29. Ramzan Quiz

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاتة 

بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِٱلرَّحِيمِ

29. "Truly, Allah is poor and we are rich!'' (3:181).

Answer: Jews of Madhina

Sa`id bin Jubayr said from Ibn Abbas, "When the ayath, "Who is he that will lend to Allah a goodly loan so that He may multiply it to him many times (2:245) was revealed, the Jews of Madhina said, `O Muhammad (ﷺ)! Has your Lord become poor so that He asks His servants to give Him a loan?'

The Jews began to ridicule it and said: ‘Look, God has now gone bankrupt and has begun to beg of His creatures for loans.’

Allah sent down, "Indeed, Allah has heard the statement of those (Jews) who say: "Truly, Allah is poor and we are rich!'')" (3:181)

The tafsir of Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi explains this ayath as follows:

Ikrimah, al-Suddi and Muqatil ibn Ishaq related that, "One day, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (RA) entered a  Jewish place and found a Rabai called Finhas ibn ‘Azura and Abu Bakr (RA) said to Finhas: “Fear Allah and embrace Islam, for by Allah you know well that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who has brought the truth to you from Allah. He is mentioned in your Taurah; so believe and accept the truth and grant Allah a goodly offering and He will make you enter the Garden and multiply your reward”.

Finhas responded: “O Abu Bakr (RA), you claim that your Lord is asking us to lend Him our wealth. Yet, it is only the poor who borrow from the rich. And if what you say is true, it follows that Allah is poor and we are rich, for if He were rich He would not ask us to lend Him our wealth”.

Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (RA), became very angry and struck the face of Finhas with a mighty blow. He then said to him: “By Him in whose Hand is my soul, if it were not for the treaty between us, O enemy of Allah! I would have killed you”.

Finhas went to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said: “O Muhammad (ﷺ)! Look at what your companion has done to me”. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ, asked Abu Bakr (RA): “What has driven you to do what you have done?” He said: “O Messenger of Allah ﷺ, this enemy of Allah has said something very serious. He claimed that Allah is poor and they are rich. I therefore got angry for the sake of Allah and hit his face”.

But Finhas denied that he ever uttered those words, and so Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse "Verily Allah heard the saying of those who said: " to prove the truthfulness of Abu Bakr and the liesof Finhas. It was informed that Finhas also said "Allah’s hand is fettered [5:64]”.

Allah knows best!

الحمدلله