The Book of Zakah

Amr ibn Ali and Muhammad ibn al-Muthanna reported: Yahya narrated to us, from Ibn Ajlan, from Saeed, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Give charity. A man said: O Messenger of Allah, I have a dinar. He said: Give it to yourself. He said: I have another. He said: Give it to your wife. He said: I have another. He said: Give it to your child. He said: I have another. He said: Give it to your servant. He said: I have another. He said: You know best.

Amr ibn Ali reported: Yahya narrated to us: Ibn Ajlan narrated to us, from Iyad, from Abu Saeed, that a man entered the mosque on Friday while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was preaching. He said: Pray two rakahs. Then the man came the following Friday while the Prophet ﷺ was preaching, and he said: Pray two rakahs. Then he came on the third Friday, and he said: Pray two rakahs. Then he said: Give charity. They gave charity, and he gave the man two garments. Then he said: Give charity. The man took off one of his garments. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Did you not see this man? He entered the mosque in shabby condition, and I hoped you would notice him and give charity to him, but you did not. So I said: Give charity, and you gave charity, and I gave him two garments. Then I said: Give charity, and he took off one of his garments. Take your garment! And he rebuked him.

Qutaybah reported: Hatim narrated to us, from Yazid ibn Abi Ubayd, who said: I heard Umayr, the freedman of Abi al-Lahm, say: My master ordered me to cure some meat. A poor man came, so I fed him some of it. My master learned of this and beat me. I went to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who summoned him and said: Why did you beat him? He replied: He is feeding my food without my ordering him. Another version says: without my permission. He said: The reward is between the two of you.

Muhammad ibn Abd al-Ala reported: Khalid narrated to us: Shuubah narrated to us: Ibn Abi Burdah informed me: I heard my father relate, from Abu Musa, from the Prophet ﷺ, who said: Charity is due from every Muslim. It was said: What if he has nothing to give? He said: He should work with his hands, benefit himself, and give charity. It was said: What if he cannot do that? He said: He should help someone in need who is distressed. It was said: What if he cannot do that? He said: He should enjoin what is good. It was said: What if he cannot do that? He said: He should refrain from evil, for that is charity.

Muhammad ibn al-Muthanna and Muhammad ibn Bashshar reported: Muhammad ibn Jafar narrated to us: Shuubah narrated to us, from Amr ibn Murrah, who said: I heard Abu Wail relate from Aishah, from the Prophet ﷺ, who said: When a woman gives charity from her husband house, she receives a reward, and her husband receives the like of it, and the treasurer receives the like of it. Neither of them diminishes anything from the reward of the other. The husband receives reward for what he earned, and she receives reward for what she spent.

Ismail ibn Masud reported: Khalid ibn al-Harith narrated to us: Husayn al-Muallim narrated to us, from Amr ibn Shuayb, that his father related to him from Abd Allah ibn Amr, who said: When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ conquered Makkah, he stood and addressed the people. In his sermon he said: A woman may not make a gift except with her husband permission. This is an abbreviated report.

Abu Dawud reported: Yahya ibn Hammad narrated to us: Abu Awanah informed us, from Firas, from Amir, from Masruq, from Aishah, may Allah be pleased with her, that the wives of the Prophet ﷺ gathered with him and asked: Which of us will be the first to join you? He said: The one with the longest hand. They took a reed and began measuring their hands. Sawdah was the first of them to join him, so she was the longest-handed among them. That was because of her abundant charity.

Mahmud ibn Ghaylan reported: Waki narrated to us: Sufyan narrated to us, from Umarah ibn al-Qaqa, from Abu Zurah, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: A man asked: O Messenger of Allah, which charity is best? He said: That you give charity while you are healthy and miserly, hoping for a long life and fearing poverty.

Amr ibn Ali reported: Yahya narrated to us: Amr ibn Uthman narrated to us: I heard Musa ibn Talhah say that Hakim ibn Hizam related to him that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: The best charity is what is given from surplus means. The upper hand is better than the lower hand, and begin with those you support.

Amr ibn Sawwad ibn al-Aswad ibn Amr reported from Ibn Wahb, who said: Yunus informed us, from Ibn Shihab, who said: Saeed ibn al-Musayyib told us that he heard Abu Hurayrah say: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: The best charity is what is given from surplus means, and begin with those you support.

Muhammad ibn Bashshar reported: Muhammad narrated to us: Shuubah narrated to us, from Adi ibn Thabit, who said: I heard Abd Allah ibn Yazid al-Ansari relate from Abu Masud, from the Prophet ﷺ, who said: When a man spends on his family, seeking reward for it, it counts as charity for him.

Qutaybah reported: al-Layth narrated to us, from Abu al-Zubayr, from Jabir, who said: A man from Banu Udhrah emancipated his enslaved man to take effect upon his death. This reached the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who said: Do you have any other property? He said: No. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Who will buy him from me? Nuaim ibn Abd Allah al-Adawi bought him for eight hundred dirhams. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ brought the money and gave it to him. Then he said: Begin with yourself and give charity to yourself. If anything remains, then to your family. If anything remains after your family, then to your relatives. If anything remains after your relatives, then so on and so forth—to those in front of you, on your right, and on your left.

Muhammad ibn Mansur reported: Sufyan narrated to us, from Ibn Jurayj, from al-Hasan ibn Muslim, from Tawus, who said: I heard Abu Hurayrah. Then he said: Abu al-Zinad narrated to us, from al-Araj, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: The likeness of a person who spends in charity and a miser is that of two men wearing coats—or shields—of iron, from their chests up to their collarbones. When the charitable person intends to spend, his armor expands or stretches until it covers his fingertips and erases his tracks. When the miser intends to spend, it contracts, and every ring stays in its place until it grips his collarbone or his neck. Abu Hurayrah said: I testify that he saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ trying to widen it, but it would not widen. Tawus said: I heard Abu Hurayrah gesturing with his hand as he tried to widen it, but it would not widen.

Ahmad ibn Sulayman reported: Affan narrated to us: Wuhayb narrated to us: Abd Allah ibn Tawus narrated to us, from his father, from Abu Hurayrah, from the Prophet ﷺ, who said: The likeness of a miser and a charitable person is that of two men wearing coats of iron, with their hands constrained up to their collarbones. Whenever the charitable person intends to give charity, his armor expands for him until it erases his tracks. Whenever the miser intends to give charity, every ring contracts toward its neighboring ring, and it shrinks around him until his hands draw together at his collarbones. I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: He tries hard to widen it, but it does not widen.

Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Hakam informed me, from Shuayb: al-Layth related to me: Khalid narrated to us, from Ibn Abi Hilal, from Umayyah ibn Hind, from Abu Umamah ibn Sahl ibn Hunayf, who said: One day we were sitting in the mosque, a group of the Emigrants and the Helpers. We sent a man to ask Aishah permission, and we entered to see her. She said: A beggar once came to me while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was with me. I ordered something to be given to him, then I called him back and looked at it. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Do you not want that nothing should enter your house and nothing leave it without your knowing? I said: Yes. He said: Gently, Aishah. Do not keep count, lest Allah, Mighty and Majestic, keep count against you.

Muhammad ibn Adam reported from Abdah, from Hisham ibn Urwah, from Fatimah, from Asma bint Abi Bakr, that the Prophet ﷺ said to her: Do not keep count, lest Allah, Mighty and Majestic, keep count against you.

Al-Hasan ibn Muhammad reported from Hajjaj, who said: Ibn Jurayj said: Ibn Abi Mulaykah informed me, from Abbad ibn Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, from Asma bint Abi Bakr, that she came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: O Prophet of Allah, I have nothing except what al-Zubayr brings to me. Would I be blameworthy if I gave small amounts from what he brings me? He said: Give as much as you can, and do not tie it up, lest Allah, Mighty and Majestic, withhold from you.

Nasr ibn Ali reported from Khalid, who said: Shuubah narrated to us, from al-Mihill, from Adi ibn Hatim, from the Prophet ﷺ, who said: Protect yourselves from the Fire, even with half a date.

Ismail ibn Masud reported: Khalid narrated to us: Shuubah narrated to us, that Amr ibn Murrah related to them, from Khaythamah, from Adi ibn Hatim, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ mentioned the Fire, turned his face away from it, and sought refuge from it. Shuubah mentioned that he did this three times. Then he said: Protect yourselves from the Fire, even with half a date; if you cannot find that, then with a good word.

Azhar ibn Jamil reported: Khalid ibn al-Harith narrated to us: Shuubah narrated to us. Awn ibn Abi Juhaifah mentioned that he heard al-Mundhir ibn Jarir relate from his father, who said: We were with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in the early part of the day when a group came, scantily clothed and barefoot, with their swords slung over them. Most of them—or all of them—were from Mudar. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ face changed when he saw their poverty. He went inside, then came out, and instructed Bilal to give the call to prayer and the iqamah. He prayed, then delivered a sermon and recited: O people, be mindful of your Lord, who created you from a single soul, created its mate from it, and spread from the two of them many men and women; and be mindful of Allah, in whose name you ask one another, and of family ties. Surely Allah is ever watchful over you. And: Be mindful of Allah, and let every soul consider what it has sent ahead for tomorrow. Then he said: Let a man give charity from his dinar, his dirham, his garment, a sa of wheat, or a sa of dates—even half a date. A man from the Ansar came with a purse so heavy that his hand could scarcely bear it; indeed, it could not. Then people came one after another, until I saw two piles of food and clothing. I saw the face of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ shining as if gilded. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Whoever begins a good practice in Islam will have its reward and the reward of those who act upon it, without anything being deducted from their rewards. Whoever begins a bad practice in Islam will bear its burden and the burden of those who act upon it, without anything being deducted from their burdens.