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Meaning

What is intended by "surplus" (al-ʿafw) in this āyah? And was this command abrogated?

Answer

Imām Ibn al-Jawzī (d. 597/1201) summarized the scholars' opinions in his book "Zād al-Masīr" as follows:

  1. It is what exceeds a person's needs and those of his dependents. [Miqsam from Ibn ʿAbbās]
  2. It is whatever they willingly give, whether little or much. [ʿAṭiyyah from Ibn ʿAbbās]
  3. It is moderation between extravagance and miserliness. [Al-Ḥasan, ʿAṭāʾ, Saʿīd ibn Jubayr]
  4. It is the obligatory charity (zakāt). [Mujāhid]
  5. It is what cannot be precisely quantified, as one says "The trace has vanished", when it becomes indistinct and fades away.

On the topic of abrogation, Ibn al-Jawzī comments: "Al-Suddī reports from his teachers that it was abrogated by the verse of zakāt, while others deny its abrogation. The decisive answer in this matter is that if we say that this verse imposed upon them the obligation of giving charity from surplus wealth, or that it required a form of charity before the institution of zakāt, then the verse is abrogated by the verse of zakāt. However, if we say it refers to the obligatory zakāt, as Mujāhid stated, or to voluntary charity, then it remains in effect."

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Verses cited