The 365 · Verses · Day 106 · Charity
Give for Allah's Face alone. The verse was revealed about Abū Bakr. He freed Bilāl with no expected debt. Allah will please him.
Qur'an Q 92:18-21
ٱلَّذِى يُؤْتِى مَالَهُۥ يَتَزَكَّىٰ
“who gives his wealth away as self-purification, not to return a favour to anyone but for the sake of his Lord the Most High, and he will be well pleased. (Abdel Haleem)”
Svenska: han som ger [av sina ägodelar] för att rena [sin själ], inte för att betala tillbaka tidigare mottagna förmåner men av kärlek till sin Herre, den Högste. Och han kommer förvisso att bli nöjd. (Knut Bernström)
The story
Ibn Kathir notes that the classical commentators have near-consensus that these verses were revealed about Abū Bakr aṣ-Ṣiddīq specifically, while their wording remains general for any believer who matches the description. When ʿUrwah ibn Masʿūd (chief of Thaqīf) said to Abū Bakr at Ḥudaybiyyah: 'By Allah, if I did not owe you a debt that I have not paid you back for, I would have responded to your call to Islam,' Abū Bakr was angered: his generosity was for Allah's Face alone, not to put anyone in his debt. Ibn Kathir cites the Bukhārī hadith: 'Whoever equips two riding animals in the way of Allah, the gatekeepers of Paradise will call to him: O servant of Allah, this is good.' Abū Bakr asked: 'Will there be anyone called from all the gates?' The Prophet ﷺ said: 'Yes, and I hope that you will be one of them.' (Bukhārī 1897, Muslim 1027.)
In the language
يَتَزَكَّىٰ (yatazakkā) is the reflexive form of zakāh's root: the giver gives in order to purify his own soul, not to discharge an obligation to a creditor or to put a recipient in his debt. وَجْهِ رَبِّهِ الْأَعْلَىٰ (wajh rabbihi al-aʿlā) is one of the Quran's most exalted descriptions of intent. وَلَسَوْفَ يَرْضَىٰ (wa-la-sawfa yarḍā) is the verse's promise: Allah will please him. The classical commentators connect this directly to the Day of Resurrection.
Why this verse
Q 92:18-21 is the Quran's definition of pure giving (al-iʿṭāʾ al-khāliṣ). The giver gives for self-purification, not to return a favor to anyone, only for the Face of his Lord the Most High. Allah promises: he will surely be pleased.
Bring it into today
Audit your giving this year. Did you give expecting any return: gratitude, alignment, future favors, social standing, public credit? Each is a sign the giving was not for Allah's Face. Recover the niyyah on the next instance. Give without telling anyone. Give without expectation of acknowledgment. Then forget you gave.
A reflection to carry
The verse is the Quran's definition of pure giving. The diseased forms of giving are named structurally: giving to repay a favor (the recipient is now your creditor); giving to gain a favor (the recipient is now your debtor); giving to be seen (the audience is now your reward); giving for pity-relief (your discomfort is now your motivator). All four are not the verse's giving. The verse's giving is for Allah's Face alone.
Read the longer reflection
Abū Bakr had purchased many enslaved Muslims to free them (including Bilāl, who was being tortured by Umayyah ibn Khalaf). When his father said: 'My son, if you are buying these slaves to free them, why do you not buy strong young men who could fight with you?' Abū Bakr replied: 'Father, I am not buying them for you or for me; I am buying them for the Face of Allah.' The verse 92:21 was revealed about this kind of niyyah. The implication: the freed Bilāl owed Abū Bakr nothing. The giving was for Allah's Face alone; the receivers walked away free in every sense, including free of any debt to the giver.
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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