his father, from Qatāda, concerning His statement: "And perform prayer and give zakat," he said: Two obligatory duties, so render them to Allah (1).
We have already explained the meaning of performing prayer in what has passed of this book of ours, so we disliked repeating it (2).
As for giving zakat, it is paying the prescribed charity. The root of zakat is the growth of wealth, its fruitfulness, and its increase. From that it is said: zakā al-zarʿ (the crop grew), when what Allah brought forth from it became abundant. And zakat al-nafaqa (the expenditure grew), when it increased. And it is said: zakā al-fard (the single became paired), when it became even by the addition of that which was added to it until it became a pair through it, as the poet said:
They were odd or even, fewer than four
They were not created, while men's fortunes clash (3)
And another said:
So its number was neither odd nor even
Like the worst of herbs, the tips of safā (4)
Abū Jaʿfar said: Al-Safā is the thorn of al-buhmā, and al-buhmā is that which is round inside the awns (5).
Notes
- (1) The narration: 839—I did not find it anywhere.
- (2) See what preceded, pp. 241–242.
- (3) Al-Lisān (kh-s-a), in which it says: "Al-Farrāʾ: The Arabs say for an even number zakā, and for an odd number khasā... He said: And al-Dubayriyya recited to me..." and he recited the verse. Taʿtalij: to struggle and wrestle with one another.
- (4) By a man from Banū Saʿd, then one of Banū al-Ḥārith, concerning ʿAmr ibn Kaʿb ibn Saʿd. This rajaz verse is in a report concerning al-Aghlab al-ʿIjlī (Ṭabaqāt Fuḥūl al-Shuʿarāʾ: 572 / Muʿjam al-Shuʿarāʾ: 490 / al-Aghānī 18/164). The wording in al-Ṭabaqāt and al-Aghānī is: "like the worst of pasture grass." Al-riʿy (with a kasra then sukūn): the pasture grass itself, as well as the grazing land. Al-safā: the prickles of al-bahmā, the awns of grain, and everything that has thorns. He says: You are among your people like the safā in al-bahmā, its worst and most evil part. The first verse is an addition not found in the aforementioned references.
- (5) Al-bahmā: one of the fine herbs (those that are delicate, tender, and eaten raw), growing as grain grows, until its growth reaches the point where it becomes like grain, rising about a span high. Its plant is more delicate than wheat, and its taste is like barley. When it dries up, thorns like the awns of grain come out of it (which is al-safā). When it gets into the camels' noses, they recoil from it until people pull it out of their mouths and noses. In the printed edition: "in al-sulayy" with a doubled yāʾ, and in the manuscript "in al-sulā" with a ḍamma on the sīn and a doubled lām. The correct reading is what I have established. Al-salā is the plural of salāʾa, which is the thorn of a palm tree, and he meant by it the safā of al-bahmā, i.e., its thorns.
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