Tazkirul Quran, Qur’an 17:26–28
The Night Journey (Al-Isra’)
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
English text; the translator is not named in the archive’s data.
Translation
(26) Give to your relatives their due, and also to the needy and the wayfarer. Yet do not spend extravagantly; (27) spendthrifts are the brothers of Satan, and Satan is ever ungrateful to his Lord— (28) but if, while waiting for your Lord’s bounty which you are expecting, you turn them down, then at least speak to them kindly.
Commentary
(a) A man has a right to spend on himself whatever he earns by his own hard work. However, the Islamic law lays down that he should avoid the habits of a spendthrift; he should spend his wealth on actual necessities and not on vanity or display.
Secondly, everyone must realize that others have a right to his earnings—be they relatives, neighbours, travellers or needy persons.
If one is to spend one’s wealth according to the will and pleasure of God, one must first of all economize by refraining from pointless spending. Indeed, extravagance is a weapon used by Satan to induce one to neglect one’s duties towards the poor and needy.