The 365 · Verses · Day 145 · Charity
Charity is a loan to Allah. He doubles. He adds a noble reward.
This day is still being reviewed. Its wording, transliterations, and references are being checked before it is final, so please take care with transliterations until then.
مَّن ذَا ٱلَّذِى يُقْرِضُ ٱللَّهَ قَرْضًا حَسَنًا فَيُضَـٰعِفَهُۥ لَهُۥ وَلَهُۥٓ أَجْرٌ كَرِيمٌ
“Who will make God a good loan? He will double it for him and reward him generously. (Abdel Haleem)”
Quran 57:11 Read 57:11 with tafsir
Svenska: VEM GER Gud ett lån av goda gärningar, som Han återbetalar med mångdubbla värdet och därtill ger en frikostig belöning? (Knut Bernström)
The story
Ibn Kathīr: the verse is one of multiple Quranic reframings of charity as loan-to-Allah (cross-ref Q 64:17, Day 146; Q 73:20). The reframing was structurally severe to the Companions: it converted the act of giving from charity-to-the-poor to direct-loan-to-Allah, with Allah Himself as the borrower-and-doubler. The story of Abū ad-Daḥdāḥ illustrates the structural response: the Companion who absorbed the verse's framing immediately gave his most prized possession.
In the language
Qarḍ (loan) is structurally distinct from ṣadaqah (charity given to a recipient). A loan is given to someone who can repay; charity is given to the needy. The Quran combines: the believer gives to the poor, but theologically, the loan is to Allah, who repays.
Why this verse
Q 57:11 frames charity as a loan to Allah (qarḍan ḥasanan). The structural reframing is severe: Allah, who owns all, asks the believer to 'lend' Him from what He has already given. The promise: Allah will double the loan and add a noble reward (ajrun karīm). When the verse was revealed, Abū ad-Daḥdāḥ ra. went to the Prophet ﷺ and asked: 'Does Allah ask us for a loan?' The Prophet ﷺ: 'Yes.' Abū ad-Daḥdāḥ said: 'Then I lend Allah my best garden of date-palms.' He gave it to the poor immediately.
Bring it into today
Reframe every act of charity as a loan to Allah, not a transfer to a recipient. The recipient is the channel; Allah is the borrower. This reframing addresses two psychological barriers: (1) the difficulty of parting with money; (2) the doubt about whether the recipient will use it well. Both are dissolved when Allah is the named borrower.
A reflection to carry
Q 57:11 reframes charity as loan-to-Allah. Abū ad-Daḥdāḥ absorbed this immediately and gave his best garden. The believer who internalizes this framing finds charity-giving structurally easier: the recipient is the channel; Allah is the borrower-doubler.
Read the longer reflection
The qarḍ-ḥasan framing is one of the Quran's most psychologically powerful reframings of charity. The classical scholars wrote that the verse addresses the believer's natural attachment to his money: by naming the giving as a loan-to-Allah (with doubling and noble reward as the named return), the verse converts the act from a loss to an investment. The Companions absorbed this so completely that wealth-detachment became one of their visible markers. Abū ad-Daḥdāḥ's response (giving his best garden immediately) was not exceptional among them; it was the structural pattern.
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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