But the likeness of those who expend their wealth seeking God's good pleasure: this is the second category of expenditure, which He has given greater merit than the first by likening it to a garden, since the garden by yielding its produce remains upon the [same] state, unlike the grain [of corn]. Thus He alludes to it as [a constant source of] wealth for them, as though it [the expenditure] were an essential attribute [of such individuals], which is why He says, and to confirm their souls, in other words, to make them settle permanently upon [the attribute of] generosity, which is an attribute of the Lord. As for His saying: upon a hill, that is an allusion to the elevated rank of this [type of] expenditure and its ascendancy over the degree of the first [type]; a torrent, that is, a great share of the Merciful's attribute of mercy, smites it, as well as a generous reinforcement from the effusion of His generosity, because it [this attribute] is the trait that connects to God, exalted be He, by the interrelationship of the attribution and the preparedness to receive this attribute and to acquire it as an attribute; and if no torrent smites it, that is, [it does not receive] a great share, then [dew], only a small share; and all that you do God sees, [seeing] from which perspective your deeds are performed.