Ali Quli Qarai, The Qur’ān with a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation (2005)
a punishment, from Him,
or by our hands.
So wait!
We too are waiting along with you.’
53 Say, ‘Spend willingly or unwillingly,
it shall never be accepted from you;
for you are indeed a transgressing lot.’
54 Nothing stops their charities from being accepted
except that they have no faith in Allah
and His Apostle
and do not perform the prayer but lazily,
and do not spend but reluctantly.
55 So let not their wealth and children impress you:
Allah only desires to punish them with these
in the life of this world,
and that their souls may depart while they are faithless.
56 They swear by Allah that they belong to you,1
but they do not belong to you.
Rather they are a frightened lot.
57 If they could find a refuge, or a hideout,
or a hole [to creep into],
they would turn to it in frantic haste.
58 There are some of them who blame you
regarding [the distribution of] the charities:
if they are given from them, they are pleased,
but if they are not given from them,
behold, they are displeased.
59 [It would have been better] if they had been pleased
with what Allah and His Apostle gave them,
1 That is, to the faithful.
