the path established in their books, toward what they have fabricated and distorted by taking bribes. It is also permissible for "they hinder" (yaṣuddūna) to be from turning away (ṣudūd), in the sense that they turn away from the path of Allah, so they distort and fabricate by consuming the wealth of the people in falsehood.

"And those who hoard gold and silver"—meaning they collect it. From this is the camel "kināz" (dense with meat), meaning collected. In hoarding, burial is not a condition; rather, absolute collection and preservation suffice. The intended meaning of the relative noun ("those who") is either the majority of the rabbis and the monks, because the speech is in their condemnation, and this would be an exaggeration in it, as they were described with greed after being described with the aforementioned taking of bribes for falsehoods. Or, it refers to the Muslims, since they were also mentioned, and this is the most appropriate for His saying: "And do not spend it in the way of Allah," because it implies that they are from among those who should spend in His way—as this is what is understood from the negation in customary usage. Thus, grouping them with the bribe-takers among the People of the Scripture serves to exacerbate the offense and indicate that they are their equals in deserving the tidings of punishment.

Some researchers chose to interpret it as a general term, in which the rabbis and the monks are included primarily. Many interpreted "spending in the way of Allah" as Zakāt, for it is narrated from Ibn Abbas—may Allah be pleased with them both—that when this verse was revealed, it weighed heavily upon the Muslims. So Umar—may Allah be pleased with him—said: "I will relieve you of this." He went and said: "O Prophet of Allah, this verse has weighed heavily upon your companions." He—peace and blessings be upon him—said: "Allah the Exalted did not impose Zakāt except to purify the remainder of your wealth." Al-Tabarani and al-Bayhaqi in his Sunan and others narrated from Ibn Umar that he said: The Messenger of Allah—may Allah be pleased with him—said: "That which has had its Zakāt paid is not a hoard," or he counted it. For the threat is against it alongside the failure to spend where Allah the Exalted commanded it to be spent. This does not contradict his saying—peace and blessings be upon him: "Whoever leaves behind yellow (gold) or white (silver) will be branded with it," for the intent of that is what has not had its due paid, as is indicated by what the two Sheikhs (Bukhari and Muslim) narrated from Abu Huraira: "There is no owner of gold or silver who does not pay its due except that on the Day of Resurrection, plates of fire will be flattened for him and his side and forehead will be branded with them."

It was said: This was before Zakāt was imposed, and upon this is interpreted what al-Tabarani narrated from Abu Umama, who said: A man from the People of the Bench (Ahl al-Suffah) died, and a dinar was found in his loincloth. The Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said: "One branding." Then another died, and two dinars were found in his loincloth, and the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said: "Two brandings." It was also said: Rather, this is because the two men displayed poverty and an increase of need by joining the ranks of the People of the Bench, who are of that description, while they possessed what they had; thus their punishment was the branding.

Abu Dharr—may Allah be pleased with him—took the verse at its literal meaning and required the spending of all wealth surplus to need. Regarding this, an incident occurred between him and Muawiyah—may Allah be pleased with him—in Syria, such that he complained about him to Uthman—may Allah be pleased with him—in Medina. He summoned him there, but he saw him persisting in that, to the point that Ka'b al-Ahbar—may Allah be pleased with him—said to him: "O Abu Dharr, the Hanifi religion is the easiest and most balanced of religions. Since the spending of all wealth is not required in the Jewish religion, which is the most restrictive and severe of religions, how can it be required in this one?" He became angry—may Allah be pleased with him—and he possessed a sharpness of character, which was what led him to reproach Bilal—may Allah be pleased with him—for his mother and to complain about him to the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—who said to him: "You are a man in whom there is ignorance." He raised his staff to strike him and said: "O Jew, what is that to you regarding these matters?" Ka'b fled, and he followed him until he sought refuge behind Uthman—may Allah be pleased with him—and he did not return until he struck him. In one narration, the blow fell upon Uthman.

The number of those objecting to Abu Dharr increased regarding that claim, and people would read to him the verse of inheritance and say: "If the spending of all wealth were mandatory, the verse would have no purpose." They would gather around him in crowds wherever he settled, amazed at him for that. He chose seclusion, and he consulted Uthman about it, who signaled for him to go to al-Rabadhah, so he lived there as he wished. This is what is relied upon in this story. The Shi'a narrated it in a way that they made it one of the criticisms against the Possessor of the Two Lights (Uthman), and their purpose in that is to extinguish his light, but Allah refuses except to perfect His light.

"So give them tidings of a painful punishment." The predicate of the relative noun, and the fa is for what has been mentioned more than once. It is permitted that the relative noun is in the position of an accusative by a verb clarified by "give them tidings." The expression "tidings" (bishārah) is for sarcasm.