Lilfuqarai allatheena ohsiroo fee sabeeli Allahi la yastateeAAoona darban fee alardi yahsabuhumu aljahilu aghniyaa mina alttaAAaffufi taAArifuhum biseemahum la yasaloona alnnasa ilhafan wama tunfiqoo min khayrin fainna Allaha bihi AAaleemun
English
Ahmed Ali
(Give to) the needy who are engaged in the service of God who are not able to move about in the land, whom the ignorant consider to be affluent as they refrain from asking. You can know them from their faces for they do not ask of men importunately. God is surely cognisant of good things that you spend.
273
Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : ((alms are) for the poor who are straitened) he says: alms are for those who confine themselves (for the cause of allah) for the obedience of allah in the prophet's mosque, i.e. the people of the ledge, (who cannot travel in the land) for trade. (the unthinking man) the person who does not know them (accounteth them wealthy due to their restraint) because of their attire. (thou shalt know them) o muhammad! (by their mark) by their clothing: (they do not beg of men with importunity) he says: they neither beg with importunity nor without it. (and whatsoever good thing) wealth (ye spend) on the poor among the people of the ledge, (lo! allah knoweth it) allah knows your wealth as well as your intentions.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : for the poor (this is the predicate of the missing subject, al-sadaqāt, ‘voluntary almsgiving’), who are constrained in the way of god, those who have confined themselves [in preparation] for the struggle: this was revealed concerning the people of suffa, consisting in some four hundred of the emigrants (muhājirūn), set apart [from the other muslims] for the study of the qur’ān and to take part in raids; and they are unable to journey (darban, means safaran) in the land, to engage in commerce and earn their living, since they are fully engaged in the struggle; the ignorant man supposes them, on account of the way they behave, rich because of their abstinence, that is, their refraining from asking for things; but you, the one being addressed, shall know them by their mark, by the signs of their humility and exertion; they do not beg of men, and make urgent demands, importunately, that is to say, they do not beg in the first place, so there is no question of persistence. and whatever good you expend, surely god has knowledge of it, and will requite it accordingly.
Sahl al-Tustari
تفسير : [charity is] for the poor, who are constrained in the way of god…sahl was asked about these words and the difference between the poor (fuqarāʾ) and the abject (masākīn). he replied:god, exalted is he, described the poor (faqīr) in terms of destitution (ʿadam) due to their state of asking him out of utter neediness (iftiqār) and resorting (lijāʾ) to him. he also described them as having the qualities of contentment (riḍā) and satisfaction [with their lot] (qunūʿ), for he said, exalted is he, …they do not beg from men importunately [2:273].these are the people of the bench (ahl al-Ṣuffa) of the messenger of god <img border="0" src="images/salatonmassenger.jpg" width="24" height="22"> who were about forty men. they did not have any dwellings in medina nor [did they belong to] any tribes. these were the circumstances of a group of people whom god, exalted is he, praised for the high degree of their dependence on him. they had no ability (istiṭāʿa), nor any strength (quwwa) except in him and from him. he was their power (ḥawl) and strength (quwwa). he uprooted from them the power for their hearts to depend (sukūn) on anything other than him, which is the incitement (waswasa) of the lower self towards that which is other than god, exalted is he. because of this [quality] they are elevated in their [spiritual] state. but [this is unlike] the one whom god turns back to the acquiescence of his lower self (musākana nafsihi), [about whom] he said, it belonged to deprived people (masākin) who worked at sea [18:79]. he returned them to the situation in which they had acquiesced. however, as regards the poor and needy person (faqīr), whose want has made him surrender himself to god, exalted is he, his action involves[combatting] the desire (hawā) of his lower self, and thus he is in a better state than the one who acquiesces in whatever state he is in, due to following his lower self.ʿumar b. wāṣil said, ‘if one needy of god (faqīr ilā’llāh), mighty and majestic is he, is satisfied, [yet] does not depend on [his state of] contentment (riḍā) and self-surrender (taslīm), then both names are true for him: poverty (faqr) and lowliness (maskana).’ abū bakr [al-sijzī] said that he heard sahl say:the poor person is [one who is both] poor [and] helpless (faqīr ʿājiz). poverty ⸢is honour (ʿizz)⸣ when it is the poverty of the heart’s being agitated [in its need] for god, mighty and majestic is he, and the repose it finds in him through obedience. abjectness (maskana), however, is dishonour (dhull), for it is disobedience to god. Ḥasan related on the authority of anas <img border="0" src="images/radeyallahanhom.jpg" width="24" height="22"> from the prophet <img border="0" src="images/salatonmassenger.jpg" width="24" height="22"> that when this verse was revealed he said, ‘treat the needy (fuqarāʾ) with kindness, until the day when they take possession.’ he was asked, ‘o messenger of god! when is the day that they will take possession?’ he replied, ‘the day of resurrection.’ [sahl] was asked about his words:
