Giving For
The Cause of God
Wealth can be of use in this
world and the next
Umar entrusted some official duty to Abu Ubaydah ibn Jarrah, for which he gave him one thousand dinars. The latter returned this sum, saying: “lbn Khattab, I did this work, not for you, but for the sake of God; I will not, therefore, accept any payment.” Umar then said to Abu Ubaydah: “When the Prophet used to send us on errands, he would recompense us, and if we showed reluctance to accept what he gave, he told us we ought not to demur as it would be of assistance to us in matters pertaining both to our worldly affairs and to our religion.” On hearing this, Abu Ubaydah accepted what Umar offered him.
(AL-BAYHAQI, AL SUNAN AL-KUBRA)
One’s next of kin have the
greatest right to one’s charity
Abu Hurayrah records the Prophet as saying: “By the one who sent me with the Truth, God will not accept charity from one whose kinsfolk go in want because he spends on others instead of on them.” According to another account, the Prophet said that God would not look with favour upon such a person on the Day of Resurrection.
(AL- TABARANI)
A believer had best
earn his own living
Anas ibn Malik recounts how a Muslim from the Helpers once came begging to the Prophet. The latter asked him what possessions he had at home. “Just a simple sheet in which I wrap myself and a cup out of which I drink,” replied the Helper. The Prophet told him to bring the cup and, when he had done so, the Prophet asked those present to put a price on it. One person offered one dirham, then another, raising the price to two dirhams, bought the cup. The Prophet gave the Helper the two dirhams, telling him to spend one on his household, and to buy an axe blade with the other and to bring it to him. When he did so, the Prophet himself fitted a handle to the blade, telling the Helper to go and fetch wood from the forest, and not to come back for another fifteen days. The Helper started work, hewing wood from the forest and then carrying it to the town to sell it. Two weeks later he reappeared before the Prophet, and in the account he gave him of what he had spent and what he had earned, it turned out that he had saved ten dirhams after meeting all his expenses. The Prophet was well pleased and said: “This is more fitting than that on the Day of Resurrection, you should have the mark of the beggar upon you.
(ABU DAWUD, IBN MAJAH)
Extravagance is committed at
the cost of worthwhile expenditure
The Prophet is reported to have said: “For every act of extravagance, a righteous cause is left by the wayside.” This means that when anyone is extravagant, he is at one and the same time neglecting to spend on a worthy cause. For every opportunity that there is to be extravagant, there is a parallel opportunity to give where it is really needed.
Trusting in God, not wealth
During the Caliphate of Umar, some revenue arrived from Iraq. Umar began to distribute it, and appeared to be on the point of exhausting it completely when Abd ar Rahman ibn Auf suggested to Umar that he should keep some of it back in order to deal with any enemy attack or calamity that might befall them. At this, Umar was indignant. “Be done with you; you play the devil’s advocate. No, by God, for the sake of tomorrow, I will not disobey God today.”
Building more for the Hereafter
than for this world
A Muslim of Madinah had just built himself a house, and was spreading mud on the roof when the Prophet passed by. “What are you doing?” the Prophet asked him. “Applying some mud,” came the reply, to which the Prophet said: “The Hour is nigh; closer than that which you apply.”
Not even martyrdom cancels
out an unpaid debt
The Prophet, admonishing his followers, told them that the struggle for God’s cause, and faith in Him were the greatest of all actions. A man arose and asked, “If I am slain while I am about God’s business, will all my sins be forgiven?” The Prophet replied, “If, in the patient pursuance of your purpose, pressing ever onwards, but at the same time seeking God’s pleasure, you are slain in His path, your sins will indeed be forgiven.” After a pause the man, at the Prophet’s request, repeated his question. “Does this mean that if I am slain while I am about God’s business, all my sins will be forgiven?” The Prophet gave the same answer to this but added: “But not if you are in debt. That is what I have been told by Gabriel.”
(MUSLIM, SAHIH)
Spending what one has in
order to escape the Fire
Adi ibn Hatim heard the Prophet say: “Save yourselves from the Fire, be it with a piece of a date, and if you do not have that, then with a kind word.”
(AL BUKHARI, MUSLIM)
Muslims should be dearer to
each other than money
Abdullah ibn Umar is reported to have said: “There was a time when not one of us would have set his dirhams and dinars above his Muslim brothers. Now, a time has come when we put our dirhams and dinars first and our Muslim brothers second.”
(AL TABARANI)
Spending for the cause of Islam
in times of distress
When Abu Bakr first became a Muslim, he possessed forty thousand dirhams, all of which wealth he devoted to the cause of Islam. At that time Islam was going through a difficult period. For this reason the Prophet said: “No one’s wealth has benefited me so much as Abu Bakr’s.” (As related by Hisham ibn Urwah who heard this from his father.)
Thrift, even in the midst of plenty
The Prophet once passed by Saad while the latter was pouring water over himself from a large vessel to perform his ablution. “What is this extravagance, O Saad?” said the Prophet. “Prophet of God,” said Saad, “Can there be extravagance even if you are standing on the banks of a river?” “Yes, “ replied the Prophet.
(AHMAD, MUSNAD)
Being punctilious in
paying people their dues
Abdullah ibn Umar records the Prophet as saying: “Pay a labourer his wages before his sweat has dried.”
(IBN MAJAH, SUNAN)
A piece of good advice is more
precious than a material gift
According to lban ibn Salim, it is better if your brother gives you some advice rather than a material gift. “While wealth might corrupt you, advice will set your feet on the right path.”
(JAMI‘ BAYAN AL-ILM)
Considering a man inferior on account of his calling is a mark of ignorance
Abu Jahal was in command of the Qurayshite forces that faced: the Muslims on the field of Badr, when, two young brothers, Muawidh and Muadh resolved to slay him. Throwing themselves in the enemy ranks, at the immense danger to themselves, they found Abu Jahal and killed him. As he lay dying, (according to Abdullah ibn Masud) he learned that it was men from Madinah who had struck him down. With his dying breath, he gasped out these words: “If only it had been some other who had slain me!” The people of Madinah were mostly farmers and it was on this account that Abu Jahal felt scornful of them.
Wealth and power breed
hatred and enmity
When spoils of war arrived from Qadsiyah (Iran) Umar was seen to weep as he examined them. Abdar, Rahman, enquiring as to what had caused the Commander of the Faithful such grief, observed, “God has granted you victory over your enemies, giving you possession of their riches so that you may be joyful.” To this Umar replied that he had heard the Prophet say: “Whenever worldly riches are showered upon a people, God stirs up enmity and hatred among them until the Day of Resurrection.” “That is what I fear,” explained Umar.
(AHMAD, MUSNAD)
Prosperity the greatest trial
Saad ibn abi Waqqas records the Prophet as saying: “More than the affliction of hardship, it is the affliction of prosperity that I fear on your account. When you were afflicted by hardship, you showed great forbearance; but as for the world, it is overly sweet and luscious.”
According to Auf ibn Malik, the Prophet also said: “You will be showered with worldly riches, so much so that if you stray, it will be precisely because of them.”
(AL TABARANI)
Three things, which
must remain inviolate
“A Muslim’s honour, property and blood: no Muslim should violate these things.”
(HADITH)
One does not lose by giving
Abu Hurayrah reports this saying of the Prophet: “Charity does not decrease anyone’s wealth while forgiveness only increases a man’s honour; God raises up one who abases himself before his Lord.”
(MUSLIM, SAHIH)
One who gives receives
“Everyday, two angels visit the servants of God on earth. One of them prays: “Lord, reward those who spend,” while the other prays, “Lord, destroy the wealth of those who withhold.’
(AL-BUKHARI, MUSLIM)
