al-Najm

أفَرَأيْتَ الَّذِي تَوَلَّی

وَأعْطَی قَلِيلاً وَأكْدَی

33. Did you observe him who turned away

34. And gave a little then stopped [giving]?

The Arabic verbal form akda derives from k-d-y ("stint, cease from giving alms") and is a cognate of kady ("hard land"). It is said on the occasion of the Revelation of the twain blessed Verses that a certain man was in the habit of giving alms but he was warned by others that he would be needy later on. He ceased from giving alms and became entangled with niggardliness. A number of Qur’an exegetes maintain that the twain blessed Verses allude to ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan who expended lots of his possessions on paying alms.

His foster brother, ‘Abd Allah ibn Sa‘d said unto him:

"You expend much on paying alms. You may be poor some day."

‘Uthman said unto him:

"I have committed many a sin. I pay alms so that I may expiate my sins."

‘Abd Allah asked him to give his camel with its accessories unto him and he would pay for his sins. ‘Uthman did so and asked witnesses to bear testimony and ceased from paying alms imagining that he was purified of his sins. It was at the time that the twain blessed Verses were revealed saying O Muhammad! Did you see the man who turned his back on the day of the Battle of Uhud and fled? He gave a little of his possessions to his foster brother so that the latter may carry the burden of his sins and ceased from expending on alms as a consequence of which he was censured and rebuked. There are also other views as to the occasion of the Revelation of the twain blessed Verses, but they were not mentioned for the sake of brevity.