Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 11099 — Those who disliked a man giving

Sayyiduna al-Bara' (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "And do not aim at the bad of it to spend from" was revealed about us. Our people were owners of date palms. Each of us would bring dates in proportion to how little or how much he had. So one man would bring one bunch and another two bunches, and hang them in the mosque. The People of the Suffah had nothing to eat; one of them would come and strike the bunch of dates with a stick, and dry and fresh dates would fall from it, which he would eat. Some people (among us) were not inclined towards good deeds; they would bring a bunch of bad and spoiled dates and hang it in the mosque. So Allah Almighty revealed the verse of the Holy Qur'an: "And do not aim at the bad of it to spend from, while you yourselves would not take it except with your eyes closed (to it)." [Al-Baqarah: 267] And he said: If the like of what one of you gives were given to him as a gift, he would take it only with his eyes closed, considering it worthless, out of shyness. The narrator said: After that, each one of us would give the excellent and good part of his wealth in charity.