الآية رقم (38) - وَالَّذِينَ يُنفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ رِئَـاء النَّاسِ وَلاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللّهِ وَلاَ بِالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ وَمَن يَكُنِ الشَّيْطَانُ لَهُ قَرِينًا فَسَاء قِرِينًا

(38) - (And [also] those who spend of their wealth to be seen by the people and believe not in Allah nor in the Last Day. And he to whom Satan is a companion - then evil is he as a companion.)

The talk is still about zakat and charity, Allah (swt) has imposed from the wealth of the rich what is sufficient for the poor, if all the rich in every city really took out their zakat, there would not have been any poor or needy in society. The Prophet (saws) said:

“Charity is proof”[1]

It is a proof of the one’s true faith, because it is easy for anyone to pray many times but it is not easy to pay even a little because the self is greedy, hence paying the charity proves one’s faith. In this verse, the Holy Quran deals with another issue, that is about who gives charity just to be seen by the people, not in the way of Allah (swt).

( وَالَّذِينَ يُنفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ رِئَاءَ النَّاسِ ) (And [also] those who spend of their wealth to be seen by the people …): There are people who spend money only for reputation, fame and bragging in front of others, whereas, the Prophet (saws) said in a Holy Hadith, that Allah (swt) says:

‘I am the One Who is most free from want of partners. He who does a thing for the sake of someone else beside Me, I discard him and his polytheism.”[2]

Whoever spends money for the sake of reputation, and to be said about him that he is a good and generous person, as if he associates a partner with Allah (swt).

( وَلَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَلَا بِالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ ) (… and believe not in Allah nor in the Last Day…): Who believe in Allah (swt) does not care about people because he is dealing with Allah (swt), so when you spend money in order to spread the goodness in community, this is great, but if you do it for the sake of reputation, to be said that you are generous, then you do not believe in Allah (swt) and the Last day.

( وَمَن يَكُنِ الشَّيْطَانُ لَهُ قَرِينًا فَسَاءَ قَرِينًا ) (…And he to whom Satan is a companion – then evil is he as a companion.): Jinn are creatures that exist, among them are the believers and the infidels, however, Satan is among the infidels. Nevertheless, we believe in their existence, whether we see them or not, because Allah (swt) told us about them. It is well known that not everything that is not seen does not exist, we, for example, feel electricity but do not see it and we see the effect of germs but we do not see them either. Many things exist, but we do not perceive them with the senses, but we believe in their existence and in all the unseen that Allah (swt) has told about.

( وَمَن يَكُنِ الشَّيْطَانُ لَهُ قَرِينًا فَسَاءَ قَرِينًا ) (…And he to whom Satan is a companion – then evil is he as a companion): The evil companion is Satan, who whispers to man about evil, meanness, and spending out to be seen by people, not sincerity for the sake of Allah (swt). 

[1] Sahih Muslim, Book on Virtue of Ablution, Hadith No.223.

[2] Sahih Muslim, The Book of Zuhd and Softening of hearts, Chapter of: Who does a thing for the sake of other than Allah, Hadith No. 2985.