262 Those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah, then do not follow up what they have spent with reproach or injury, their reward is with their Lord, and they shall have no fear nor shall they grieve. (1)
263 A kind word with forgiveness is better than charity followed by injury. And Allah is Self-sufficient, Forbearing. (2)
264 O you who believe, do not make your charity worthless by reproach and injury, like him who spends his wealth to be seen by people and does not believe in Allah and the Last Day (3)…
267 O you who believe, spend (on good works) out of the good things that you earn and out of what We bring forth for you from the earth, and do not aim at the bad to spend from it, while you would not take it yourselves unless you turned a blind eye to it. (4)
Chapter 76:
8 And they [the righteous] give food, out of love for Him, to the poor and the orphan and the captive. 9 We feed you, for Allah’s pleasure only— we desire from you neither reward nor thanks. (5)
Notes:
1 Donations, whether given in the cause of national or individual suffering, must not be accompanied by any interested motives; hence the donor is forbidden even to mention them afterwards, so as not to hurt the feelings of the recipients.
2 It is better simply to offer a word of sympathy, without giving any money, than to give charity in material form and then remind the recipients of what you did for them.
3 This conveys a very strong disapproval of giving charity to be seen by people, making it utterly hateful in the sight of true believers.
4 Muslims are here enjoined to give in charity good things, things which they love, and not to even think of giving bad things, things which they themselves would not accept from others. Elsewhere it is said: “You cannot attain to righteousness unless you spend out of what you love” (3:92).
5 The feeding of the poor spoken of in verses 8 and 9 is in relation to the service of humanity. The words for Allah’s pleasure clearly show that it is of the love of God that these verses speak. Man worships Allah for the love of Allah, but the Quran requires him to serve humanity also for the love of Allah.
