The 365 · Verses · Day 98 · Charity
Spend from the good of your wealth. Do not give what you would only accept with eyes closed. Allah does not need it; you are not above giving it.
Qur'an Q 2:267
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ أَنفِقُوا۟ مِن طَيِّبَـٰتِ مَا كَسَبْتُمْ وَمِمَّآ أَخْرَجْنَا لَكُم مِّنَ ٱلْأَرْضِ ۖ وَلَا تَيَمَّمُوا۟ ٱلْخَبِيثَ مِنْهُ تُنفِقُونَ وَلَسْتُم بِـَٔاخِذِيهِ إِلَّآ أَن تُغْمِضُوا۟ فِيهِ ۚ وَٱعْلَمُوٓا۟ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ غَنِىٌّ حَمِيدٌ
“You who believe, give charitably from the good things you have acquired and that We have produced for you from the earth. Do not give away the bad things that you yourself would only accept with your eyes closed: remember that God is self-sufficient, worthy of all praise. (Abdel Haleem)”
Svenska: Troende! Ge av de goda ting som ni förvärvar och av det som Vi låter jorden frambringa åt er, och leta inte fram, för att ge bort det, det sämsta som ni själva inte skulle ta emot annat än med förbundna ögon. Ni bör veta att Gud är Sig själv nog och att allt lov och pris tillkommer Honom. (Knut Bernström)
The story
Ibn Kathir cites the asbāb al-nuzūl from al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib: this verse was revealed about the Anṣār. When the date harvest came, they would collect ripe-date branches and hang them on a rope between two pillars in the Prophet's ﷺ masjid for the poor Muhājirūn to eat from. Some Anṣār would mix lower-quality dates among the ripe branches, thinking they were allowed to give the lesser kind. Allah revealed this verse rebuking the practice. Ibn Kathir adds Ibn ʿAbbās's commentary: 'If you had a right on someone who would pay you less than what you gave them, you would not agree until you require more from them. So how do you agree for Me what you do not agree for yourselves, while I have a right to the best and most precious of your possessions?'
In the language
طَيِّبَاتِ (ṭayyibāt) is from ṭ-y-b, the root of pure, good, wholesome. The Quran uses ṭayyib for both moral goodness (lawful, ḥalāl) and material goodness (high quality). الْخَبِيثَ (al-khabīth) is the structural opposite: bad, corrupt, foul. تَيَمَّمُوا (tayammamū) is the verb of 'aiming for, intending toward, deliberately seeking.' The verse forbids the deliberate selection of the bad portion to give away. تُغْمِضُوا (tughmiḍū, 'you would close your eyes') is from gh-m-ḍ, the root for closing eyes against something distasteful. The verse names the precise psychological test.
Why this verse
Q 2:267 establishes the qualitative test for charity. The verse opens: spend from the ṭayyibāt (the good things) of what you have earned, and from what We have brought forth from the earth for you. Do not aim for the khabīth (the bad, the corrupt, the dishonestly acquired) to give in charity. The litmus test: would you accept this if you were the receiver?
Bring it into today
Before any charitable action this week, apply the verse's test: would I accept this myself? If yes, give. If only with eyes closed, do not give. Re-select. Give from the ṭayyib portion: the food you would eat, the clothes you would wear, the wealth you would value. The Anṣār were corrected; we can be corrected too.
A reflection to carry
The verse's psychological test is one of the Quran's clearest litmus tests for charity-quality. Would you accept what you are about to give? If you would only accept it with your eyes closed, you are giving khabīth. The Anṣār who hung ripe-date branches with lower-quality dates mixed in were giving in volume but failing in quality. The Quran's correction is structural: charity is not just quantitative; it is qualitative. The two-rakʿah of giving from the ṭayyibāt is far better than ten-rakʿah of giving from the rejects. Modern application: when you give old clothes, do you give clothes you would still wear, or only clothes you would not? When you donate food, do you donate from your stock you would eat, or from the rejects? The verse names the test.
Read the longer reflection
Ibn Kathir cites the famous hadith of the two enviables: 'There is no envy except in two instances: a person whom Allah has endowed with wealth and he spends it righteously, and a person whom Allah has given Hikmah and he judges by it and teaches it to others.' (Bukhārī 73, Muslim 816.) The hadith is the operational complement to 2:267: the believer who spends from his ṭayyibāt is the believer who has earned the only kind of envy permitted in the religion. Ibn Kathir then cites the further verse Q 3:92: 'By no means shall you attain Al-Birr (righteousness), unless you spend of that which you love.' The verse and the hadith together: spend from what is good, lawful, and beloved to you. Allah is ghaniyy (independent, in no need); your charity is for your own benefit.
Sources: Ibn Kathir. The Qur'an and its translation are verified; the scholarship is retold faithfully in our own words and credited to its sources, never reproduced verbatim.
A verse, a healing, and a Sunnah, every morning.
Subscribe, free