Surah Al-Baqarah 2:261
سُورَةُ البَقَرَةِ · Medinan · Verse 261 of 286
مَّثَلُ ٱلَّذِينَ يُنفِقُونَ أَمْوَٰلَهُمْ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ كَمَثَلِ حَبَّةٍ أَنۢبَتَتْ سَبْعَ سَنَابِلَ فِى كُلِّ سُنۢبُلَةٍۢ مِّا۟ئَةُ حَبَّةٍۢ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ يُضَٰعِفُ لِمَن يَشَآءُ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ وَٰسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ
Translation
Those who spend their wealth in God’s cause are like grains of corn that produce seven ears, each bearing a hundred grains. God gives multiple increase to whoever He wishes: He is limitless and all knowing.
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'The likeness of those who spend their wealth in the way of God is that of a grain that grows seven ears, in each ear a hundred grains. And God multiplies for whom He wills; and God is All-Encompassing, Knowing.' al-Saadi and Ibn Kathir note the arithmetic of charity, one seed of giving returns seven-hundredfold and more, because spending in God's way is not subtraction but planting. Ask yourself: I instinctively experience giving as loss, the money leaves my hand and is gone. This verse overturns the math entirely: charity is a seed, and the return is a harvest of seven hundred to one, multiplied further as God wills. It is the only investment with a guaranteed, staggering yield, and the only wealth I truly keep is what I gave away. If I genuinely believed that every act of giving was a grain sown for a seven-hundredfold harvest, would I clutch my wealth so tightly, or would I be racing to plant it? What is stopping me from making the one trade the universe guarantees to multiply?
Grounded in classical tafsir: al-Saadi, Ibn Kathir, Ibn Ashur.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Baqarah 2:261 is discussed in 21 study guides on Maani. Each guide gathers the key verses, Arabic words and lessons of one Quranic topic.
- Trees (Shajar) (key verse)
- Wealth (Mal) (key verse)
- Parables (Amthal)
- Vegetation (Nabat)
- Excellence (Ihsan)
- Names of Allah (Asma Allah al-Husna)
- Eating (Akl)
- Economy (Iqtisad)
- Spending (Infaq)
- Miserliness (Bukhl)
- Nurturing (Tarbiyah)
- Piety (Taqwa)
- Reward (Thawab)
- Recompense (Jaza)
- Understanding (Fiqh)
- Play (La'ib)
- Distraction (Lahw)
- Ease (Yusr)
- Abundance (Sa'ah)
- Giving (Ata')
- Deeds (Amal)
Reflect on this verse
Open Surah Al-Baqarah 2:261 in Maani to reflect on it through the Five Lenses: its wording, its context, what it means for you, its connections across the Quran and its lessons, grounded in classical tafsir.