Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 264 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:264

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ لَا تُبْطِلُوا۟ صَدَقَـٰتِكُم بِٱلْمَنِّ وَٱلْأَذَىٰ كَٱلَّذِى يُنفِقُ مَالَهُۥ رِئَآءَ ٱلنَّاسِ وَلَا يُؤْمِنُ بِٱللَّهِ وَٱلْيَوْمِ ٱلْـَٔاخِرِ ۖ فَمَثَلُهُۥ كَمَثَلِ صَفْوَانٍ عَلَيْهِ تُرَابٌ فَأَصَابَهُۥ وَابِلٌ فَتَرَكَهُۥ صَلْدًا ۖ لَّا يَقْدِرُونَ عَلَىٰ شَىْءٍ مِّمَّا كَسَبُوا۟ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِى ٱلْقَوْمَ ٱلْكَـٰفِرِينَ

“O you who have believed, do not invalidate your charities with reminders [of it] or injury as does one who spends his wealth [only] to be seen by the people and does not believe in Allāh and the Last Day. His example is like that of a [large] smooth stone upon which is dust and is hit by a downpour that leaves it bare. They are unable [to keep] anything of what they have earned. And Allāh does not guide the disbelieving people.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Charity done for show, or spoiled by reminders and hurt, is thin dust on a smooth rock: one downpour, and nothing is left.

A reflection

Turf rolled out on a car park

For a festival weekend, organisers roll fresh turf over a concrete car park. From the stage it looks like a meadow. Then a summer storm breaks. By morning the turf has slid off in sheets, and the grey concrete is back.

The ayah paints that scene in four strokes. A ṣafwān: a smooth rock. The lexicons describe it as stone clean of earth and sand. On it lies a little turāb, dust. From a distance, it might be soil. Then comes a wābil: heavy rain in large drops. And the rain 'leaves it ṣald', bare and hard.

Ṣald is a strong word. One lexicon gives the root as hardness and dryness. A fire-stick was ṣald when it gave no spark. A head was ṣald when it was bald, like ground that grows nothing. The rock is not merely wet. It is exposed for what it always was: a surface where nothing could take root.

The commentators read the picture plainly. The rock is the show-off's heart. The dust is his spending, which looks like it could grow. The downpour is the moment of truth, when every deed's real ground is revealed. A modern commentary says: so do the deeds of those who show off dissolve before Allah.

Now look ahead one ayah. The same heavy rain, wābil, falls on a garden on a hill, and it yields double. The rain is identical. Only the ground differs.

That is the frightening and hopeful core. We cannot choose the storm. We can choose what lies under our giving: concrete with a thin covering, or soil with roots.

The festival turf looked perfect for two days. It was never connected to anything below it.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.