[O you who believe] expend of the good things you have earned: He commands the third category of expenditure, of the good things that you have earned, because the one who chooses through God chooses the most noble in all things on account of the correspondence [of that noble thing to God], just as the commander of the believers ʿAlī, peace be upon him, said: 'Verily God is beautiful and loves beauty'. The one who expends through [the stirrings of] his soul is unable to expend what is the most noble because of the niggardliness of the soul and its love of that [which is most noble] and its preferring it for itself instead of singling it out for God: thus what is done through the soul cannot be piety from the outset, because of what God, exalted be He, says you will not attain piety until you expend of what you love [Q. 3:92]; and seek not the corrupt of it for your expending, singling it out for your expending as is the habit of those who expend through their souls and their [physical] nature; for you would never take it yourselves without closing your eyes to it, because of your love of the best of possessions for your selves given that your love of self is exclusively dedicated to such [acquistions], which is why you do not give preference to expend wealth for the sake of God over them and [why you do not] expend the best for Him; and know that God is Self-sufficient, so acquire His attribute of sufficiency which will then give you an abundance that will avail you of wealth and the love of it, Laudable: He does only what is laudable, so make Him your exemplar.