The covenant of God and oaths, and selling them for a little price

Sha'rawi reads the verse that threatens those who sell God's covenant and their oaths for a small price (Al Imran 77) as covering anyone who sells a sign of God for gain. He does not limit it to one occasion ¹.

Sha'rawi reports that a group in a time of drought and famine came to Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf asking for food and clothing. He told them that he wished to feed and clothe them, but that God had withheld great good from them because they had professed faith in the Prophet ﷺ. After a while they preferred food and clothing to faith and claimed that they had misread their own books about him. Sha'rawi reads this as buying a price with the signs ²³. He names no collection for this report, so it needs a source (needs_source).

Sha'rawi says the lesson lies in the general subject and not in the particular cause. Anyone who makes a sign of God an article for sale in order to take a price falls under the text, whether by altering a ruling to appear modern or by following desires ².

Sha'rawi offers two readings of the covenant: the covenant of primordial nature, or the covenant God took from the People of the Book to believe in the Prophet if they reached him. He then explains khuluq as a settled disposition in the soul, from which acts come with ease, such as truthfulness or generosity. To be without khalaq in the Hereafter means that this disposition has no share for its holder ³⁴⁵.

This is Sha'rawi's reading alone, taken from a scanned copy whose edition is not yet verified, and it is presented under his name. The occasion of revelation needs a named source from the hadith collections or the works on occasions of revelation (needs_source). See also Trust and Mixing truth with falsehood.