The 365 · Verses · Day 259 · Justice
What is named 'increase' does not increase with God; what looks like loss multiplies.
وَمَآ ءَاتَيْتُم مِّن رِّبًا لِّيَرْبُوَا۟ فِىٓ أَمْوَٰلِ ٱلنَّاسِ فَلَا يَرْبُوا۟ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ ۖ وَمَآ ءَاتَيْتُم مِّن زَكَوٰةٍ تُرِيدُونَ وَجْهَ ٱللَّهِ فَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُضْعِفُونَ
“Whatever you lend out in usury to gain value through other people's wealth will not increase in God's eyes, but whatever you give in charity, in your desire for God's approval, will earn multiple rewards. (Quran 30:39)”
30:39 Read 30:39 with tafsir
Svenska: Vad ni lånar ut i ockersyfte för att det skall växa [i värde] på bekostnad av [andra] människors egendom, växer inte [i värde] inför Gud; men det ni ger till de behövande för att vinna Guds välbehag [välsignar Han] med en mångdubbel belöning.
The story
This āyah draws a sharp line between two ways of parting with wealth. Ibn Kathīr, following Ibn `Abbās, Mujāhid, Qatādah and others, explains the riba named here as a gift given to another in the hope of getting back more than you gave - a present with a hook in it. Such giving, God says, 'will not increase in God's eyes.' Al-Sa'dī adds the reason: it fails the one condition that makes a deed grow - sincerity - and he folds in every gift made for status or to be seen; none of it swells with God. Against this stands zakāt given 'in your desire for God's approval.' Al-Sa'dī describes it as wealth that purifies the giver from base character and purifies his property of miserliness while meeting the need of the one who receives. Of these givers the āyah says they are 'the ones who multiply' - al-mud'ifūn - whose gifts God Himself grows until they become vast. Ibn Kathīr places the famous ḥadīth here: no one gives a single date from lawful earnings but that the Most Merciful takes it in His right hand and nurtures it for its owner, as one of you raises a foal, until that date becomes greater than Mount Uhud. The justice of the āyah is quiet but total: wealth grown by leaning on other people's pockets stalls before God, while wealth released for His sake alone is the only wealth that truly grows.
In the language
The āyah turns on a single root, r-b-w, and plays it against itself. Riba is literally 'the increase'; liyarbuwa means 'so that it may grow'; and then the verdict - falā yarbū 'inda-llāh - 'it does not grow with God.' The very thing named growth is denied growth. Ibn Kathīr, transmitting from Ibn `Abbās and others, reads this particular riba as a gift offered to draw a larger return, and al-Sa'dī explains that it withers before God because it lacks sincerity. Zakāt is then set against it - and al-Sa'dī glosses its effect, too, in the language of increase, as wealth that grows the giver's character and meets the receiver's need - yet it is zakāt, not riba, that earns the description al-mud'ifūn, 'those who multiply.' Only one of the two acts truly delivers the increase it promises, and it is the one given for God's face. _Note: the observation on the shared root is contemplative reflection on the fetched text, not a scholarly ruling._
Why this verse
Ibn Kathīr reads this riba as a gift given to draw a bigger return; al-Sa'dī says it withers before God for want of sincerity. Only wealth released purely for God's approval is promised multiplication - its givers become al-mud'ifūn, the ones whose gift is multiplied.
Bring it into today
Audit the motive behind your giving, not just the amount. The āyah, as al-Sa'dī reads it, disqualifies not only interest-hunting but every gift offered to be seen, to build status, or to draw a favour back - such giving simply does not grow with God. So before you give this week, ask quietly: am I hoping for a return from people, or from God alone? Then give something with no expectation of repayment, recognition, or thanks - the purer the intention, the steeper the multiplication the āyah promises. Ibn Kathīr's ḥadīth is worth holding onto here: a single lawful date, given for God's sake, is nurtured by the Most Merciful until it outgrows Mount Uhud. Justice in wealth is not only about how you earn; it is about refusing to make your generosity a transaction, so that what you give lifts the receiver rather than binding him to you.
A reflection to carry
The āyah stages a contest between two kinds of growth. On one side is riba - which Ibn Kathīr, citing Ibn `Abbās and others, reads here as a gift given to draw a larger return - and God's verdict is that it 'does not grow with Him.' Al-Sa'dī names the flaw: no sincerity, and so no increase. On the other side is zakāt desiring 'the face of God,' whose givers, the āyah says, are al-mud'ifūn - the ones whose gift is multiplied. The transaction engineered to expand your wealth stalls before God, while the money you release with no strings is the only money that truly compounds. The question is not how much you gave, but why.
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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