Generosity in Islam

Generosity to be Imbibed by Muslims

"O you who believe! Spend out of the bounties We have provided for you, before the Day comes when no bargaining will avail, nor friendship nor intercession. Those who reject Faith, they are the wrongdoers."

Generosity is a Divine Attribute. All that we can see is a grand manifestation of this Attribute also. The Muslims are therefore being instructed to practically imbibe this Attribute to spend out of whatever He has given to them. The Muslims are expected to inculcate in themselves all the Divine Attributes. They should earn and spend honestly to help the needy ones without any prejudice or differentiation on the basis of language, country, family, etc. The words "out of the bounties We have provided for you" comprehend all kinds of wealth and commodities, etc. Hence it is essential that the Muslims should lawfully make available their paraphernalia and facilities to the genuinely needy.

"To spend" means to give away in charity, or employ in good work, and not to hoard. Good work includes every thing which advances the real good of a needy individual or community. Spending on one's own genuine needs is also good work. Every really good action must be free from any admixture of baser motives, such as vain-glory or false indulgence or encouragement of idleness or playing off one person against another. The bounties provided by Allah include mental and spiritual gifts as well as wealth and other material gifts. [Translation & Commentary of the Holy Qur'an by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, n. 294]

The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said:

"A generous man is a friend of God, near Paradise and away from Hell; and a miser is an enemy of God, away from Paradise and near to Hell."

The Last Prophet of God never said 'no' to any genuinely needy person. Again, the commandment of spending out of the provisions given to us by God has been further elaborated in the following glorious verse of the Holy Qur'an, the last and only extant Book of Allah.

High Standard of Charity Presented by Islam

"O you who believe! Cancel not your charity by reminders of your generosity or by injury, like those who spend their substance to be seen by men but believe neither in God nor in the Last Day. They are in parable like a hard, barren rock on which is a little soil - on it falls heavy rain, which leaves it just a bare stone. They will be able to do nothing with aught they have earned. And God guides not those who reject faith. And the likeness of those who spend their substance, seeking to please God and to strengthen their souls, is as a garden, high and fertile - heavy rain falls on it and it yields a double increase of harvest, and if it receives not heavy rain, light moisture suffices it. Good see well whatever you do."

False charity, "to be seen by men" is really no charity. It is worse, for it betokens a disbelief in God and the Hereafter. "God sees well whatever you do". It is compared to a hard barren rock on which, by chance, has fallen a little soil. Good rain which renders fertile soil more fruitful, washes away the little soil which this rock had, and exposes its nakedness. What good can hypocrites derive even from the little wealth they may have amassed or accumulated?

True charity is a field with good soil on a high situation. It catches good showers of rain, the moisture penetrates the soil and its elevated situation keeps it well drained, and healthy, favourable conditions increase its output enormously. And even if the rain is not abundant, it catches dew and makes the most of any little moisture it can get and that is sufficient for it. So a man of true charity is spiritually healthy, he is best situated to attract the bounties of God which he does not hoard selfishly but circulates freely. In lean times he still produces good work, and is content with what he has. He looks to God's pleasure and the strengthening of his own soul. A very high standard of charity is set by Islam for the believers, i.e.:

1. it must be in the way of God Almighty,
2. it must expect no reward in this world,
3. it must not be followed by references or reminders to the act of charity, and
4. still less should annoyance or injury be caused to the recipient (e.g. by boasting that the giver relieved the person in their hour of need).

Indeed, the kindness and the spirit which turns a blind eye to other people's faults or shortcomings is the essence of charity - these things are better than charity if charity is spoilt by tricks that do harm. At the same time, while no reward is to be expected, there is abundant reward from God - material, moral and spiritual - according to His own good pleasure and plan. If we spend in the way of God, it is not as if God was in need of our charity. On the contrary our shortcomings are go great that we require His utmost forbearance before any good that we can do can merit His praise or reward. Our motives are so mixed that our best may really be very poor if judged by a very strict standard. It has therefore been ordained that a believer should forget whatever good he does to others. Every action of a believer is wholly for the pleasure of God. The Last Prophet said that whosoever reminds another of his good shall not even smell the scent of Paradise (At-Tirimdhi). And one who causes injury is an oppressor. Hence the believers are duty-bound to keep their charity free from any such reminding or causing of injury. They should spend in charity to attain their Lord's pleasure.

The Holy Qur'an uses three words for charity: (i) zakat, (ii) sadaqah, and (iii) infaq-fisabilillah.

Zakat signifies purifying the heart from worldly greed and cleaning & nourishing it. The word sadaqah is derived from sidq which means truthfulness and sincerity; and the term infaq-fisabilillah connotes spending in the cause of God. Thus the very soul of charity is purity and sincerity in the cause of God.

The Last Prophet of Islam said, "God is the purest and loves the pure." The same quality is demanded in His believers when He says:

"O you who believe! Give of the good things which you have (honourably) earned, and of the fruits of the earth which We we have produced for you, and do not even aim at getting anything which is bad, in order that out of it you may give away something, when you yourselves would not receive it except with closed eyes. And know that God is free of all wants, and worthy of all praise."

How glorifying is the economic principle and how dignified life seems under it. It is a pity that today we run after free goods and, when frustrated, eat things without caring for their being halal or haram. At the most, to "satisfy" and, in fact, to betray our own souls we give to others some worthless objects and then we "feel" that now those forbidden goods have become allowable to us. We must know it very that the Qur'anic teachings are otherwise. The Qur'an enjoins us to eat only pure & allowable things and to spend out of them alone. To dedicate tainted things to God is a dishonour to God, who is independent of all wants and worthy of all honour and praise. We should not offer in charity anything which we have discarded.

 Chapter VI of Code for Believers by Dr Munir Ahmad Mughal, District and Session Judge, Pakistan. Published by Islamics International, Lahore in 1987 with slight stylistic modifications to the text.