But as for those who are niggardly with what God has given them of His bounty let them not suppose that it is better for them; nay it is worse for them; what they were niggardly with they shall have hung around their necks on the Day of Resurrection; and to God belongs the inheritance of the heavens and the earth. And God is aware of what you do. Whoever prefers something to God He will not bless him in that. No enjoy- ment istimtāʿ in that will last for him in this world and there will be no defense difāʿ from the punishment for it in the hereafter. In the language of the scholars ʿulamāÌ “niggardliness” is the with- holding of what is obligatory. According to the [people of] allusion ishāra it is holding back anything even if only a particle of wealth or a breath from states.
