Al 'Imran: (117) The likeness of what they spend...

It is known that after Allah the Exalted clarified that the wealth of the disbelievers will avail them nothing, and that they might spend their wealth in good deeds, the thought might cross a person's mind that they benefit from those expenditures. Allah the Exalted, through this verse, removed that doubt and clarified that they do not benefit from those expenditures, even if they intended them for the sake of Allah.

In the verse, there are several issues:

Issue 1: The Likeness (Mathal)

The likeness (al-mathal) is the similitude that becomes like a known thing due to its frequent use in comparison. The essence of the statement is that their disbelief invalidates the reward for their spending, just as a cold wind destroys the crops.

If it is asked: If this is the case, then the likeness of their spending is the destroyed crop. How then is the spending likened to the destructive cold wind?

We reply: The likeness is of two types. One type is where the similarity is achieved between the intended meaning of the two clauses, even if the similarity is not present between the individual parts of the two clauses. This is called a Composite Similitude (Tashbīh Murakkab). The other type is where the similarity is present between the intended meaning of the two clauses and between the parts of each clause.

If we consider this likeness to be of the first type, the question is resolved. If we consider it of the second type, there are several interpretations:

1. The meaning is: The likeness of disbelief in destroying what they spend is like the likeness of the destructive wind to the crop.
2. The meaning is: The likeness of what they spend is like a destructive wind, which is the crop.
3. Perhaps the indication in "The likeness of what they spend" refers to what they spent in harming the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) by gathering armies against him. This spending was destructive to all the good and righteous deeds they had performed. In this case, the similitude is sound without needing to imply or rearrange words. The meaning is: The likeness of what they spend in invalidating their prior righteous deeds is like the likeness of a wind with a piercing cold (ṣar) in its invalidation of the crop. This interpretation occurred to me when writing about this passage, as their spending to harm the Messenger (PBUH) is one of the greatest forms of disbelief and has the strongest effect in nullifying the results of righteous deeds.

Issue 2: Interpretation of "What They Spend"

There is a difference of opinion regarding the interpretation of this spending, with two views:

1. The intended meaning here is all their deeds for which they hope to gain benefit in the Hereafter. Allah named it spending, just as He named it buying and selling in His saying: {Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their properties...} (At-Tawbah: 111) until His saying: {then rejoice in your transaction which you have contracted} (At-Tawbah: 111). Evidence supporting this interpretation is His saying: {You will never attain righteousness until you spend of what you love} (Al 'Imran: 92), which refers to all good deeds, and His saying: {And do not consume your wealth among yourselves unjustly} (Al-Baqarah: 188), which refers to all types of benefits.
2. The second view, which is more likely, is that spending wealth is intended. The evidence for this is what precedes this verse: {Their wealth and their children will never avail them} (Al 'Imran: 10).

Issue 3: Scope of "What They Spend" (All or Some Disbelievers)

There are two views on whether this refers to all disbelievers or some of them:

1. The reference is to all disbelievers. This is because their spending is either for worldly benefits or for Hereafter benefits. If it is for worldly benefits, no trace of it remains in the Hereafter for a Muslim, let alone a disbeliever. If it is for Hereafter benefits, they will not benefit from it in the Hereafter because disbelief prevents benefiting from it. Thus, it is established that all the spending of disbelievers is of no use in the Hereafter. Perhaps they spent their wealth in good deeds, such as building hospices (ribāṭāt), bridges, and showing kindness to the weak, orphans, and widows. The spender hoped for great good from this spending, but when they reach the Hereafter, they see their disbelief nullifying the effects of the good deeds, like someone who planted a crop expecting much benefit, but a wind struck and burned it, leaving him only grief and regret. This is if they spent wealth in good deeds. As for if they spent it in what they thought were good deeds but were actually sins—such as spending wealth to harm the Messenger (PBUH), kill Muslims, and destroy their homes—what we said is even more applicable and severe. Similar to this verse is His saying: {And We will proceed to what they have done of deeds and make them as scattered dust} (Al-Furqan: 23), and His saying: {Indeed, those who disbelieve spend their wealth to avert [people] from the way of Allah. So they will spend it; then it will be for them a source of regret} (Al-Anfal: 36), and His saying: {But those who disbelieve, their deeds are like a mirage in a level land} (An-Nur: 39). All of this indicates that the good deeds of disbelievers do not result in reward, and all of this is encompassed in His saying: {Indeed, Allah accepts only from the righteous} (Al-Ma'idah: 27). This view is the strongest and most correct.

It is also possible to interpret the verse as referring to their disappointment in this world. They spent much wealth gathering armies and enduring hardships, but the matter turned against them, and Allah made Islam manifest and strong. Nothing remained of that spending for the disbelievers except disappointment and regret.

2. The reference is to some disbelievers. According to this view, there are several interpretations:
   • The hypocrites (munāfiqūn) used to spend their wealth in the way of Allah, but out of dissimulation (taqiyyah) and fear of the Muslims, or for appeasement. The verse concerns them.
   • This verse was revealed concerning Abu Sufyan and his companions on the Day of Badr when they conspired against the Messenger (PBUH).
   • It was revealed concerning the spending of the lower class of Jews on their rabbis for the sake of distortion.
   • It refers to what they spend believing it to be drawing near to Allah the Exalted, when it is not so.

Issue 4: The Meaning of "Ṣar" (Piercing Cold/Heat)

There are different views on the meaning of al-ṣar:

1. Most commentators and linguists say that al-ṣar is intense cold. This is the view of Ibn Abbas, Qatadah, As-Suddi, and Ibn Zayd.
2. Al-ṣar is hot venom or burning fire. This is the choice of Abu Bakr al-Aṣamm and Abu Bakr ibn al-Anbārī. Ibn al-Anbārī said that fire is described as having ṣar because of the sound it makes when it flares up (from which comes the creaking of a door, and aṣ-ṣarṣar is well-known, and aṣ-ṣarrah is a cry). He narrated with his chain from Ibn Abbas (RA) regarding "in which there is ṣar" that he said: "In it is fire."

In both views, the purpose of the similitude is achieved, because whether it is destructive cold or burning heat, it nullifies the crop, so the similitude is valid.

Issue 5: The Mu'tazila's Argument for Nullification (Iḥbāṭ)

The Mu'tazila used this verse as evidence for the validity of the doctrine of Nullification (Iḥbāṭ). This is because just as this wind destroys the crop, disbelief destroys the spending. This is only valid if we hold that, were it not for the disbelief, that spending would have necessitated rewards in the Hereafter. Then the doctrine of Nullification becomes valid.

Our companions (of the Sunnah) responded by saying that an action necessitates reward only by the decree of a Promise (wa'd). Allah's Promise is conditional upon the presence of faith (īmān). If disbelief occurs, the conditioned thing is lost because its condition is absent. Disbelief removes the reward after it was established. The proofs for the invalidity of the doctrine of Nullification were previously mentioned in Surah Al-Baqarah.

Then Allah the Exalted said: {It struck the crop of a people who wronged themselves}. A question arises: Why did Allah not stop at {It struck the crop of a people}? What is the benefit of saying {who wronged themselves}?

We reply: There are two interpretations for the meaning of {who wronged themselves}:

1. They disobeyed Allah, thus deserving the destruction of their crop as punishment. The benefit of mentioning it is that the goal is to liken what they spend to something that vanishes completely, leaving nothing behind. The crop of the disbelieving wrongdoers is what vanishes entirely, yielding no benefit in this world or the Hereafter. As for the crop of the believing Muslim, it does not vanish entirely, because even if its outward form is destroyed, its meaning is not destroyed, as Allah the Exalted increases his reward due to the distress he endured.
2. The intended meaning of {who wronged themselves} is that they planted in the wrong place or at the wrong time, because injustice (ẓulm) is putting something in a place other than its proper place. According to this interpretation, the rationale for the similitude is strengthened: whoever plants in the wrong place or at the wrong time, his effort is wasted. Similarly here, since the disbelievers performed the spending not in its proper place or time, and then the misfortune of their disbelief struck them, it was inevitable that it would be wasted. And Allah knows best.

Then Allah the Exalted said: {And Allah did not wrong them, but they wronged themselves}. The meaning is that Allah the Exalted did not wrong them by not accepting their expenditures, but they wronged themselves by presenting them accompanied by the reasons that prevent them from being accepted by Allah the Exalted. The author of Al-Kashshāf said that {wa lākin} (but) was read with a shaddah (wa lākinna), meaning "but they wronged themselves." It is not permissible to read it as "but He wronged themselves" (wa lākin anfusuhum yaẓlimūn) by omitting the pronoun of the situation (ḍamīr al-sha'n), as this is only permissible in poetry.

7 < { O you who have believed, do not take as intimates those other than your own people. They do not fail to ruin you. They wish you would suffer hardship. Hatred has already appeared from their mouths, and what their breasts conceal is greater. We have made the signs clear to you, if you should use reason. } > 7 !