Quran Garden

Session 262

Chapter 2

Verse 245

Who will lend God a good loan, which He will increase for him many times over? It is God who withholds and God who gives abundantly, and it is to Him that you will return (Chapter 2: Verse 245)

In the previous verses, God spoke of life, death, and war.  Now, He turns our attention to wealth.  Let’s start with the phrase: “Who will lend God a good loan.”  When you lend your money to help a friend, you are in fact lending God.  How, you may ask? We answer that you are supporting the needy as God commanded.  Allah brought each one of us into existence; thus He is responsible for providing for us.

Similarly, when you invite a guest into your home, you –as the host- become responsible for providing him or her with food and a place to rest.  Allah brought us to life, and He provides us with our basic needs.  He does not ask you to take over the responsibility of providing for others.  He only asks you for a loan to help others.  God will repay you in full and will increase you in reward. 

Here you may ask: Why wouldn’t Allah provide for the poor directly? Perhaps the answer is best given with an example.  Say that a wealthy father gave each of his children a large sum of money.  If one of the children falls on hard times, the father would not go to the children and say ‘give me back my money to help your brother’, rather he would say ‘lend me some of your money and I will return it to you with a handsome reward once your brother is out of trouble.’  In this manner, the father would not only preserve each child’s wealth, but he would also foster love and compassion between the brothers.

There are many instances where you do not give to a particular person; instead, you spend in God’s cause and for the general benefit of society.  Here again, you are dealing directly with God, and He will compensate you for your efforts. 

Through the use of the word ‘loan,’ Allah is alerting you that He is aware of the difficulty of the task.  He knows our nature and knows that giving money in His cause is a burden.  The word ‘loan’ is translated from the Arabic origin ‘Qard’ which means to bite something with your front teeth.  So when you take money from your savings to give to others in need, it is as if you are taking a bite out of your own wealth.  In the verse under study, Allah assures you that difficult deeds are rewarded handsomely.  Say for example that you are planning to move to a new apartment.  When you find a worker to help you move, you would say to him: “Listen, I know the furniture is big and heavy, but don’t worry.”  In essence, you have informed the worker that you are aware the job is difficult and that you will pay him well for it.   

The fact that you are lending God directly, regardless if you are helping a single person or helping Islam in general, should make you feel very secure about your loan.  This is because any time you loan money, you loan it in the hopes of getting it back.  However, the person you lend to may not be able to pay you back.  He or she may lose a job, get disabled, die or renege on the promise to repay.  But the Almighty is the truth; He is the All-Giving, the Ever-Providing.  God will not only repay your loan, but He will return it multiplied many times over.  Your capital is preserved, invested and grown.  God says: “Who will lend God a good loan, which He will increase for him many times over? It is God who withholds and God who gives abundantly.”  Rest assured that your loan will be multiplied many times over by the standards and ability of God, not by our standards and abilities as human beings.

The expression ‘good loan’ suggests that the source of the money you lend must be lawful.  That is why we say to a person who gives charity out of the money earned from theft or bribery: "It would have been better to never have earned this money, and to never have given it to charity."

It is said that the reward for a loan is higher than the reward for charity.  This is despite the fact that when giving to charity, you completely let go of the money, while when lending you would be getting your money back later.  The scholars explained that when you give to charity, you feel the pain of letting go of your money once then you forget about it.  On the other hand, when you lend money, you keep thinking about it; you anticipate repayment and worry about missed and late payments.  The more patience you exhibit, the more rewards you attain.

Allah is well aware of your anxiety when helping and lending to others.  He knows the emotional pain of seeing your wealth decrease.  Thus, He –the All-Generous- grants you rewards multiple times over.  That is precisely what is meant by “It is God who withholds and God who gives abundantly.” Allah is also assuring you that “it is to Him that you will return” to find your reward in the hereafter.

Fatima –the prophet’s daughter- (peace and blessings be upon her) presents an excellent example for us.  Once, our beloved Prophet came into her room and found her cleaning and burnishing a coin into a shine.  He asked: ‘Fatima, what are you doing?’ She replied: I am polishing this coin before I give it to charity.  He asked: ‘why?’ She said:  ‘because I know that charity passes through God’s hand before it falls into the hand of the poor.’