The 365 · Verses · Day 257 · Justice
God Himself named who receives the charity - and left it to no one else.
۞ إِنَّمَا ٱلصَّدَقَـٰتُ لِلْفُقَرَآءِ وَٱلْمَسَـٰكِينِ وَٱلْعَـٰمِلِينَ عَلَيْهَا وَٱلْمُؤَلَّفَةِ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَفِى ٱلرِّقَابِ وَٱلْغَـٰرِمِينَ وَفِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ وَٱبْنِ ٱلسَّبِيلِ ۖ فَرِيضَةً مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ
“Alms are meant only for the poor, the needy, those who administer them, those whose hearts need winning over, to free slaves and help those in debt, for God's cause, and for travellers in need. This is ordained by God; God is all knowing and wise. (Quran 9:60)”
Svenska: Offergåvorna är avsedda enbart för de fattiga och de nödställda och för dem som har hand om insamlandet av dem och för att vinna hjärtan [för tron] och för att friköpa människor ur fångenskap och slaveri och [för att lätta] de skuldtyngdas [bördor] och för [kampen för] Guds sak och för vandringsmannen. Detta har Gud föreskrivit; Gud är allvetande, vis.
The story
Ibn Kathīr sets the scene: some of the hypocrites had criticised the Prophet ﷺ over how he distributed charity, so God Himself settled the matter - He, not any ruler, divided the alms and fixed their recipients. The āyah then lists eight: the poor (fuqarā') and the needy (masākīn), those employed to collect it, those whose hearts are being reconciled to Islam, the freeing of slaves, the debt-burdened (ghārimīn), the path of God, and the stranded traveller. Al-Sa'dī notes that the opening word innamā restricts the charity to these eight and to no others. He distinguishes the first two: the faqīr is the more desperate, owning little or nothing, which is why God names him first - and God begins only with the most urgent. Ibn Kathīr fills in the rest from ḥadīth: the collector earns his share as wages, the debtor who took on a loan to reconcile warring people may receive even if he is otherwise wealthy, and the traveller cut off from his money is helped home. Then al-Sa'dī draws the whole āyah to a point: these eight reduce to two purposes - those given for their own need, and those given because the Muslim community needs them. And he adds a startling claim of justice: were the wealthy to pay the zakāt God obliged upon them, in the lawful way, not a single poor Muslim would be left in need.
In the language
The āyah opens with innamā - 'only, none but' - and al-Sa'dī does not let the particle pass unread. Innamā, he explains, is a word of restriction (hasr): it walls the charity off for the eight named recipients and shuts everyone else out. This is why the verse cannot be stretched to cover general good causes; the list is a boundary, not a suggestion. Al-Sa'dī then reads the order of the list as meaningful. God places the fuqarā' before the masākīn, and since He begins only with the most important, the faqīr must be the more severely in need - the one who owns nothing or barely a fraction of what he requires - while the miskīn has more but still falls short of sufficiency. Even the sequence is an act of mercy: the neediest name is spoken first. The closing seal, farīdatan mina-llāh - 'an obligation from God' - al-Sa'dī ties to His knowledge and wisdom: the shares are apportioned, not improvised.
Why this verse
Charity here is not private generosity but a fixed right of the poor, legislated by God and walled off by the word innamā to eight recipients alone. Al-Sa'dī's verdict is stark: if the wealthy paid it as commanded, no poor Muslim would remain in need.
Bring it into today
Treat your zakāt as a debt, not a donation. The word innamā, al-Sa'dī reminds us, fences this wealth off for eight specific recipients - so calculate it precisely rather than guessing, and direct it to those the āyah actually names: the poor, the debt-crushed, the stranded, the enslaved seeking freedom. If you are unsure of your nisāb or your total, sit down this month and work it out, or ask someone who can. And widen your gaze past the coins: al-Sa'dī frames the whole system as God's design for a community where no one is left destitute. When you pay, you are not being charitable - you are returning a portion of your wealth that was never fully yours to keep. That is what justice looks like when it is written into worship.
A reflection to carry
We tend to file charity under kindness - something extra, offered when we feel moved. This āyah refiles it under justice. Al-Sa'dī fixes on the opening word, innamā: a particle of restriction that locks the zakāt to eight named recipients and no one else. And notice whom God names first - the faqīr, the most desperate, because, as al-Sa'dī puts it, He begins only with the most important. Then comes his most arresting line: if the wealthy simply paid what God obliged, not one poor Muslim would remain in need. Poverty, on this reading, is partly a symptom of a right withheld. So is the wealth in your hand fully yours, or does a fixed share already belong to someone else?
Sources: Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī. 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.
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