Spending of What You Love

In the previous chapter, as covered there, spending in the path of Allah was treated at great length:

Mathalu alladhīna yunfiqūna amwālahum fī sabīli Allāh: spending in the path of Allah, a matter of great importance. Here it is reiterated. It returns, and is restated in the following words, at the very beginning of the passage:

Lan tanālū al-birra ḥattā tunfiqū mimmā tuḥibbūn. This is a further step: piety cannot be attained until one spends of what one loves. Whoever truly wishes to show piety to Allah (swt), and truly wishes to be counted among the righteous, the pious and the obedient, must be able to spend, and be prepared to spend, of that which he loves. Even one's choicest possession — something one owns and loves greatly, something in constant use: the pen that is used all the time, which someone else wants, and so one gives it to him. A shawl, a jacket, something else, a book, which someone genuinely wants — not someone taking advantage — and one is willing to give it. The only way a person is able to do that is that his love for Allah and his love for piety overwhelm his love for the object, in the knowledge that Allah will in any case give back far more. When something is given for Allah in this way, piety is attained. That is what is mentioned here; it is a sacrifice that is in question.

The sūrah then speaks of how, for the Banū Isrāʾīl — how Yaʿqūb (peace be upon him) had certain things that were made prohibited at that time — and a challenge is put to the Banū Isrāʾīl on this point.