All of Verses

The 365 · Verses · Day 246 · Justice


Qur'an 2:261

مَّثَلُ ٱلَّذِينَ يُنفِقُونَ أَمْوَٰلَهُمْ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ كَمَثَلِ حَبَّةٍ أَنۢبَتَتْ سَبْعَ سَنَابِلَ فِى كُلِّ سُنۢبُلَةٍ مِّا۟ئَةُ حَبَّةٍ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ يُضَـٰعِفُ لِمَن يَشَآءُ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ وَٰسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ

Those who spend their wealth in God's cause are like grains of corn that produce seven ears, each bearing a hundred grains. God gives multiple increase to whoever He wishes: He is limitless and all knowing. (Quran 2:261)

Svenska: De som ger av sin egendom för Guds sak kan liknas vid sädeskärn som ger sju ax och varje ax bär hundra kärnor. Gud ger mångdubbelt igen åt den Han vill. (Koranen 2:261)

A reflection to carry

Sit with the image. Allah painted, in al-Baqarah 2:261, the most powerful spending parable in the Quran. A single grain placed in soil. From it grows a stalk with SEVEN ears. From each ear grows a HUNDRED grains. Total: 700. From one. And then Allah said: 'Allah multiplies further for whom He wills.' The cap is not 700; the cap does not exist. And He is Wāsiʿ, the All-Encompassing, ʿAlīm, the All-Knowing. He knows the niyyah behind your grain. He knows the difficulty of letting go. He knows the secret of the giving. And He multiplies in proportion to all of it. Ya akhī, ya ukhtī, the disease of khawf al-faqr (Day 189) closed the wallet by whispering 'less.' Allah opens it with a different math: 'more.' The dirham you gave today is, in His soil, already growing into seven hundred. The afternoon you spent volunteering is, in His ledger, already multiplied beyond your imagination. The kindness you offered to a stranger is, in His accounting, already booked at scales beyond dunyā's measure. Plant the grain. He does the multiplication.

Read the longer reflection

Yā Rabb, You painted, in one verse, the most extraordinary investment offer in the universe. One grain. Seven hundred grains. And then You said: I multiply further for whom I will. The ceiling does not exist. The return is bounded only by Your generosity, which has no bound. And You closed with two names: Wasīʿ (vast) and ʿAlīm (knowing). You see every gram I gave. You know every niyyah behind the giving. You measured the difficulty of my letting go. And You multiplied each grain accordingly. Ya Allāh, forgive me for the math of fear that has, too often, run my charity. The hesitation before the donation page. The calculation that wanted to give 'less than that, more than this.' The doubt that asked 'is this too much?' Allah, You answered with one grain and seven hundred. The math of shayṭān is shrinkage; Your math is expansion. Move my hand to the giving without the small calculations. Build a structural rhythm of sadaqah in my life: a monthly orphan, a weekly food drive, a daily small drop in the masjid box, a sadaqah jariyah I will not see until the Day. Plant grains. Plant them in fields You named: an orphan's meal, a Quran in a hand, a well in a village, a student's tuition, a sister's medical bill, a brother's wedding contribution. Each grain You will grow seven hundred times, and beyond. And on the Day when the harvest is brought to me, ya Rabb, let me find that the grains I scattered while I lived have become a field that shades me from the Fire and feeds me into Jannah. Āmīn ya Wasīʿ, ya ʿAlīm, ya Karm.

A verse, a healing, and a Sunnah, every morning.

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