ﳄ ﳅ ﳆ ﳇ ﳈ ﳉ ﳊ ﳋ ﳌ ﳍ ﳎ ﳏ ﳐ ﳑ ﳒ ﳓ ﳔ ﳕ ﳖ ﳗ ﳘ ﳙ ﳚ ﳛ
They ask you, [O Muhammad], what they should spend. Say, "Whatever you spend of good is [to be] for parents and relatives and orphans and the needy and the traveler. And whatever you do of good - indeed, Allah is Knowing of it."
Tafsir
Verse range: 2:215
"They ask you what they should spend..."
If you ask: How does the answer correspond to the question in His saying: "Say: Whatever you spend..." when they asked for an explanation of what they should spend, yet they were answered with an explanation of where to spend it?
I say: His saying "Whatever you spend of good" includes an explanation of what they should spend, which is "every good thing." The discourse was then structured around what is more important: the explanation of the recipients. This is because spending is not considered valid unless it is placed in its proper position. As the poet said:
*A favor is not truly a favor* *Unless it reaches the path of the one who deserves it.*
It is narrated from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that ‘Amr ibn al-Jamuh—who was an elderly man of great wealth—came and said: "What should we spend of our wealth, and where should we place it?" So this verse was revealed.
Al-Suddi said: This is abrogated by the obligation of Zakat. Al-Hasan said: It refers to voluntary charity.
"Fighting has been enjoined upon you while it is hateful to you. But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah knows, while you know not." (216)
