The Book of Zakat

كتاب الزكاة

Chapter 9: Encouragement to give Charity

Abu Dharr reported

I walked with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) on the stony ground of Medina in the afternoon and we were looking at Uhud. The Messenger of Allah (way peace by upon him) said: Abu Dharr! I said: Messenger of Allah, I am here at thy beck and call. He said: What I desire is that Uhud be gold with me and three nights should pass and there is left with me any dinar but one coin which I would keep to pay debt. (I love) to spend it among the servants of Allah like this and he pointed in front of him, and on his right side and on his left side. We then proceeded on and he said: Abu Dharr. I said: At thy beck and call, Messenger of Allah. He (the Holy Prophet) said: The rich would be poor on the Day of Resurrection, but he who spent like this and like this and like this, and he pointed as at the first time. We again went on when he said. Abu Dharr, stay where you are till I come back to you. He (the Holy Prophet) then moved on till he disappeared from my sight He (Abu Dharr) said: I heard a sound and I heard a noise. I said (to myself): The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) might have met (mishap or an enemy). I wished to follow him but I remembered his command for not departing till he would come back. So I waited for him, and when he came I made a mention of what I heard. He said: it was Gabriel, who came to me and said:" He who dies among your Ummah without associating Anything with Allah would enter Paradise. I said: Even if he committed fornication or theft? He said: Even if he committed fornication or theft.

Abu Dharr reported

I went out one night (and found) the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) walking all alone. There was no man with him. I thought that he did not like anyone walking along with him. So I began to walk in the light of the moon. He, however turned his attention to me and saw me and said: Who is this? I said: It is Abu Dharr. Let Allah make me as ransom for you. He said: Abu Dharr, come on. He (Abu Dharr) said: So I walked along with him for some time and he said: The wealthy persons would have little (reward) on the Day of Resurrection, except upon whom Allah conferred goodness (wealth). He dispensed it to his right, left, in front of him and at his back (just as the wind diffuses fragrance) and did good with it (riches). I went along with him for some time when He said: Sit here. And he made me sit at a safe place and there were stones around it, and he said to me: Sit here till I come to you. He went away on the stony ground till I could not see him. He stayed away from me, and he prolonged his stay. Then I heard him as he came back and he was saying: Even if he committed theft and even if he committed fornication. When he came I could not help asking him: Apostle of Allah, let Allah make me ransom for you, whom were you speaking on the stony ground? I heard nobody responding to you. He (the Holy Prophet) said: It was Gabriel who met me by the side of the stony ground and said: Give glad tidings to your Ummah that he who died without associating ought with Allah would go into Paradise. I said: Gabriel, even if he committed theft and fornication? He said: Yes. I said: Even it he committed theft and fornication? He said: Yes, I again said: Even if he committed theft and fornication? He said: Yes, even if he drank wine.

Chapter 10: Stern warning concerning those who hoard wealth

Ahnaf b. Qais reported

I came to Medina and when I was in the company of the grandees of Quraish a man with a crude body and an uncouth face wearing coarse clothes came there. He stood up before them and said: Give glad tidings to those whom who amass riches of the stones which would be heated in the Fire of Hell, and would be placed at the tick of the chest till it would project from the shoulder bone and would he put on the shoulder bone till it would project from the tick of his chest, and it (this stone) would continue passing and repassing (from one side to the other). He (the narrator) said: Then people hung their heads and I saw none among them giving any answer. He then returned and I followed him till he sat near a pillar. I said: I find that these (people) disliked what you said to them and they do not understand anything. My friend Abu'l-Qasim (Muhammad) (may peace he upon him) called me and I responded to him, and he said: Do you see Uhud? I saw the sun (shining) on me and I thought that he would send me on an errand for him. So I said: I see it. Upon this he said: Nothing would delight me more than this that I should have gold like it (equal to the bulk of Uhud), and I should spend it all except three dinars. (How sad it is) that they hoard worldly riches, and they know nothing. I said: What about you and your brothers Quraish? You do not go to thein for any need and do not accept anything from them. He said: By Allah, I neither beg anything from them (from worldly goods), nor do I ask them anything about religion till I meet my Allah and His Messenger.

Ahnaf b. Qais reported

While I was in the company of the (elites) of Quraiah, Abu Dharr came there and he was saying: Give glad tidings to the hoarders of riches that their backs would be branded (so deeply) that (the hot Iron) would come out of their sides, and when the backs of their necks would be branded, it would come out of their foreheads. He (Abu Dharr) then went away and sat down. I asked who he was. They said: He is Abu Dharr. I went to him and said to him: What is this that I heard from you which you were saying before? He said: I said nothing but only that which I heard from their Prophet (ﷺ). I again said: What do you say about this gift? He said: Take it, for today it is a help. But when it becomes a price for your religion, then abandon it.

Chapter 11: Encouragement to spend and glad tidings of compensation for the one who spends on good deeds

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying that Allah, the Most Blessed and High, said

O son of Adam, spend. I will spend on you. The right hand of Allah is full and overflowing and in nothing would diminish it, by overspending day and night.

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying that Allah said to him

" Spend, I will bestow upon you." And the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: The right hand of Allah is full and spending (the riches) liberally during day and night will not diminish (the resources of Allah). Don't you see what (an enormous amount of resources) He has spent since He created the heaven and the earth, and what is in His right hand has not decreased? His Throne is upon the water. And in His other hand is death, and He elevates and degrades (whom He likes).

Chapter 12: The virtue of spending on one's family and slaves, and the sin of the one who neglects them or withholds maintenance from them

Thauban reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying

The most excellent dinar is one that a person spends on his family, and the dinar which he spends on his animal in Allah's path, and the dinar he spends on his companions in Allah's path. Abu Qilaba (one of the narrators) said: He (the narrator) started with family, and then Abu Qilaba said: Who is the person with greater reward than a person who spends on young members of his family (and thus) preserves (saves them from want) (and by virtue of which) Allah brings profit for them and makes them rich.

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying

Of the dinar you spend as a contribution in Allah's path, or to set free a slave, or as a sadaqa given to a needy, or to support your family, the one yielding the greatest reward is that which you spent on your family.

Khaithama reported

While we were sitting in the company of 'Abdullah b. 'Umar there came in his steward. He (Ibn 'Umar) said: Have you supplied the provision to the slaves? He said: No. Upon this he said: Go and give (the provision) to them, for the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) has said: This sin is enough for a man that he withholds the subsistence from one whose master he is.

Chapter 13: Starting with oneself, then one's family, then one's relatives, when spending

Jabir reported

A person from the Banu 'Udhra set a slave free after his death. This news reached the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon hhn). Upon this he said: Have you any property besides it? He said: No. Upon this he said: Who would buy (this slave) from me? Nulaim b. Abdullah bought it for eight hundred dirhams and (this amount was) brought to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) who returned it to him (the owner), and then said: Start with your own self and spend it on yourself, and if anything is left, it should be spent on your family, and if anything is left (after meeting the needs of the family) it should be spent on relatives, and if anything is left from the family, it should be spent like this, like this. And he was saying: In front of you, on your right and on your left.

Jabir reported that a person among the Ansar who was called Abu Madhkur granted posthumous freedom to his slave who was called Ya'qub. The rest of the hadith is the same.

Chapter 14: The virtue of spending and giving charity to relatives, spuses, children and parents, even if they are idolaters

Anas b. Malik is reported as saying

Abu Talha was the one among the Ansar of Medina who possessed the largest property and among his property he valued most was his garden known as Bairaha' which was opposite the mosque, and the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) often visited it and he drank of its sweet water. When this verse was revealed: "You will never attain righteousness till you give freely of what you love" (iii. 91), Abu Talha got up and, going to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ), said: Allah says in His Book: "You will never attain righteousness till you give freely of what you love," and the dearest of my property is Bairaha' so I give it as Sadaqa to God from Whom I hope for reward for it and the treasure with Allah; so spend it, Messenger of Allah, on whatever purpose you deem it proper. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Well done! that is a profitable deal, that is a profitable deal. I have heard what you have said, but I think you should spend it on your nearest relatives. So Abu Talha distributed it among the nearest relatives and his cousins on his father's side.

Anas reported that when this verse was tevealed

" You will not attain righteousness till you give freely of what you love," Abu Talha said: I see that our Lord has demanded from us out of our property; so I make you a witness, Messenger of Allah. that I give my land known as Bairaha' for the sake of Allah. Upon this the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Give that to your relatives. So he gave it to Hassan b. Thabit and Ubayy b. Ka'b.

Maimuna bint Harith reported that she set free a slave-girl during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and she made a mention of that to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and he said

Had you gives her to your maternal uncles, you would have a greater reward.

Zainab, the wife of 'Abdullah (b. Mas'ud ), reported that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said

0 women, give sadaqa even though it be some of your jewellery. She returned to 'Abdullah and said: You are a person with empty hands, whereas the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) has commanded us to give sadaqa, so better go to him and ask and if this will suffice for me; otherwise I shall give it to someone else. 'Abdullah said to me (his wife): You better go yourself. So I went and there was another woman of the Ansar at the door of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) having the same porpose as I had. Now Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) was invested with awe (so we did not like to knock). Then Bilal came out and we said to him: Go to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and inform him that there are two women at the door asking him whether it will serve them to give sadaqa to their spouses and to orphans who are under their charge, but do not inform him who we are. Bilal went to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and asked him (what these women had instructed him to ask). The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) asked him who these women were. He (Bilal) said: They are women from Ansar and Zainab. Upon this the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Which of the Zainabs? He said: The wife of 'Abdullah. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: There are two rewards for them, the reward of kinship and the reward of Sadaqa.

A hadith like this has been narrated on the authority of Zainab the wife of 'Abdullah, and she said

I was in the mosque and the Prophet of Allah (ﷺ) saw me and said: Give Sadaqa even though it is out of your jewellery. The rest of the hadith is the same.

Umm Salama said

I asked the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) whether there is a reward for me if I spend on Abu Salama's sons, and I am not going to abandon them in this state (of helplessness) for they are my sons. He (the Holy Prophet) said: Yes. For you is the reward for what you spend on them.

This hadith has been narrated by Ibn 'Urwa with the same chain of transmitters.

Abu Mas'ud reported Allah's Messenger (way peace be upon him) as saying

When a Muslim spends on his family seeking reward for it from Allah, it counts for him as sadaqa.

This hadith has been narrated by Shu'ba with the same chain of transmitters.