Al-Isra: (29-30) And do not make your hand...

Know that when the Almighty commanded him (the Prophet) to spend in the preceding verse, He taught him the etiquette of spending in this verse. Know also that the Almighty explained the description of the believers' worship in spending in Surah Al-Furqan, saying: {And those who, when they spend, are neither wasteful nor tight-fisted, but keep a middle course between that} (Al-Furqan: 67).

Here, He commanded His Messenger with a similar description, saying: {And do not make your hand chained to your neck} (i.e., do not withhold from spending to the extent that you become tight upon yourself and your family in matters of kinship ties and the path of good deeds). The meaning is: Do not let your hand, in its contraction, be like one chained, prevented from opening. {Nor extend it all out} (i.e., do not be excessively expansive in spending to the point that nothing remains in your hand).

The essence of the matter is that the wise men mentioned in their books on Ethics that every disposition has two extremes of excess and deficiency, both of which are blameworthy. Stinginess (Bukhul) is an excess in withholding, and extravagance (Tabdhir) is an excess in spending; both are blameworthy. The virtuous disposition is justice and the middle path, just as the Almighty said: {And thus We have made you a community justly balanced} (Al-Baqarah: 143).

Then the Almighty said: {Lest you sit down blamed and helpless (or destitute)}.

As for the interpretation of "sit down" (taq'ud), it has preceded in the previous verse. As for being "blamed" (malūman), it is because he blames himself, and his companions also blame him for completely wasting his wealth and leaving his family and children in hardship and distress.

As for being "helpless/destitute" (maḥsūran), Al-Farrā’ said: The Arabs say of a camel that it is maḥsūr if its journeying has ceased. And the beast becomes ḥasīrat when it is driven until its journeying ceases. From this is His saying: {The sight will return to you, humbled and exhausted} (Al-Mulk: 4). The plural of ḥasīr is ḥasrā, like qatlā and ṣar'ā.

Al-Qaffāl said: What is intended is to liken the state of one who spends all his wealth and expenses to one whose journey is cut off due to the failure of his mount. This is because that amount of wealth is like a mount that carries a person and brings him to the end of the month or year, just as that camel carries him to the end of the stage. When that camel fails, he remains in the middle of the road, helpless and bewildered. Similarly, if a person spends the amount he needs for a month, he remains in the middle of that month helpless and bewildered. Whoever does this incurs blame from his family and those dependent on his spending due to his poor management and lack of prudence in the necessities of his livelihood.

Then the Almighty said: {Indeed, your Lord extends provision for whom He wills and restricts it}.

The purpose is that He informed His Messenger (peace be upon him) of His being the Rabb (Lord). The Rabb is the one who nurtures the nurtured and takes care of reforming their necessities and fulfilling their needs according to what is appropriate and correct, thus expanding provision for some and restricting it for others. Taqdīr (restricting) in language means tightening, as in His saying: {And whoever has his provision restricted} (At-Talaq: 7), and His saying: {But when He tests him and restricts his provision} (Al-Fajr: 16), meaning He tightens it. He expands for some because that is what is best for them, as He said: {And if Allah were to extend provision to His servants, they would commit tyranny upon the earth. But He sends down [provision] by measure as He wills} (Ash-Shura: 27).

Then the Almighty said: {Indeed, He was, to His servants, Acquainted and Seeing}.

This means that the Almighty knows that the well-being of every person lies in Him giving them only that specific amount. Therefore, the disparity in the provisions of the servants is not due to stinginess, but rather due to the consideration of their welfare.