Chapter 2: Surat Al-Baqarah (The Cow), verse 265-266
Translation:
“As for those who spend their wealth out of a desire to please Allah and to strengthen their own souls, they are like a garden on a hillside: if a heavy shower falls upon it, it yields twice its normal crop; and if no rain falls upon it, it is watered by dew. Allah sees all that you do. Would any of you, being advanced in age, with helpless children to support, like to have a garden—a garden planted with palms and vines and all kinds of fruit and watered by running streams—blasted and consumed by a fiery whirlwind? Thus Allah makes plain to you His revelations, so that you may reflect.” (2:265-266)
Commentary:
If a person
has some goal in mind, then whatever he does towards the attainment of that goal
further strengthens his will-power and increases the mental resolve which will
enable him to win through to his objective. Should it be his own base desires
towards which his efforts are directed, then the more he does, the more he will
fix his heart on them. However, should it be the will of God that holds pride of
place in determining his actions, then it will be God on whom his heart is
fixed. One acts at all events under conditions, which are sometimes difficult
and sometimes comparatively easy. But the more difficult the conditions one
encounters, the greater will be the increase in one’s will-power and the
stronger one’s connection to that on which one’s heart is set. One who
spends for the cause of God under normal conditions will certainly have his
reward from God. However, when spending for God’s cause is done in adverse
circumstances which call for a special exercise of will-power, the reward which
God grants on such occasion will be commensurately greater. The degree of
difficulty in alms-giving will be determined by particular situations. It may
involve laying out one’s wealth on something from which no worldly benefit
will be forthcoming in which case it is done solely for the sake of God. Then
one may have to give to a person to whom one would rather not give anything,
again it is done just to please God. One may have a grudge against someone, yet
one still extends to him the hand of friendship. All these acts strengthen
one’s bond with the Lord, opening the way to His special grace and succour.
When
an individual plants an orchard in his youth, he does so in the hope that he
will enjoy its fruits when he grows old. How unfortunate, then, is one who sees
his beautiful orchard reduced to rubble towards the end of his days, just when
he stands in greatest need of it. Now time has run out on him and he has no
chance of nurturing new saplings. So will it be with those who perform deeds of
a religious nature, but do so out of lust for worldly prestige and profit.
Outwardly, they appear to be engaged in pious works, but it is only in the form
they take that their actions differ from those of the run-of-the-mill people of
this world. In reality, there is no difference between the two types of people.
Normally, people out for worldly fame and prestige, choose worldly means of
attaining their goals, whereas they have chosen religious means of advancement
towards the same worldly ends. All are aiming at the same mundane goals; only
the ways in which they go about achieving them are different. Such people as are
guided by worldly motives in their actions, will find no reward awaiting them in
the Hereafter. God’s signs take an abstruse form. Only those who cultivate in
themselves a capacity for reflection are able to decipher these signs and,
through them, come to know God.