٦٠ - باب الكرم والجود والإنفاق في وجوه الخير ثقة بالله تعالى

Ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "There is no envy except in two cases: a man whom Allah has given wealth and whom He has enabled to spend it [until it is exhausted] in the cause of truth, and a man whom Allah has given wisdom, so he judges by it and teaches it." Agreed upon. Its meaning is: no one should be envied save for one of these two qualities.

He also reported: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Which of you holds the wealth of his heir dearer to him than his own wealth?" They said: "O Messenger of Allah, there is none of us but that his own wealth is dearer to him." He said: "Then indeed his wealth is what he has sent ahead, and the wealth of his heir is what he has left behind." Narrated by al-Bukhārī.

ʿAdī ibn Ḥātim (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Guard yourselves against the Fire, even with half a date." Agreed upon.

Jābir (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was never asked for anything to which he said, "No." Agreed upon.

Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "There is no day on which the servants rise in the morning but that two angels descend; one of them says: O Allah, grant the one who spends a replacement, and the other says: O Allah, bring ruin upon the one who withholds." Agreed upon.

He also reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Allah, the Exalted, said: Spend, O son of Adam, and it shall be spent on you." Agreed upon.

ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ (may Allah be pleased with them both) reported that a man asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): "Which aspect of Islam is best?" He said: "That you feed others, and that you offer the greeting of peace to those you know and those you do not know." Agreed upon.

He also reported: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "There are forty good qualities, the highest of which is lending a she-goat for its milk. No one acts upon any of these qualities, hoping for its reward and trusting in its promise, but that Allah, the Exalted, admits him thereby into Paradise." Narrated by al-Bukhārī. An explanation of this hadith has already preceded in the chapter on the abundance of the paths of good.

Abū Umāmah Ṣudayy ibn ʿAjlān (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O son of Adam, that you give away your surplus is better for you, and that you withhold it is worse for you; you will not be blamed for keeping what suffices you; and begin with those you are responsible to support; and the upper hand is better than the lower hand." Narrated by Muslim.

On the authority of Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was never asked for anything in (return for embracing) Islam but that he gave it. A man came to him, and he gave him a flock of sheep filling the space between two mountains. He returned to his people and said: “O my people, embrace Islam, for Muhammad gives like one who has no fear of poverty.” Indeed, a man would embrace Islam wanting nothing but worldly gain, yet it would not be long before Islam became dearer to him than the world and all that is upon it. Muslim narrated it.

On the authority of ʻUmar (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) made a distribution (of wealth), so I said: “O Messenger of Allah, surely others than these were more deserving of it than they?” He said: “Indeed they left me no choice but that they should either beg of me with importunity or brand me a miser — and I am no miser.” Muslim narrated it.

On the authority of Jubayr ibn Muṭʻim (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: While he was travelling with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) on his return from Ḥunayn, the bedouins pressed upon him asking him (for gifts), until they forced him up against an acacia tree and it snatched away his cloak. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stopped and said: “Give me back my cloak. Were I to have cattle equal in number to these thorn-trees, I would distribute it among you; then you would not find me a miser, nor a liar, nor a coward.” Al-Bukhārī narrated it. “Maqfalahu” means: at the time of his returning. “Al-samurah” is a (kind of) tree. “Al-ʻiḍāh” are trees that have thorns.

On the authority of Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Charity does not diminish wealth; Allah increases a servant in nothing but honour for his pardoning (others); and no one humbles himself for Allah’s sake but that Allah raises him (in rank).” Muslim narrated it.

On the authority of Abū Kabshah ʻAmr ibn Saʻd al-Anmārī (may Allah be pleased with him), that he heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “There are three things of which I swear, and I shall tell you a saying, so memorise it: A servant’s wealth is not diminished by charity; no servant is wronged with an injustice that he bears patiently but that Allah increases him in honour; and no servant opens a door of begging but that Allah opens upon him a door of poverty” — or words to that effect. “And I shall tell you a saying, so memorise it,” he said: “The world is but for four persons: a servant whom Allah has provided with wealth and knowledge, so he fears his Lord regarding it, maintains his ties of kinship through it, and acknowledges Allah’s right in it — this one is in the most excellent of stations. And a servant whom Allah has provided with knowledge but has not provided with wealth, who is sincere in intention, saying, ‘Had I wealth, I would do as so-and-so does’ — he is (rewarded) according to his intention, so their reward is equal. And a servant whom Allah has provided with wealth but has not provided with knowledge, who blunders in his wealth without knowledge, not fearing his Lord regarding it, nor maintaining his ties of kinship through it, nor acknowledging Allah’s right in it — this one is in the most vile of stations. And a servant whom Allah has provided with neither wealth nor knowledge, who says, ‘Had I wealth, I would do with it as so-and-so does’ — he is (judged) according to his intention, so their burden of sin is equal.” Al-Tirmidhī narrated it and said: “A good and sound hadith.”

On the authority of ʻĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her), that they slaughtered a sheep. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “What remains of it?” She said: “Nothing remains of it but its shoulder.” He said: “All of it remains except its shoulder.” Al-Tirmidhī narrated it and said: “A sound hadith.” Its meaning is: they gave it (the sheep) away in charity except its shoulder, so he said: it has all remained for us in the Hereafter except its shoulder.

On the authority of Asmāʾ bint Abī Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (may Allah be pleased with them both), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to me: “Do not tie up (your wealth in a hoard), lest it be tied up against you.” And in another narration: “Spend, or give freely, or distribute, and do not keep count, lest Allah keep count against you; and do not hoard, lest Allah withhold from you.” Agreed upon. “Infaḥī” is with an unpointed ḥāʾ, and it has the meaning of “anfiqī” (spend); and likewise “inḍaḥī.”

On the authority of Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), that he heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: “The likeness of the miser and the open-handed giver is like that of two men wearing coats of iron mail from their breasts to their collarbones. As for the giver, he does not spend but that it (the mail) expands — or spreads — over his skin until it covers his fingertips and effaces his tracks. And as for the miser, he does not wish to spend anything but that every ring clings to its place; he tries to widen it, but it does not widen.” Agreed upon. “Al-junnah” is the coat of mail; and its meaning is that whenever the giver spends, it expands and lengthens until it trails behind him and conceals his feet and the traces of his walking and his footsteps.

On his authority (Abū Hurayrah), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Whoever gives in charity the equivalent of a date from lawful (good) earnings — and Allah accepts only what is good — Allah accepts it with His right hand, then nurtures it for its giver as one of you raises his foal, until it becomes like a mountain.” Agreed upon. “Al-falūw” is (pronounced) with a fatḥah on the fāʾ, a ḍammah on the lām, and a doubling (shaddah) of the wāw; and it is also said with a kasrah on the fāʾ, a sukūn on the lām, and a light (unstressed) wāw: it is the foal (colt).

On his authority, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: “While a man was walking in a barren tract of land, he heard a voice in a cloud (saying): ‘Water the garden of so-and-so.’ That cloud moved aside and poured out its water onto a stony plain, and behold, one of those channels had absorbed all that water. He followed the water, and there was a man standing in his garden, directing the water with his spade. He said to him: ‘O servant of Allah, what is your name?’ He said: ‘So-and-so’ — the very name he had heard in the cloud. He said to him: ‘O servant of Allah, why do you ask me about my name?’ He said: ‘I heard a voice in the cloud whose water this is, saying: Water the garden of so-and-so — your name. What do you do with it?’ He said: ‘Now that you have said this — I look at what comes out of it and give a third of it in charity, and I and my family eat a third, and I return a third of it into it.’” Muslim narrated it. “Al-ḥarrah” is land covered with black stones. “Al-sharjah” — with a fatḥah on the pointed shīn, a sukūn on the rāʾ, and with a jīm — is a watercourse (channel of water).