Al-Hadid · Madani · ayah 24 of 29

Al-Hadid 57:24

ٱلَّذِينَ يَبْخَلُونَ وَيَأْمُرُونَ ٱلنَّاسَ بِٱلْبُخْلِ ۗ وَمَن يَتَوَلَّ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ هُوَ ٱلْغَنِىُّ ٱلْحَمِيدُ

“[Those] who are stingy and enjoin upon people stinginess. And whoever turns away[1635] - then indeed, Allāh is the Free of need, the Praiseworthy.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The boaster clutches his wealth and teaches others to clutch; whoever turns away harms only himself, for Allah needs nothing.

A reflection

The donor who said, you need me

A wealthy man has funded most of a mosque's new roof. At a committee meeting he disagrees with a decision about the youth programme. He leans back and says, quietly: 'You do realise this place needs me.' Nobody answers. For a moment, it feels true.

The ayah answers him, and everyone like him. Wa man yatawalla fa-inna Allāha huwa al-ghaniyyu al-ḥamīd. Whoever turns away, Allah is the Free of need, the Praiseworthy.

Ghaniyy comes from a root meaning enough. One thing yughnī another when it is sufficient in its place. People ghanū in a place when they settled there content, needing nowhere else. Only later did the word come to mean wealth. Allah's ghinā is the absolute form: He needs nothing at all.

One commentator spells out the consequence. Allah is free of need, so no harm comes back to Him from the miser's stinginess. Another says the one who turns from obedience harms only himself, and will never harm Allah in the least.

The ego of a giver is especially vulnerable here. Generosity can quietly turn into leverage. We begin to feel that the cause, the mosque, the family, even the faith, depends on us. The ayah dissolves that. The roof was never resting on the donor. It was resting on the One who gave the donor his money.

Why does Allah describe Himself this way? Not because He wants admiration. A commentator notes that al-Ḥamīd means He is praised in His very essence, untouched when people withhold their thanks. The description is not a demand. It is a release: you cannot hold Him hostage, and you do not need to.

If you give, give with your hands open and your shoulders down. You are not the roof. You are a guest who was allowed to help hold it.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.