All of Verses

The 365 · Verses · Day 266 · Justice


Qur'an 92:19

وَمَا لِأَحَدٍ عِندَهُۥ مِن نِّعْمَةٍ تُجْزَىٰٓ

Not to return a favour to anyone, (Quran 92:19)

Svenska: Och inte för att få återgälda en tjänst, (Koranen 92:19)

A reflection to carry

Allah refined the niyyah further in 92:19. 'Wa mā li-aḥadin ʿindahu min niʿmatin tujzā.' Not for any favor that is owed to be repaid. The pure giver gives where no transactional return is possible. He is not paying back a brother who helped him. He is not building social capital. He is not extending an obligation to be repaid later. He is giving where the giving has no horizontal-ledger function. Why? Because Allah ranks the giving by its niyyah, and the niyyah is purest when the recipient cannot reciprocate. The orphan cannot 'invite you over next week.' The widow cannot 'recommend you for a job.' The stranded traveler will not 'put you on his board.' Allah, who structured human reciprocity into the dunyā, also structured zakat-and-sadaqah categories to BREAK that reciprocity. He named the recipients (Day 257, 9:60) as those most LIKELY unable to repay you. Ya akhī, ya ukhtī, audit your giving. Are you giving primarily where reciprocation is possible (to causes that will praise you, to people who will remember and return), or are you giving primarily where it is impossible (to recipients who will never know your name, to orphans, to widows, to strangers on the road)? The first is socially functional. The second is what 92:19 named. Build a substantial portion of your giving to be in the second category.

Read the longer reflection

Yā Rabb, You refined the niyyah in 92:19. The pure giver gives where no return is possible. No reciprocation. No favor owed. No social capital being built. Ya Allāh, audit my giving. How much of it has been to causes that I expected praise from? Donations to organizations that publicly tag givers. Volunteering at events where my name is visible. Help to relatives who will reciprocate at the next family event. Each of these is a legitimate giving, but it has a horizontal reciprocity that the niyyah-purity of 92:19 transcends. Forgive me, ya Rabb. Forgive the seasons when most of my giving was reciprocity-eligible. And realign me. Build a parallel stream of giving in the categories Your verse named: the orphan who will never know my name; the widow whose case I sponsor anonymously; the stranded traveler I help once and never see again; the destitute family I support through a third-party with my name not attached. Each is impossible for the recipient to repay; the only repayer is You. The transaction is vertical, not horizontal. And You promised, ya Allāh, in the closing verse (92:20-21): 'illa ibtighāʾa wajhi rabbihi al-aʿlā; wa la-sawfa yarḍā.' Except seeking the face of his Lord the Most High; and surely he will be pleased. The pure giver will be PLEASED. Place me in that category. Build the impossible-to-reciprocate stream of giving in my life. Āmīn ya Ghaniyy.

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

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