The 365 · Verses · Day 105 · Charity
A known right in your wealth: for the asker and for the silent deprived. Pay it. It is not your wealth; it is theirs.
Qur'an Q 70:24-25
وَٱلَّذِينَ فِىٓ أَمْوَٰلِهِمْ حَقٌّ مَّعْلُومٌ
“...who give a due share of their wealth to beggars and the deprived... (Abdel Haleem)”
Svenska: ...och som av vad de äger [anslår] rättmätiga andelar åt tiggarna och dem som [i tysthet] lider nöd... (Knut Bernström)
The story
Ibn Kathir's commentary names the structural meaning: a determined portion of the believer's wealth belongs not to the believer but to these two categories. The classical scholars debated whether the ḥaqq maʿlūm refers exclusively to zakāh (2.5%) or extends to a broader voluntary obligation. Mujāhid and others held the broader view: zakāh is the named floor; the believer's ḥaqq maʿlūm scales above it depending on need encountered. The verse closes the believer's catalog of qualities with this charity-right, alongside prayer-discipline, belief in the Day of Judgment, fear of the Lord's punishment, chastity, fulfillment of trusts and covenants, and standing firm in testimony.
In the language
حَقٌّ مَّعْلُومٌ (ḥaqq maʿlūm) is structurally precise. ḥaqq is the same word as the legal right we encountered in 17:26 (Day 96, the kin's right). Maʿlūm is from ʿ-l-m: known, calculated, determined. لِّلسَّائِلِ (li-s-sāʾil) names the visible-need category. وَالْمَحْرُومِ (wa-l-maḥrūm) is from ḥ-r-m, the root of being denied access. The maḥrūm is the structurally invisible-need category: the one who has been denied the means but does not ask.
Why this verse
The verses appear in Sūrat al-Maʿārij among the catalog of believers' qualities. Allah names a ḥaqq maʿlūm (a known/recognized right) in the believer's wealth, owed to two specific categories: as-sāʾil (the one who asks) and al-maḥrūm (the deprived). Failing to pay it is failing to discharge an existing obligation, not failing to be generous beyond duty.
Bring it into today
Identify one maḥrūm in your community this week: someone whose need is visible to you but who does not ask. Pay them what you owe (the ḥaqq maʿlūm), with discretion that preserves their dignity.
A reflection to carry
The verse reframes the believer's relationship with wealth. The standard frame: my wealth is mine; charity is what I voluntarily share. The Quranic frame: my wealth has a known portion that already belongs to the asker and the deprived; charity is paying what I owe, not bestowing what is mine. The reframing is operational: the giver does not feel above; the receiver does not feel below. Both are participants in Allah's economy of named rights.
Read the longer reflection
The classical scholars debated whether the ḥaqq maʿlūm refers exclusively to zakāh (2.5%) or extends to a broader voluntary obligation. Mujāhid and others held the broader view: zakāh is the named floor; the believer's ḥaqq maʿlūm scales above it depending on need encountered. The verse is therefore the structural foundation for voluntary charity above zakāh: the believer who pays only zakāh has paid the floor but may not have paid the full ḥaqq maʿlūm if a maḥrūm in his community is suffering.
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.
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