What Makes Almsgiving Worthless and Void
The Holy Quran with two examples about wrong motivations in almsgiving shows how unpleasant and useless such a behavior is.
One of the main moral conducts in society promoted by the righteous is helping those in need in various ways. However, if these helps are not given in the right way, they not only would have no positive social effects but the reward for the good deed in the hereafter may also be annulled.
The Holy Quran has many pieces of advice about this, including one in verse 264 of Surah Al-Baqarah:
“Believers, do not make your charities fruitless by reproachfully reminding the recipient of your favor or making them feel insulted, like the one who spends his property to show off and who has no faith in God or belief in the Day of Judgment. The example of his deed is as though some soil has gathered on a rock and after a rain fall it turns hard and barren. Such people cannot benefit from what they have earned. God does not guide the unbelievers.”
The Nemouneh Exegesis of the Quran emphasizes that in this verse, the Holy Quran uses two examples to show how wrong behavior renders almsgiving worthless and void.
The first example is: “(Such a person) is like he who spends his wealth to show off to the people and believes neither in Allah nor in the Last Day.”
The next example the Quran mentions is this: “The example of his deed is as though some soil has gathered on a rock and after a rain fall it turns hard and barren. Such people cannot benefit from what they have earned. God does not guide the unbelievers.”
So such actions that involve hypocrisy, reproach and hurt originate from hard hearts and such individuals do not benefit from them.
Messages of the verse in Noor Exegesis of the Quran:
1- Reproaching and hurting those in need renders almsgiving worthless. (Do not make your charities fruitless…)
2- Hypocrisy is a sign of lack of true faith in God and the Day of Judgment. (… one who spends his property to show off and who has no faith in God or belief in the Day of Judgment)
3- What matter is not the almsgiving but the intention of the one who gives alms. ( … to show off to the people)
4- The deeds of those who reproach others, hurt others and are unbelievers will be void.
5- The intentions of the hypocrite will ultimately be revealed.
6- The hypocrite not only will have no reward in the hereafter but fails to grow spiritually. (Such people cannot benefit from what they have earned.)
7- The hypocrite and those who reproach are in the circle of Kufr and will not be guided. (God does not guide the unbelievers.)
