The 365 · Verses · Day 252 · Justice
You are not the judge of who deserves your charity - only the giver.
۞ لَّيْسَ عَلَيْكَ هُدَىٰهُمْ وَلَـٰكِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَهْدِى مَن يَشَآءُ ۗ وَمَا تُنفِقُوا۟ مِنْ خَيْرٍ فَلِأَنفُسِكُمْ ۚ وَمَا تُنفِقُونَ إِلَّا ٱبْتِغَآءَ وَجْهِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ وَمَا تُنفِقُوا۟ مِنْ خَيْرٍ يُوَفَّ إِلَيْكُمْ وَأَنتُمْ لَا تُظْلَمُونَ
“It is not for you, Prophet, to guide them; it is God who guides whoever He will. Whatever charity you give benefits your own soul, provided you do it for the sake of God: whatever you give will be repaid to you in full, and you will not be wronged. (Quran 2:272)”
2:272 Read 2:272 with tafsir
Svenska: Det är inte din uppgift [Muhammad] att förmå människor att följa den raka vägen. Nej, Gud vägleder dem Han vill. Allt det goda ni ger är för ert eget bästa, såvida ni ger det enbart för att vinna Guds välbehag. Ja, för det goda ni ger skall ni få fullt vederlag, och ingen orätt skall tillfogas er.
The story
Some of the Companions held back charity from relatives who had not embraced Islam, uneasy about giving to those they judged undeserving. Ibn Kathir, citing Ibn 'Abbas through an-Nasa'i, records that this verse settled the matter, and al-Zamakhshari preserves a sharper scene: Asmā' bint Abi Bakr's own mother, still a polytheist, came to her in need, and Asmā' refused - until the verse came down. Its opening lifts a weight off the giver's shoulders: 'It is not for you to guide them.' As-Sa'di reads this as a release - your task is the clear conveying of the message; hearts belong to God alone, and so charity may reach a Muslim or a non-Muslim, guided or not. Ibn Kathir gathers the point through 'Ata' al-Khurasani: you give for God's sake, and you will not be interrogated about the recipient's sins. He seals it with the Prophet's ﷺ report of the man who gave, on three nights, to what turned out to be an adulteress, a rich man, and a thief - and was told each gift was accepted, each might turn its taker toward good. Al-Zamakhshari records the scholars' verdict at its boldest: were the recipient the very worst of creation, the reward of your giving would still be yours. Here justice is not withholding until the poor prove worthy; it is giving for God, and leaving the ledger of hearts to God.
In the language
Al-Zamakhshari parses the opening clause, 'laysa 'alayka hudāhum,' with care. The word 'alayka - literally 'upon you' - is the Arabic idiom of obligation; what is 'upon' a person is what is laid on them as a duty. So the negation, he explains, does not deny that the Prophet ﷺ desires their guidance; it lifts the duty of producing it - 'it is not laid upon you to make them guided.' The Prophet's charge, al-Zamakhshari says, is only to convey the prohibitions and commands; God is the one who guides whom He wills. The grammar draws a quiet line between two responsibilities that are easily confused: the delivering of the message, which is the messenger's, and the changing of the heart, which is God's alone. Everything the verse then says about giving flows from that line - you are answerable for the gift you offer, not for the soul that receives it.
Why this verse
The verse frees charity from the work of judging. You are not the recipient's judge, only its giver - and a gift offered for God's sake returns its benefit to you no matter whose hand receives it. To ration mercy by the worthiness of the poor is to claim a role that is God's, not yours.
Bring it into today
Stop auditing the poor before you give. The verse and its commentators dismantle the reflex to ask whether someone deserves your help - whether they will spend it well, whether they share your faith, whether they earned their hardship. As-Sa'di notes the ruling plainly: charity may go to the non-Muslim as much as the Muslim. Your responsibility ends at the sincerity of your giving; what the receiver does next is between them and God. So give to the beggar you suspect might waste it, to the relative whose choices you dislike, to the stranger whose story you cannot verify. Ibn Kathir's three unlikely recipients - and their three hidden mercies - are a caution against the confidence that you can read a heart from the outside. Give for God's face, and let Him keep the accounts.
A reflection to carry
There is a subtle arrogance the verse dismantles: that our charity is a verdict handed down on the deserving. The Companions felt it toward relatives outside the faith; Asmā' felt it toward her own mother. The answer comes as relief, not rebuke - 'it is not for you to guide them.' As-Sa'di hears that giving is owed for God's sake, its benefit looping back to the giver wherever it lands. And Ibn Kathir's man, whose alms fell three nights into hands he would never have chosen and were accepted each time, undoes the fantasy that we see clearly enough to judge. Justice here is impartial to the point of scandal: give, and leave the worthiness of hearts to God.
Sources: Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī, al-Zamakhsharī (al-Kashshāf). The Qur'an and its translation are verified; the scholarship is retold faithfully in our own words and credited to its sources, never reproduced verbatim.
Also on Day 252
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