كنز

Core meaning

Treasure amassed and kept; the verb says accumulation that withholds instead of spending.

Uses

1. كَنز, كُنُوز → "treasure", "treasures" : wealth amassed, neutral in itself.

   • «وَيَسْتَخْرِجَا كَنزَهُمَا» — "and extract their treasure themselves" (18:82)
   • «لَوْلَآ أُنزِلَ عَلَيْهِ كَنزٌ» — "Why has a treasure not been sent down upon him" (11:12)
   • «وَءَاتَيْنَٰهُ مِنَ ٱلْكُنُوزِ» — "and We had given him, among treasures" (28:76)

2. كَنَزَ, يَكْنِزُونَ → "to hoard" : to amass without spending.

   • «وَٱلَّذِينَ يَكْنِزُونَ ٱلذَّهَبَ وَٱلْفِضَّةَ وَلَا يُنفِقُونَهَا فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ» — "And those who hoard gold and silver, and do not spend it in the way of God" (9:34)
   • «هَٰذَا مَا كَنَزْتُمْ لِأَنفُسِكُمْ» — "This is what you hoarded for yourselves" (9:35)

Evidence from the text

Treasure is not judged for itself. That of the two orphans is kept for them until their maturity, as a benevolence (18:82); the one demanded by the opponents would be a material sign (11:12, 25:8); those of Qarun and of Fir'awn's people are goods of which they will be deprived (26:58, 28:76).

The verb, in 9:34-35, condemns a use: gold and silver amassed "and not spent in the way of God". The judgement bears on withholding, and the sentence returns that very metal to those who kept it (9:35).

Distinctions

• نفق — to spend, what hoarding refuses (9:34).

See also

كوى (searing with the hoarded metal (9:35))