Zakat (Kitab Al-Zakat)

كتاب الزكاة

Chapter 24: The Rich Person Who Is Allowed To Accept Sadaqah

Narrated Ata ibn Yasar

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Sadaqah may not be given to rich man, with the exception of five classes: One who fights in Allah's path, or who collects it, or a debtor, or a man who buys it with his money, or a man who has a poor neighbour who has been given sadaqah and gives a present to the rich man.

The aforesaid tradition has also been transmitted by abu-Said al-Khudri to the same effect to a different chain of narrators, attributing it to the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him).Abu-Dawud said

Ibn ‘Uyainah reported from Zaid, from whom Malik narrated and Thwari narrated from Zaid that an authentic narrator reported from the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him)

Abu-Said reported

Abu-Dawud said : This has been transmitted by Abu- Said through a different chain of narrators in a similar way.

Chapter 25: How Much Zakat Can Be Given To A Single Person

Basheer b. Yasar said that a man from the Ansar called Sahi b. abu-Hatmah told him that Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) gave one Hundred camels to him a blood-wit from among the camels of sadaqah, i.e a blood-wit for the Ansari who was killed at Khaibar.

Chapter 26: Situations Where Begging Is Allowed And Where It Is Not Allowed

Narrated Samurah ibn Jundub

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Acts of begging are lacerations with which a man disfigures his face, so he who wishes may preserve his self-respect, and he who wishes may abandon it; but this does not apply to one who begs from a ruler, or in a situation which makes it necessary.

Qabisah b. Mukhiriq al-Hilali said

I became a guarantor for a payment, and I came to Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him). He said: Wait till I receive the sadaqah and I shall order it to be given to you. He then said : Begging, Qabisah, is allowable only to one of three classes: a man who has become a guarantor for a payment to whom begging is allowed till he gets it, after which he must stop (begging); a man who has been stricken by a calamity and it destroys his property to whom begging is allowed till he gets what will support life (or he said, what will provide a reasonable subsistence); and a man who has been smitten by poverty, about whom three intelligent members of his people confirm by saying: So and so has been smitten by poverty, to such a person begging is allowed till be gets what will support life (or he said, what will provide a reasonable subsistence), after which he must stop (begging). Any other reason for begging, Qabisah, is forbidden, and one who engages in such consumes it as a thing which is forbidden.

Narrated Anas ibn Malik

A man of the Ansar came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and begged from him.

He (the Prophet) asked: Have you nothing in your house? He replied: Yes, a piece of cloth, a part of which we wear and a part of which we spread (on the ground), and a wooden bowl from which we drink water.

He said: Bring them to me. He then brought these articles to him and he (the Prophet) took them in his hands and asked: Who will buy these? A man said: I shall buy them for one dirham. He said twice or thrice: Who will offer more than one dirham? A man said: I shall buy them for two dirhams.

He gave these to him and took the two dirhams and, giving them to the Ansari, he said: Buy food with one of them and hand it to your family, and buy an axe and bring it to me. He then brought it to him. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) fixed a handle on it with his own hands and said: Go, gather firewood and sell it, and do not let me see you for a fortnight. The man went away and gathered firewood and sold it. When he had earned ten dirhams, he came to him and bought a garment with some of them and food with the others.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) then said: This is better for you than that begging should come as a spot on your face on the Day of Judgment. Begging is right only for three people: one who is in grinding poverty, one who is seriously in debt, or one who is responsible for compensation and finds it difficult to pay.

Chapter 27: Disapproval Of Begging

Awf b. Malik said

Abu Dawud said : The version of Hisham was not narrated by anyone except Sa'id.

Thawban, the client of the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him), reported him as saying

If anyone guarantees me that he will not beg from people, I will guarantee him Paradise. Thawban said : I (will not beg). He never asked anyone for anything.

Chapter 28: On Abstinence From Begging

Abu Said al-Khudri said

He then said :What I have I shall never store away from you but Allah will strengthen the abstinence of him who abstains, will give a satisfaction to him who wants to be satisfied, and will strengthen the endurance of him who shows endurance. No one has been given a more ample gift than endurance.

Narrated Abdullah ibn Mas'ud

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If one who is afflicted with poverty refers it to me, his poverty will not be brought to an end; but if one refers it to Allah, He will soon give him sufficiency, either by a speedy death or by a sufficiency which comes later.

Narrated Ibn al-Firasi

Al-Firasi asked the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ): May I beg, Messenger of Allah? The Prophet (ﷺ) said: No, but if there is no escape from it, beg from the upright.

Ibn al-Saidi said

Umar employed me to collect the sadaqah. When I finished doing so and gave it to him, he ordered payment to be given to me. I said: I did only for Allah’s sake, and my reward will come from Allah. He said: Take what you are given, for I acted (as a collector) during the time of the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) and he assigned me a payment. Thereupon, I said the same kind of thing as you have said, to which Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) said: When you are given something without asking for it, you should use it for your own purpose and as sadaqah.

Abd Allah b. ‘Umar reported that the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) said when he was on the pulpit speaking of sadaqah and abstention from it and begging

Abu Dawud said : The version of this tradition narrated by Ayyub from Nafi is disputed. The narrator `Abd al-Warith said in his version : `The upper hand is the one which abstains from begging;” but most of the narrators have narrated from Hammad b. Zaid from Ayyub the words “ The upper hand is the one which bestows.” A narrator from Hammad said in his version “the one which abstains from begging.”

Narrated Malik ibn Nadlah

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Hands are of three types: Allah's hand is the upper one; the bestower's hand is the one near it; the beggar's hand is the lower one. So bestow what is surplus, and do not submit yourself to the demand of your soul.

Chapter 29: On Giving Sadaqah To Banu Hashim

Narrated AbuRafi'

The Prophet (ﷺ) sent a man of the Banu Makhzum to collect sadaqah. He said to AbuRafi': Accompany me so that you may get some of it. He said: (I cannot take it) until I go to the Prophet (ﷺ) and ask him. Then he went to him and asked him. He said: The sadaqah is not lawful for us, and the client of a people is treated as one of them.

Anas said

The Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) came upon a date on the road; he would not take it for fear of being a part of the sadaqah.

Anas said

Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) found a date and said: Were it not that I fear it may be part of the sadaqah, I would eat it.

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas

My father sent me to the Prophet (ﷺ) to take the camels which he had given him from among those of sadaqah.

The aforesaid tradition has also been transmitted by Ibn Abbas through a different chain of narrators in a similar manner. This version adds

“My father exchanged them for him”.