His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

"And the example of those who spend their wealth seeking the pleasure of Allah and to strengthen themselves is like a garden on a hill that is hit by a downpour, so it brings forth its fruit double. But if it is not hit by a downpour, then a drizzle. And Allah is All-Seer of what you do."

Among the styles of the eloquence of the Qur'an is that it mentions the opposite of what has been previously mentioned. This is so that the state of contradiction becomes clear when presented to the mind. When Allah mentioned the charity of the people who have no share in their charity, and He forbade the believers from engaging in anything resembling that in any way, He followed this verse by mentioning the spending of the people who left their charity, which is in its essence lawful in the Shari'ah. Thus, He struck a parable for it.

The meaning of the words is: And the example of the spending of those who spend is like the example of planting a garden, because what is intended by mentioning the garden is its planting. Or you can understand the implicit meaning at the end of the statement, without implying spending at the beginning, as if He said: Like the example of a planter of a garden.

And "seeking" means: requesting, and its grammatical case is accusative as a source in the position of an adverbial phrase. It could be directed to the accusative as an object for its sake, but the accusative as a source is correct from the perspective of the conjunction of the source which is "and to strengthen" upon it. It is not correct in "to strengthen" that it is an object for its sake, because spending is for the purpose of strengthening.

And Makki said in "Al-Mushkil": Both are objects for its sake, and this is refuted by what we have explained. And "pleasure" is a source from "رضيَ" (radiyā) meaning "to be pleased." And Al-Sha'bi, Al-Suddi, Qatadah, Ibn Zayd, and Abu Salih said: And "to strengthen" means: and certainty, meaning that their souls have certain insights, so they strengthen them in spending in obedience to Allah as a strengthening. And Mujahid and Al-Hasan said: The meaning of His saying: "and to strengthen" is that they confirm where they place their charity. And Al-Hasan said: A man would, when he intended to give charity, confirm it. If it was for Allah, he would proceed with it, and if doubt mixed with it, he would withhold it. And the first statement is more correct because this meaning that Mujahid and Al-Hasan went to is actually expressed by "and to strengthen." If a refuter says: This is from the sources that have come without the source like His saying, exalted is He: "And devote yourself to Him with complete devotion" [Al-Muzzammil: 8] and like His saying: "He caused you to grow from the earth a growth" [Nuh: 17], the response is that this is only permissible with the mention of the source and the explicitness of the preceding verb for the source. And if there is no explicitness of a verb, you cannot bring a source in a different meaning, then say: I will carry it upon the action of such and such for an action that has not been previously mentioned. This is the way of the speech of the Arabs as I have understood. And Qatadah said: "And to strengthen" means: and goodness from themselves.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This is similar to the first statement. And the garden is the orchard, and it is a piece of land in which trees have grown until it covered the ground. It is from the words of "جنين" (janīn), "جنن" (jann), and "جنة" (jannah), and "the night has covered."

And the rabwah: it is what has risen from the earth with a slight elevation, along with it in most cases is the density of the soil, its goodness, and its depth. And whatever is like that, its vegetation is better.

And the gardens of al-hazn are not of this, as al-Tabari claimed. Rather, those are the gardens attributed to Najd, because they are better than the gardens of Tihamah. The vegetation of Najd is more fragrant, and its breeze is cooler and gentler. Najd is called al-hazn, and the air of Tihamah rarely becomes suitable except at night. For this reason, the Bedouin woman said:

"My husband is weak from Tihamah." Ibn Abbas said: "The rabwah is the elevated place in which rivers do not flow."

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And this he meant by this rabwah mentioned in the Book of Allah, because His saying, the Exalted, 'It was struck by a downpour' until the end of the verse indicates that there is no flowing water in it. Ibn Abbas did not mean that the kind of rabwah does not have flowing water in it, because Allah, the Exalted, mentioned a rabwah with a settled place and a spring.

And it is well-known in the speech of the Arabs that the rabwah is what has risen above what is adjacent to it, whether water flows in it or not. Al-Hasan said: The rabwah is the flat land that does not rise above the water. This also means that it is not like a mountain or a hill and the like.

And al-Khalil said: The rabwah is an elevated, good land. And Allah specifically mentioned that which does not have flowing water, as it is the custom in the land of the Arabs, so He likened it to what they often perceive.

And al-Suddi said: 'By rabwah' means by rabwah, which is what has decreased from the earth. And this expression is awkward. And the term rabwah is derived from raba, meaning to increase. It is said 'rubwah' with the ra' being pronounced with a dammah, and with it Ibn Kathir, Hamzah, al-Kisai, Nafi', and Abu Amr read. It is also said: 'rabwah' with the ra' being pronounced with a fatḥah, and with it Aasim and Ibn Amir read. Similarly, there is a disagreement about it in Surah al-Mu'minin. It is also said: 'ribwah' with the ra' being pronounced with a kasrah, and with it Ibn Abbas read as it has been reported from him. It is also said: 'rabawah' with a fatḥah on the ra' and the ba' and an alif after it, and with it Abu Ja'far and Abu Abd al-Rahman read. It is also said: 'ribawah' with a kasrah on the ra' and with it al-Ashhab al-'Uqayli read. And 'atāt' means: gave, and 'al-ukl' with a dammah on the hamzah and a sukoon on the kaf is the fruit that is eaten, and anything that is eaten from everything is called 'ukl'. Its addition to al-jannah is an addition of specification, like the saddle of the mount and the door of the house. Otherwise, the fruit is not from what al-jannah eats.

And Ibn Kathir, Nafi', and Abu Amr read: 'uklaha' with a dammah on the hamzah and a sukoon on the kaf, and likewise every addition to a feminine noun. Abu Amr differed with them in what is added to a masculine noun, such as 'uklihi' or if it is added to a dual form like 'ukl khamṭ', so Abu Amr made it heavy while they made it light.

And 'Asim, Ibn 'Amir, Hamzah, and Al-Kisai read all that we have mentioned with emphasis. It is said: 'Akl' and 'Ukl' have the same meaning, and it is from 'Akala' in the sense of a morsel from 'Ta'ama', meaning the thing that is eaten and consumed. 'Wa'dafain' means two, from what is presumed to be like it and is estimated from it. Then Allah, glorified and exalted is He, confirmed the praise of this high ground by saying that if it does not receive a downpour, then the dew is sufficient for it, and it takes the place of the downpour, and that is due to the generosity of the land.

And 'Tal' is the thinness of light rain, as said by Ibn 'Abbas and others, and it is well-known in the language. Some people said: 'Tal' is dew, and this is a metaphor and a comparison, and this has been narrated from Ibn 'Abbas. Al-Mubarrid said: Its estimation is: 'So a dew is sufficient for it.' Others said: The estimation is: 'So what has affected it is dew.' He compared the growth of the expenditures of these sincere ones, whose charities Allah nurtures, to the nurturing of the foal and the young according to the hadith about the growth of the plants of this garden with the described high ground, and all of that is in contrast to the smooth stone from which its soil has been revealed, remaining hard.

And in His saying, glorified and exalted is He: 'And Allah is All-Seer of what you do,' there is a promise and a warning. Al-Zuhri read: 'Ya'maloon' with a 'ya', as if he intends by it all people, or he intends the hypocrites only, so it is a pure promise.