Transliteration:( Yu'til Hikmata mai yashaaa'; wa mai yu'tal Hikmata faqad ootiya khairan kaseeraa; wa maa yazzakkaru illaaa ulul albaab )
"He bestows wisdom [709] upon whom He wills, and whoever has been given wisdom has certainly been given much good [710]. And none pay attention to guidance except those of understanding."
Here, wisdom (hikmah) refers to religious knowledge, particularly the knowledge bestowed upon the Holy Prophet ﷺ.
Two important lessons emerge from this:
The charity of knowledge is superior to the charity of wealth.
It is a form of Sadaqah-e-Jariya (ongoing charity).
Its reward continues to benefit the giver until the Day of Judgement.
True religious knowledge is a divine gift, not just the result of reading books.
Without Allah’s Grace, one cannot be rightly guided.
Just like a radio or gramophone needs proper tuning to receive the signal,
One needs inner receptivity and divine permission to truly benefit from the Qur’an and Hadith.
If the instructor of Qur’an and Hadith is misguided or an infidel, he will only spread misguidance from it.
The phrase “has certainly been given much good” emphasizes that religious knowledge surpasses:
Wealth,
Worship, and
Even kingship.
This is because the Holy Prophet ﷺ, the greatest of all Prophets, was also the most knowledgeable.
He ﷺ said: “Everything was made clear unto me and thus I had knowledge of it.”
Hence, the charity of knowledge is the greatest form of charity, far exceeding material contributions.
The tafsir of Surah Baqarah verse 268 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Baqarah ayat 267 which provides the complete commentary from verse 267 through 269.
(2:269) He grants wisdom to those whom He wills; and whoever is granted wisdom has indeed been granted much good.[309] Yet none except people of understanding take heed.
309. ‘Wisdom’ signifies sound perception and sound judgement. The purpose of this statement is to point out that one who is possessed of wisdom will follow God’s path rather than that of Satan. The followers of Satan believe that it is the height of wisdom and shrewdness to be constantly concerned with saving out of one’s earnings, and to be perpetually on the look-out for higher income. But for those endowed with Divine perception such an attitude is sheer folly. True wisdom consists in using one’s resource moderately to meet one’s needs and in spending whatever is left for charitable purposes. It may be possible for a person who does not spend for charitable purposes to attain a much greater degree of worldy prosperity than others. The life of this world, however, is only a fraction of man’s total life which is not limited to the confines of this world. One who risks the well-being of his eternal existence for the sake of highly transient well-being in this world is indeed a fool. The truly wise person is he who makes full use of the tenure of this life and invests his resources in prosperity in this life that will never cease.
[108]- The knowledge and understanding of the religion and of the Qur’ān.
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