Spending in charity is called in the Quran "lending" to Allah 57:11. It is the best investement that will be amplified and returned manifold 2:261,27:89,6:160 because Allah is just as well as generous.
The HB in Prov19:17 speaks of charity with similar terms when it says
"He who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord, and He will repay him his reward".
Bani Adam are Allah's vicegerents 2:30,6:165,35:39 meaning that the real Owner of the Heavens and Earth is Allah 10:55-56 and all things that come under the vicegerent's posession are nothing but trusts
57:7"spend on others out of that of which He has made you trustees".
It is a position man ows only to Allah who is the Real owner 6:165,7:10. God says in
Job41:3"Everything under the heavens is Mine".
Man has therefore no right to have his own will but he is there to fulfil the will of the delegating Authority when making use of what he has been entrusted with
102:8"Then, on that Day, you shall certainly be called to account for the blessings and comforts of life".
It would be dishonesty and treason, if he assumed sovereign powers, or used his trusts according to his own whim, or if he acknowledged another as his sovereign and submitted to his will.
All things in the Heavens and Earth declare Allah's glory 17:44,24:41 and Allah made many of these things subservient to man 45:13, thus honoring him above most of His creation 14:32-33,17:70.
All things in the Heavens and Earth declare Allah's glory 17:44,24:41 and Allah made many of these things subservient to man 45:13, thus honoring him above most of His creation 14:32-33,17:70.
Possessing something is therefore only from our perspective because in reality nothing ever ceases to be under the mastership of its sustainer in the heaven and earth, and all will eventualy return to Him 2:107,19:65,30:11,19:93,3:83. In the HB, a very eloquent prayer from the prophet-king David starts by acknowledging God's all encompassing ownership and ends with a reminder of the notion that what we think as our possessions are in fact things God has entrusted us with in order to dispose of in righteousness
1Chr29:11-17"Yours, O Lord, are the greatness, and the might, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and on the earth [is Yours]; Yours is the kingdom and [You are He] Who is exalted over everything as the Leader. And wealth and honor are from before You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is strength and might, and it is in Your hand to magnify and to strengthen all. And now, our God, we give thanks to You, and praise Your glorious Name. Now who am I and who are my people that we should gather up strength to donate like this, for all is from You, and from Your hand we have given it to You...And I know, my God, that You test the heart and You desire equity; I, with the sincerity of my heart, have willingly donated all these; and now I have seen with joy Your people, who are present here, offer willingly to You".
When something falls under someone authority, it in reality never ceases to be in God's ownership, from the instant we posess it to the moment we release it. He could amplify, reduce or take away such posessions as He deems fit
17:20,30,13:26,35:2"Whatever Allah grants to men of (His) mercy, there is none to withhold it, and what He withholds there is none to send it forth after that, and He is the Mighty, the Wise".
One is thus left with no excuse to hold on to such trusts whenever the owner requests a portion of it
57:10"what reason have you that you should not spend in Allah's way? And Allah's is the inheritance of the heavens and the earth"."Giving" to Allah, spending in His ways, is nothing but a transfer of trust and the ackowledgement that one should manage them in accordance with the Owner's directives. So when the Quran calls whatever one spends in Allah's ways, ie as commanded by Him for the well-being of the entire community 2:215, and for the cleansing of one's own soul, as "lending" to Allah it is in fact telling the believers that although all things one possesses are ultimately Allah's, and whatever one spends in Allah's way is in reality disposing of such trusts as ordained by the Real Owner, Allah has established a tremendously generous system of multiplying to the borrowers (us) the amount they returned to the Lender (God).
To call such a system of transfer of trust, a "loan" 57:11,18 strikes the listener in his sense of shame. How greedy and oblivious one has to be that one's master, who made the person rise, grow and thrive from nothing, who really in addition is the true owner of all the person posesses deep down to his own soul, has to "ask" for a "loan" instead of the person itself initiating the action. A more practical example would be that of a father/mother and son/daughter. How selfish, greedy and oblivious a child must be, for the parents to have to ask for a loan instead of the child himself initiating the gesture, in grateful recognition of moral obligations towards those that nurtured him? The weight of the word becomes all the more striking if one considers God's intricate and unfathomable "parenting" and sustaining of humanity.
Clearly that demand for a loan isnt due to a shortage in God's treasury, the possesor of the means by which all things in the heavens and the earth are continuously sustained 15:21. He increases whatever meager ammount given in "loan" exponentially and eternally and He is the One to have given the wealth in the first place. Despite the fact that everything we have is really Allah's, Allah has established a system where he pays back with interest whatever the borrower has been entrusted with if he spends it as ordained by Allah. It is the opposite of riba
2:276"Allah erases "riba", and He "yurbi" what is given in charity".
Again in the same spirit of tremendous generosity, despite God being the ultimate owner to whom all things eventually return, God describes Himself as "buying" with Paradise, the life of the righteous when they willingly "sell" it to Him by living all the aspect of their lives in God-consciousness 9:111,35:29-30,61:10.
Spending in the way of Allah, as prescribed by Him pleases Him because it is a source of great benefit to His creatures
2:265"for the strengthening of their souls"
individually and socially
2:272"and whatever good thing you spend, it is to your own good; and you do not spend but to seek Allah's pleasure".
The use of the word zakat, steming from z-k-w is very appropriate in such context. Zakat is an act of charity causing the person to mature and bear spiritual fruit 2:261-2,23:1-4. That is why the hypocritical charity or the one done injuriously to the receiver are not only considered void but actually a sin; the aim of zakat isnt solely to answer an external abstract or concrete need but most importantly to raise the giver spiritually. It delivers one's soul from what the Quran considers as among the pitfalls of mankind; avarice and covetousness, the blind pursuit and attachement to worldy benefits. It creates a sense that such assets are in fact tools to achieve spiritual growth 64:15-16.
Whatever pleases Allah does so because of the direct and indirect benefit of a prescribed action on His servants
39:7"And if you are grateful, He likes it for you".
This particular verse when it was recited to the believers in Medina, was mocked by the people who considered that it is not theirs but God's duty to feed the poor 36:47, as well as mocked by the Jews 3:181. Allah to them was depicted as poor, seeking to borrow from the rich. They went on boasting of their riches -acquired mostly through their usurious transactions- as compared to the humble assemblies of people close to the prophet, as well as the rest of the believers who were mostly poor to begin with or had sacrificed their wordly belongings to migrate away from the persecution
5:64"And the Jews say: The hand of Allah is tied up..Nay, both His hands are spread out, He expends as He pleases".
Here, besides illustrating the materialistic world view where wealth, ease, and status are synonymous with divine approval, Allah is assuring those narrow minded accusers that He will enrich the Muslims materially as well as spiritually. Allah is unambiguously in the Quran the Self Sufficient, Provider of bounties. More particularly in the context of charity and spending in His way the Quran stresses that Allah is Rich. That is why He stands in no need of insincere charity, especially if followed by injury to the receiver, giving him something while increasing his emotional ruin 2:263-4,89:17. This last verse puts honor or any emotional consideration through words of kindness, consolation, affability and guidance to the needy as the foremost requirement due to them. It is only after honor has been given, that physical/material support may be released.
As reflected in the Hebrew Bible in
Prov13:8,14:13"The ransom of a man's soul is his wealth, as long as the poor man has not heard a rebuke..He who oppresses a poor man blasphemes his Maker, but he who favors a poor man honors Him".
The aim of such command is therefore like all commands by Allah for the bettering of the soul and the improvement of our humanity. The gesture in itself, devoid of its human and spiritual import misses the higher purpose
2:267"O you who believe! spend (benevolently) of the good things that you earn and or what We have brought forth for you out of the earth, and do not aim at what is bad that you may spend (in alms) of it, while you would not take it yourselves unless you have its price lowered, and know that Allah is Self-sufficient, Praiseworthy."
Further reading answering Sam Shamoun "Turning the Tables Pt. 5"
- Sam Shamoun "Does the Quran Reject Christ’s Eternal Generation? Pt. 1"(Allah inherits)
