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لِلْفُقَرَآءِ ٱلَّذِينَ أُحصِرُواْ فِي سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ لاَ يَسْتَطِيعُونَ ضَرْباً فِي ٱلأَرْضِ يَحْسَبُهُمُ ٱلْجَاهِلُ أَغْنِيَآءَ مِنَ ٱلتَّعَفُّفِ تَعْرِفُهُم بِسِيمَاهُمْ لاَ يَسْأَلُونَ ٱلنَّاسَ إِلْحَافاً وَمَا تُنفِقُواْ مِنْ خَيْرٍ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ بِهِ عَلِيمٌ
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-Al-Baqarah ( البقرة )

Tafsir al-Tustari

[Charity is] for the poor, who are constrained in the way of God…Sahl was asked about these words and the difference between the poor (fuqarāʾ) and the abject (masākīn). He replied:God, Exalted is He, described the poor (faqīr) in terms of destitution (ʿadam) due to their state of asking Him out of utter neediness (iftiqār) and resorting (lijāʾ) to Him. He also described them as having the qualities of contentment (riḍā) and satisfaction [with their lot] (qunūʿ), for He said, Exalted is He, …They do not beg from men importunately [2:273].These are the People of the Bench (Ahl al-Ṣuffa) of the Messenger of God who were about forty men. They did not have any dwellings in Medina nor [did they belong to] any tribes. These were the circumstances of a group of people whom God, Exalted is He, praised for the high degree of their dependence on Him. They had no ability (istiṭāʿa), nor any strength (quwwa) except in Him and from Him. He was their power (ḥawl) and strength (quwwa). He uprooted from them the power for their hearts to depend (sukūn) on anything other than Him, which is the incitement (waswasa) of the lower self towards that which is other than God, Exalted is He. Because of this [quality] they are elevated in their [spiritual] state. But [this is unlike] the one whom God turns back to the acquiescence of his lower self (musākana nafsihi), [about whom] He said, It belonged to deprived people (masākin) who worked at sea [18:79]. He returned them to the situation in which they had acquiesced. However, as regards the poor and needy person (faqīr), whose want has made him surrender himself to God, Exalted is He, his action involves[combatting] the desire (hawā) of his lower self, and thus he is in a better state than the one who acquiesces in whatever state he is in, due to following his lower self.ʿUmar b. Wāṣil said, ‘If one needy of God (faqīr ilā’Llāh), Mighty and Majestic is He, is satisfied, [yet] does not depend on [his state of] contentment (riḍā) and self-surrender (taslīm), then both names are true for him: poverty (faqr) and lowliness (maskana).’ Abū Bakr [al-Sijzī] said that he heard Sahl say:The poor person is [one who is both] poor [and] helpless (faqīr ʿājiz). Poverty ⸢is honour (ʿizz)⸣ when it is the poverty of the heart’s being agitated [in its need] for God, Mighty and Majestic is He, and the repose it finds in Him through obedience. Abjectness (maskana), however, is dishonour (dhull), for it is disobedience to God. Ḥasan related on the authority of Anas from the Prophet that when this verse was revealed he said, ‘Treat the needy (fuqarāʾ) with kindness, until the day when they take possession.’ He was asked, ‘O Messenger of God! When is the day that they will take possession?’ He replied, ‘The Day of Resurrection.’ [Sahl] was asked about His words:

Tafsīr al-Tustarī, trans. Annabel Keeler and Ali Keeler
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