Illa ibtighaa wajhi rabbihi al-aAAla (surah Lail: 20)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(92:20) but only to seek the good pleasure of his Lord Most High. *10

Illab tighaaa`a wajhi rabbihil a `laa

*10) This is further explanation of the sincerity of the pious man. He was not indebted in any way to the people on whom he spends his wealth so that he may be doing so in order to repay for favours received, or may be giving gifts and holding banguets to them in order to further benefit from them, but he is helping such people only in order to seek the goodwill of his Lord, the Supreme. He was neither indebted to them before, nor he expects any favours from them in the future. Its best illustration is the act of Hadrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (may Allah blesshim), He would purchase and set free the poor slaves and slaves-girls who accepted Islam in Makkah and were cruelly treated by their masters on that account. Ibn Jarir and Ibn 'Asakir have related, on the authority of Hadrat 'Amir bin 'Abdullah bin Zubair, that when Hadrat Abu Bakr's father saw him spending money to purchase the freedom of the poor slaves and slave-girls, he said to him: "Son, I see that you are getting the weak people free; had you spent this money on the freedom of strong, young men, they would have become your helpers and supporters." Hadrat Abu Bakr replied: "Dear father, I only seek the reward that is with Allah."