180

Let them not suppose (read lā yahsabanna, 'let them not suppose', or lā tahsabanna, 'do not suppose') those who are niggardly with what Allahu ta’ālā has given them of His bounty, that is, with His obligatory almsgiving, that it, their niggardliness, is better for them (khayrun lahum, is the second direct object; the pronoun [huwa, '[that] it is'] is used to separate [the two statements]; the first [direct object] is bukhlahum 'their niggardliness' implicit before the relative clause [alladhīna] in the case of the reading tahsabanna [sc. wa-lā tahsabanna bukhlahum, 'do not suppose their niggardliness…'], or before the pronoun [huwa, 'it is'] in the case of the reading yahsabanna [sc. wa-lā yahsabanna lladhīna…bukhlahum huwa khayran lahum, 'let them not suppose, those who…that their niggardliness is better for them']); nay, it is worse for them; what they were niggardly with, namely, the obligatory almsgiving of their wealth, they shall have hung around their necks on the Day of Resurrection, when he will have a snake around his neck biting viciously at him, as reported in a hadīth; and to Allahu ta’ālā belongs the inheritance of the heavens and the earth, inheriting them after the annihilation of their inhabitants. And Allahu ta’ālā is aware of what you do (ta'malūna, also read ya'malūna, 'they do'), and will requite you for it.