O You who have faith, do not void your charity by counting it a favor and causing dis- comfort. Ibn ʿAbbās said, “Do not void your charity by counting it a favor toward God.” God is saying, “O you have faith, who have placed your hands in the chains of Our servanthood and have clung to the rope of Our protection! The path of servanthood is not that of gazing on yourself and counting your obedience a favor to Us, for everything you do comes from Our success-giving and Our desire. When your heart was opened up, We opened it. When you found success, We gave it. When you gave comfort to the poor, We willed that. We made all of that happen, so all should be counted as Our favor. All acting is Ours, and all attending to things is Ours.” BarrāÌ ibn ʿāzib said, “On the Day of the Moat I saw God's Messenger when he was saying these words of Ibn RawāḤa: “O God, if not for You, we would not have been guided, we would not have given charity, we would not have prayed. So send down tranquility upon us, and firm up our feet for the encounter.” He is saying, “O God, were it not for Your solicitude, how could we have found the way to the street of tawḤīd? Were it not for Your success-giving, how could we have had the ability to do good works?” When a poor wretch counts obeying God a favor to Him, this is because he has lost the path of servanthood. He gives weight to his own obedience and sees it as large, so he does not turn the eyes of his heart and head away from it. In the path of chivalry, seeing one's own obedi- ence is idol-worship, and looking back at it is duality itself. If you are martyred a hundred times a day in God's path you'll still be an idol-worshiper if you see yourself in the midst. [DS 708] It has also been said that do not void your charity by counting it a favor and causing discomfort means to void your charity by laying favors on those who ask. He is saying, “Do not ruin your charity by counting it a favor to the poor.
