2. Al-Baqara

If you openly declare what you spend in charity, it is a good act. But if you keep it secret and give it to the poor in private, this is better as it indicates sincerity. Charity that is given sincerely becomes the means of sins being covered up and forgiven. Allah knows what you do and nothing from your circumstances is hidden from Him.

O Prophet, you are not responsible for making them believe in the truth and submitting to it: your duty is to guide them to the truth and explain it to them. It is only Allah Who can bring them to the truth; and He guides whomever He wishes. The benefit of any good you spend comes back to you; Allah is in no need of it. So, let your spending be only for Allah’s sake: true believers spend only for Allah’s pleasure. You will receive the full reward for any good you spend, no matter how little, because Allah does not wrong anyone.

You should spend on those poor people who, because they are busy striving in Allah’s path, are unable to travel to earn a living. Due to their not asking, a person that is unaware will think that they are not in need. However, the person who knows will recognise them by the signs that are apparent on their body and clothing. They are unlike other poor persons who beg persistently. Allah knows of any good or wealth you spend and He will give you a great reward for it.

Those who spend their wealth for Allah’s sake at night and during the day, secretly and openly, without showing off or looking for fame, will have their reward from their Lord on the Day of Resurrection. As a favour and blessing from Allah, they will have no fear of what the future holds, nor any sadness over what they missed out on in the world.

Those who take interest will rise from their graves on the Day of Resurrection like a person who is afflicted by Satan: they will stand up from their graves and then fall like a person who is epileptic. This is because they made usury permissible and made no distinction between usury and that which Allah has permitted in terms of profit earned through sales transactions. They claimed, ‘Sale is like usury’, meaning that both are lawful since both lead to an increase in wealth. Allah refutes their comparison and explains that He has permitted sale because of the general and specific benefit it contains, and He has prohibited usury because it is oppressive and abusive of people’s wealth. The person who stops taking usury, and repents from his sin, after receiving Allah’s instruction prohibiting it and warning him against it, may keep the usury that he received in the past, without any sin. Then, whatever he does from then on, Allah will judge it. Whoever returns to taking usury after knowing of the prohibition deserves to enter the fire of Hell and to remain there eternally. The reference to remaining in the fire of Hell eternally in relation to those that believe in Allah’s Oneness is an indication of a long period of time; for only disbelievers will actually remain eternally in the fire of Hell.

Allah wipes out usury either by actually destroying it or by removing His blessing. Yet He increases charity and makes it grow by multiplying its reward by ten times up to seven hundred times or even more, and blesses those that give charity from their wealth. Allah does not love a stubborn disbeliever who considers the prohibited as lawful and persists in sins.

Those who have faith in Allah, follow His Messenger, do good actions, fulfil their prayers in a complete manner and give Zakat to those deserving it, they shall receive their reward from their Lord and shall not have any fear for their future nor any grief over anything they missed in the worldly life.

O you who have faith in Allah and follow His Messenger, fear Allah by fulfilling His instructions and avoiding His prohibitions, and do not demand any usury owed to you that remains with people, if you truly have faith in Allah and in His prohibitions.

If you do not obey the sacred law, then be aware and certain of war with Allah and His Messenger. If you repent to Allah and leave usury, then you can keep the initial amount that you had given as a loan from your capital, in a manner that does not wrong anyone by taking more than your initial capital and does not wrong you by making you receive less than it.