His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "You will not attain righteousness until you spend of that which you love. And whatever you spend of anything, indeed, Allah is Knowing of it." "All food was lawful for the Children of Israel except what Israel made unlawful to himself before the Torah was revealed. Say, 'Then bring the Torah and recite it, if you should be among the truthful.'" Some people have gone to connect the meanings of these verses with one another. This is because Allah, exalted is He, informed that He does not accept from the one who meets Him in disbelief the equivalent of the earth in gold. It has become clear that He accepts from the believer, whether little or much. Thus, He encouraged spending from what is beloved and desired. Then He mentioned the act of drawing closer by Israel, peace be upon him, by prohibiting what he loved for himself, to indicate that all acts of drawing closer fall under the meaning of spending from what is beloved. The majority of the interpreters explained these verses as having distinct meanings, arranged in the most eloquent manner by the miraculous eloquence. And His saying, exalted is He, "You will not attain..." is an address to all believers. Al-Suddi and Amr ibn Maymun said: "Righteousness is Paradise." This is an interpretation by meaning, while the specific meaning of the wording is that it refers to what the righteous do of good deeds. The verse may imply: "You will not attain the righteousness of Allah, exalted is He, with you," meaning His mercy and kindness. It may also imply: "You will not attain the degree of perfection in doing righteousness until you are righteous, except by spending added to your other deeds." Due to the revelation of this verse, Abu Talhah donated his garden, which was called Bayrah, and Zayd ibn Harithah donated a horse that he loved. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, gave it to his son Usamah. It seemed difficult for Zayd, so the Prophet said to him: "Indeed, Allah has accepted your charity." Umar ibn al-Khattab wrote to Abu Musa al-Ash'ari to buy him a female slave from the spoils of Jalula at the time of the conquest of the cities of Kisra by the hand of Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas. She was brought to him, and he loved her, so he called for her one day and said: "Indeed, Allah says: 'You will not attain righteousness until you spend of that which you love.'" So he freed her. All of this supports the verse that His saying, exalted is He: "of that which you love," means from the desirable wealth that one is stingy with. It is explained by the words of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "The best charity is that you give while you are healthy, stingy, fearing poverty and hoping for wealth..." The hadith. And a group of scholars have gone to say that what is loved from food according to the degree of desire falls under the verse. Abdullah ibn Umar used to desire to eat sugar with almonds, so he would buy that and give it in charity while reciting the verse.

And when you contemplate all acts of obedience, you find them to be expenditures of what a person loves, either from his wealth, or from his health, or from his leisure and comfort. All of these are beloved. A man asked Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him), "Which deeds are the best?" He said, "Prayer is the pillar of Islam, and jihad is the peak of action, and charity is something amazing." The man said to him, "I see that you have left out something that is the most trustworthy in my soul: fasting." Abu Dharr said, "It is a means of drawing closer, and there is nothing like it." Then he recited: ﴿You will not attain righteousness﴾... the verse.

And His saying, the Exalted: ﴿And whatever you spend of anything, indeed Allah is Knowing of it﴾ is a condition and a response in it, and a promise, meaning: Knowing and rewarding for it, even if it is little.

His saying, the Exalted: "All food..." the verse, is news of something unseen to Muhammad (blessings and peace be upon him) and all the unlettered ones that only Allah and the scholars of the People of the Book know.

Many of the interpreters have gone to the meaning of the verse: the refutation of the Jews regarding their saying about everything they have prohibited for themselves from things: that it is prohibited for them by the command of Allah in the Torah. So Allah has contradicted them with this verse, and informed that all food was lawful for them, except for what Israel specifically prohibited for himself and did not intend for his offspring. When they followed this, the Torah came with the prohibition of that upon them, and there is nothing from the Torah of the additions they claim that Allah has prohibited. To this, the words of al-Suddi incline. He said: Indeed, Allah, the Exalted, prohibited that upon them in the Torah as a punishment for their following in the prohibition of something that was only done by Jacob specifically for himself. He said: So that is His saying, the Exalted: ﴿And due to the wrongdoing of those who became Jews, We prohibited upon them good foods which had been lawful for them﴾ [An-Nisa: 160].

Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

The apparent meaning of the word " ظلمٍ" is that it is specific to prohibition and similar matters. This is indicated by the fact that the punishment occurred due to that type. A group of scholars went to the opinion that the meaning of the verse is a response to a group of Jews who said: "What we now prohibit for ourselves from the things that were not mentioned in the Torah was forbidden for us in the religion of our father Ibrahim." Allah refuted them and informed that all food was lawful for them before the Torah, except what Israel specifically prohibited for himself. Then the Torah came with the prohibition of what it specified, and these additional prohibitions remained in the realm of their fabrication and lies. The words of Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, lean towards this. Al-Tabari translated (p-285) in the interpretation of this verse with translations, and included under it statements that agree with his translations. He interpreted the words of Al-Dahhak as if the exception is disconnected, and as if the meaning is: All food was lawful for them before the revelation of the Torah and after its revelation. This is something that Al-Dahhak did not say, nor does his wording support it. However, in itself, it is a statement that can be derived from making " كانَ" not specific to the past of time, but it would be in the same position as in your saying: "And Allah was Forgiving and Merciful" [An-Nisa: 96]; thus the meaning returns to the first statement that we mentioned. Al-Tabari interpreted the saying of Al-Dahhak to mean: But Israel specifically prohibited for himself, and Allah did not prohibit for the Children of Israel in the Torah or otherwise. This interpretation contradicts his saying, exalted is He: "We prohibited for them" and the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "The fats were prohibited for them" and other such evidences.

And His saying, exalted is He: " حِلًّا" means: lawful, and "إسْرائِيلُ" is Jacob. From this verse, it is derived that the prophets have the right to prohibit for themselves what their reasoning necessitates for a benefit, or closeness, or asceticism. This includes the prohibition of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, of his concubine for himself. Allah rebuked him for that, but did not rebuke Jacob. It is said that this was for the right of a human being that was established in the incident of our Prophet Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, and it is said that this prohibition is for the sake of closeness and asceticism, and the prohibition of the concubine is a prohibition of anger and the benefit of souls.

People differed regarding the thing that Jacob prohibited for himself. Yusuf ibn Mahak said: An Arab came to Ibn Abbas and said to him: "He made his wife prohibited for him." Ibn Abbas said: "She is not prohibited for you." The Arab said: "Why, by Allah, does Allah say in His Book: "Except what Israel prohibited for himself"? Ibn Abbas laughed and said: "And what do you know of what Israel prohibited?" Then he turned to the people and spoke to them, saying: "Israel was tempted by women, and it overwhelmed him, so he made a vow to Allah that if He healed him from that, he would not eat a certain vein. He said: "That is why the Jews remove the veins from the meat." Qatadah, Abu Mijlaz, and others said similar to this.

Ibn Abbas, Al-Hasan ibn Abi Al-Hasan, Abdullah ibn Kathir, and Mujahid also said: The thing that Israel prohibited was the meat of camels and their milk. There has been no disagreement, as far as I know, that the reason for the prohibition was an illness that afflicted him. He made the prohibition of that a way of thanking Allah, the Most High, if he was healed. It was said that it was the pain of the sciatic nerve. In a narration from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, it is mentioned that a group from the Children of Israel said to him: 'O Muhammad, what is it that Israel has prohibited for himself?' He said to them: 'I ask you by Allah, do you know that Jacob fell seriously ill and his sickness prolonged? He vowed to Allah that if Allah healed him from his sickness, he would certainly prohibit his most beloved food and drink. And his most beloved food was the meat of camels and their milk.' They said: 'O Allah, yes.' The apparent meaning of the hadiths and interpretations regarding this matter is that Jacob, peace be upon him, prohibited the meat of camels and their milk—though he loved them—as a means of drawing closer to Allah by doing so. For abandoning luxury and indulgence is among the acts of devotion. This is the asceticism in the world, and Umar ibn Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, inclined towards this with his saying: 'Beware of these slaughterhouses, for they have a ferocity like the ferocity of wine.' From this is the saying of Abu Hazim the ascetic, who passed by the fruit market and saw its beauty and said: 'Your appointment is Paradise, if Allah wills.' Jacob, peace be upon him, also prohibited the tendons, but out of dislike for them when he was tested by them. This is something that affects the souls of humans without any reason. And there is no act of devotion in the prohibition of tendons, as it appears. And Allah knows best. It has been narrated from Ibn Abbas that Jacob prohibited the tendons and the meat of camels.

And Allah commanded His Prophet Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, to order them to bring forth the Torah, so that it may clarify how the matter is. The meaning is: 'O Jews, just as Allah has revealed to me, not as you claim.' Al-Zajjaj said: 'In this is a challenge to them and establishing the proof against them, similar to the story of the Mubahala with the Christians of Najran.'