إِنَّمَا ٱلصَّدَقَٰتُ لِلْفُقَرَآءِ وَٱلْمَسَٰكِينِ وَٱلْعَٰمِلِينَ عَلَيْهَا وَٱلْمُؤَلَّفَةِ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَفِى ٱلرِّقَابِ وَٱلْغَٰرِمِينَ وَفِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ وَٱبْنِ ٱلسَّبِيلِ
Innama'l-ṣadaqātu li'l-fuqarāʾi wa'l-masākīni wa'l-ʿāmilīna ʿalayhā wa'l-muʾallafati qulūbuhum wa fi'l-riqābi wa'l-ghārimīna wa fī sabīli'llāhi wa'bni'l-sabīl; farīḍatan mina'llāh; wa'llāhu ʿalīmun ḥakīm
"The alms are only for these: the poor, the destitute, those who work upon them, those whose hearts are to be won over, and for (the freeing of) necks, and the debt-burdened, and in the way of God, and the traveller cut off from his road. An obligation from God. God is knowing, wise."
| # | Category | Root | Lexical sense of the word | Particle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ٱلْفُقَرَآء (fuqarāʾ) | ف-ق-ر | Faqr — the backbone; faqīr: one whose spine is broken. The lexicographers explain the word by this concrete picture | لِ (li) |
| 2 | ٱلْمَسَٰكِين (masākīn) | س-ك-ن | Miskīn — one left motionless, unable to stir. The root was treated in al-Fatḥ at 48/4 by way of sakīna | لِ |
| 3 | ٱلْعَٰمِلِينَ عَلَيْهَا | ع-م-ل | Those who work upon them — who carry out the collecting and the distributing | لِ |
| 4 | ٱلْمُؤَلَّفَةِ قُلُوبُهُمْ | أ-ل-ف | Those whose hearts are knit together / won over. The root was treated in al-Anfāl at 8/63 (allafa bayna qulūbihim) | لِ |
| 5 | وَفِى ٱلرِّقَاب | ر-ق-ب | Raqaba — the neck. The word is used in the context of gaining one's freedom | فِى |
| 6 | ٱلْغَٰرِمِين (ghārimīn) | غ-ر-م | Ghurm — a burden falling on a person through no fault of his own, a debt one is obliged to pay. The root was treated in al-Wāqiʿa at 56/66 (innā la-mughramūn) and in al-Ṭūr at 52/40 | لِ |
| 7 | وَفِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ | س-ب-ل | In the way of God | فِى |
| 8 | وَٱبْنِ ٱلسَّبِيل | س-ب-ل | The son of the road — one stranded on a journey, cut off from his means while travelling | لِ (by conjunction) |
Six of the eight categories come with the particle لِ (li — "for"), and two with the particle فِى (fī — "in"):
| Particle | Categories |
|---|---|
| لِ | The poor, the destitute, those who work, those whose hearts are to be won over, the debt-burdened, the traveller cut off |
| فِى | The necks (fi'l-riqāb) and the way of God (fī sabīli'llāh) |
The lexicographers and the exegetes record this difference and explain it thus: li states ownership and transfer of title, while fī states a heading of expenditure. In the first six, that is, the share becomes the person's; in the two that come with fī, the money is spent on a purpose and is not made over to a person.
I convey this explanation as the lexicographers give it. And I add this as my own reading: what the two items introduced by fī have in common is that neither of them is the name of a person — one is a limb (riqāb), the other a direction (sabīl). The difference of particle follows the difference of naming.
The root ف-ر-ض: to cut, to open a notch; to fix, to determine. The lexicographers record the concrete sense of the root as "the notch cut for a bowstring" — that is, a fixed, determinate place.
I record this as an observation about the language: farīḍa carries in its root the idea of "a share cut out, a boundary drawn". And its coming at the end of the verse closes the list.
I make the comparison as the task requires. In al-Anfāl the division of spoils was treated at 8/41, and it was recorded there: "four of the five groups enumerated are the same as the addresses of spending treated in al-Baqara 2/177 and 2/215."
| al-Anfāl 8/41 — spoils | al-Tawba 9/60 — the alms | |
|---|---|---|
| Subject | Property taken after war | The alms collected |
| Those enumerated | God and His Messenger, near kin, orphans, the destitute, the traveller cut off | Eight categories |
| Those in common | The destitute (masākīn), the traveller cut off (ibn al-sabīl) | The same two categories |
| In al-Anfāl but not in al-Tawba | Near kin (dhi'l-qurbā), orphans (yatāmā) | — |
| In al-Tawba but not in al-Anfāl | — | The poor, those who work, those whose hearts are to be won over, the necks, the debt-burdened, the way of God |
| Close | — | Farīḍatan mina'llāh |
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the comparison of the two lists: al-Anfāl's list is built on kinship and age (near kin, orphans); al-Tawba's list on situation — being in debt, being stranded, doing a piece of work, seeking to gain one's freedom. The two lists do not cancel one another; two different kinds of property have two different addresses.
And the two categories in common must be recorded: masākīn and ibn al-sabīl. These two names are the most frequently repeated in the Qurʾān's lists of spending (treated in al-Baqara at 2/177 and 2/215).
The scope of the categories, their measure, and how some of them are to be understood today have been widely debated in the classical and later sources. I convey the disagreement. I issue no legal ruling; nothing conveyed here is binding:
| Matter | Views transmitted |
|---|---|
| The difference between faqīr and miskīn | Which of the two is the more needy has been debated: some scholars count the faqīr the more needy, some the miskīn; and there are those who say that the two state the same thing |
| Muʾallafat al-qulūb | Whether this share was to be applied in later periods has been debated; there are those who say it was withdrawn and those who say the ruling continues |
| Fi'l-riqāb | Differing views are transmitted about its scope |
| Fī sabīli'llāh | Whether its scope is narrow (a determinate field) or wide (all works of good) is the most debated item |
| Distribution among the eight categories | Whether it is obligatory to divide the money among all eight, and whether giving to some of them suffices, is a point of divergence between the schools |
| The relation of alms to the obligatory alms | The scope of the word ṣadaqāt in the verse has been debated |
No view is preferred in this commentary and no ruling is issued. Per the method (Method): no legal ruling is issued; the views of the schools are conveyed.
What is to be recorded on the linguistic side of the verse is this, and I give it as my own reading: the list enumerates the causes of need — poverty, immobility, debt, bondage, travel — and adds beside them those who do the work and a direction. The list, that is, is not only a list of "the needy"; it is the list of a working system: who will receive, who will distribute, on what it will be spent.