Verses and Translation
أَوَلَمۡ يَرَوۡاْ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَبۡسُطُ ٱلرِّزۡقَ لِمَن يَشَآءُ وَيَقۡدِرُۚ إِنَّ فِى ذَٲلِكَ لَأَيَـٰتٍ۬ لِّقَوۡمٍ۬ يُؤۡمِنُونَ (٣٧) فَـَٔاتِ ذَا ٱلۡقُرۡبَىٰ حَقَّهُ ۥ وَٱلۡمِسۡكِينَ وَٱبۡنَ ٱلسَّبِيلِۚ ذَٲلِكَ خَيۡرٌ۬ لِّلَّذِينَ يُرِيدُونَ وَجۡهَ ٱللَّهِۖ وَأُوْلَـٰٓٮِٕكَ هُمُ ٱلۡمُفۡلِحُونَ (٣٨)
“Do they not see that Allah extends provision for whom He wills and restricts [it]? Indeed, in that are signs for a people who believe. So give the relative his right, as well as the needy and the traveler. That is best for those who desire the countenance of Allah, and it is they who will be the successful.”
Commentary
The person who sincerely believes Allah and looks upon Him as the Master of the treasure-houses of provisions, can never be involved in meanness, in which those forgetful of God are involved. If he is given abundantly he will not be puffed up; he will rather be grateful to Allah, will treat his fellowmen generously and benevolently, and will expend ‘his God-given wealth for His sake. On the other hand, he will exercise patience; he will never gamble away his honesty and self-respect, but will have hope of Allah’s bounty till the last. Such a moral excellence can neither fall to the lot of an atheist nor of a polytheist.
It has not been said, “Give charity to the relative, the needy and the wayfarer”, but “their due” because this is their right (due to them from you), which you must give them in any case. You will not do them any favor if you part with a part of your wealth for their sake. You should remember it well that if the real owner of the wealth has given you more than others, your extra wealth is, in fact, the right of others, which has been given to you for your trial so that your Lord may see whether you recognize the rights of others and render their rights to them or not.
Anyone who reflects over this Divine Command and its real spirit cannot help feeling that the way proposed by the Qur’an for man’s moral and spiritual development inevitably envisages the existence of a free society and economy. This development is not possible in a social environment in which the people’s rights of ownership are set aside and stifled. The system in which the state assumes ownership of aII resources and the government machinery the entire responsibility of distributing provisions among the people, so much so that neither can an individual recognize the right of the other and render it, nor a person develop a feeling of goodwill for the other after he has received help, is a purely communist system. Such an economic and social system suppresses the development of individual morality and formation of character altogether.
The Qur’anic scheme can operate and function only in a society where the individuals own some resources of wealth, possess rights to expend it freely, and then render willingly and sincerely the rights of God and His servants. In such a society alone there can arise the possibility that, on the one hand, the people may develop individually the virtues of sympathy, kindliness and affection, sacrifice, recognition of the rights of others and rendering those rights in the right spirit, and on the other, the beneficiaries may develop in their hearts pure feelings of well-wishing, gratitude and thankfulness for the donors. This system only can produce the ideal conditions in which the elimination of evil and the promotion of goodness does not depend on the intervention of a law-enforcing authority but the people’s own purity of the self and their own good intentions take up this responsibility.
This does not mean that true success can be attained just by rendering the rights of the needy and the wayfarer and the relative and nothing else is needed to be done for this. But it means that those who do not recognize these rights of others nor render them, will not attain true success. It will be attained by those who render the rights sincerely only for the sake of Allah’s goodwill and pleasure. [Maududi]
Start by giving the ones closest to you as they have the most right, then extend the circle outwards to extended family and others in need. [NAK]