ﱒ ﱓ ﱔ ﱕ ﱖ ﱗ ﱘ ﱙ ﱚ ﱛ ﱜ ﱝ ﱞ ﱟ ﱠ ﱡ ﱢ ﱣ ﱤ ﱥ ﱦ ﱧ ﱨ
If you disclose your charitable expenditures, they are good; but if you conceal them and give them to the poor, it is better for you, and He will remove from you some of your misdeeds [thereby]. And Allah, with what you do, is [fully] Acquainted.
Tafsir
Verse range: 2:271
"If you disclose your charitable expenditures..."
"In ni‘ma (what an excellent)..." The mā in ni‘ma is an indefinite noun, neither relative nor descriptive. The meaning of fa-ni‘ma hiya (then how excellent it is) is: "How excellent a thing is their disclosure." It has been recited with both a kasrah and a fathah on the nūn.
"But if you conceal them and give them to the poor..." Meaning: If you reach their rightful recipients while maintaining concealment.
"It is better for you." Meaning: Concealment is better for you. This refers to voluntary charity (tatawwu‘), for in obligatory charity (farā’iḍ), it is better to perform it openly.
Ibn ‘Abbās (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: "Voluntary charity in secret is seventy times better than doing it openly, whereas obligatory charity done openly is twenty-five times better than doing it in secret." The reason open performance of obligatory charity is better is to dispel suspicion. However, if the one paying zakāt is not known for wealth, then concealing it is better. Likewise, if one performing voluntary charity intends for others to follow his example, then disclosing it is better.
"He will remove from you..." (nu-kaffir) It has been recited with a nūn in the indicative mood (marfū‘), as a conjunction to the position of the clause following the fā’, or as the predicate of an omitted subject (i.e., "And We will remove").
It has also been recited as a new sentence consisting of a verb and subject, or in the jussive mood (majzūm) as a conjunction to the position of the fā’ and what follows it, because it is the response to the conditional (jawāb al-sharṭ).
It has been recited as yu-kaffir (with a yā’, indicative), where the subject is either Allah or the act of concealment.
It has been recited as tu-kaffir (with a tā’, indicative and jussive), where the subject is the charity itself.
Al-Ḥasan (may Allah be pleased with him) recited it with a yā’ and in the subjunctive mood (manṣūb) by implying an (to), meaning: "If you conceal them, it will be better for you, and [it will result in] Him removing from you..."
