In Giving, What Diminishes is What Remains

In Giving, What Diminishes is What Remains

Ustadha Mona Elzankaly, currently enrolled in the seminary program at Zaytuna Institute, has studied in various parts of the Muslim world and holds teaching licenses in several Islamic subjects. We asked for her reflections about giving in the Muslim spiritual tradition.

Charity, rather than being limited to giving money or feeding the poor, is in fact the extension of goodness and benefit to others. It can be a smile, a kind word, or the act of removing harm from the road. It is the best of actions and the most beloved to God. The Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is reported to have said, “Verily the most beloved action to God is a happiness that you enter upon a believer, alleviating him
from a tribulation, fulfilling his debt, or dispelling from him hunger.”God promises many benefits to the one who gives charity. The Noble Qur’an and various prophetic narrations reveal these benefits to us. Giving charity increases one’s life, protects one from dying an evil death, and draws one nearer to God. Through charitable acts, God removes arrogance and pride. Giving charity cures illnesses, wipes out sins, and provides shade on the Day of Judgment, and there is a special door in Paradise for those who are charitable.

The Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, has said, “Wealth does not diminish from giving charity.” In other words, one should give freely and not fear poverty. We see from the example of the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, how he always gave everything that he had and lived on very little. Paradoxical as it may seem, the Messenger of God, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, taught us that that which goes out for the sake of God is what remains, and what we keep for ourselves is what diminishes. Imam Muslim narrates that the Messenger of God, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, asked Sayyida ‘Aisha, radiallahu ‘anha, about a sheep that was slaughtered [and donated to the needy], “What remains of it?” She replied, “Nothing but the shoulder.” He, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, replied, “All of it remains except the shoulder.”

Also, consider that Imam al-Bukhari narrates that the Messenger of God, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, “Two qualities are never coupled in a believer: miserliness and immorality.” Nowhere has God promised poverty for the one who is generous, and in no hadith has the Messenger of God, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, promised poverty for the one who gives charity. In fact, the opposite is true. Poverty is promised for the one who is greedy and the one who is treacherous: So keep your duty to God as best you can, and listen and obey and spend; that is better for your souls. And those who are saved from their own greed will surely prosper (Qur’an 64:16).

God knows what is best for us; indeed, He created us, and who knows the creation better than the Creator? He commanded us to our best interests, and He warned us against that which will be our downfall. He warned us about Satan and about our lower selves, both of which command us to evil. He warned us that Satan threatens us with poverty and commands us towards immorality, which is easy to fall into once one has fear of poverty. We can avoid allowing Satan and the lower self to lead us from the good God has promised us by recognizing our mortality and knowing that we can only take our wealth with us if we give it for the sake of God before we depart this world.

Knowing all this, what makes us withhold charity?

In his book, Purification of the Heart, Sidi Muhammad Mawlud identifies both the disease and the cure in just a few verses of poetry:

Fear of poverty originates in having a bad opinion of [God]
the Exalted, and its cure is in having a good opinion

and knowing that what God possesses is never diminished
in the least and that what has been apportioned to you will
reach you inevitably.

Out of His infinite blessings, God has given us an easy way to draw near to Him, but few people reflect and take advantage of this. Indeed, this world is diminishing, and what God has is greater than what anyone can imagine.?

Source: Zaytuna Institute