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Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him)
reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said,
"There is no person who does not have
the obligation of (doing) charity every day that the sun rises."
Whereupon he was asked, "O Messenger of
Allah, from where would we get something to give in charity (so
often)?" To which he (peace and blessings be upon him) replied,
"Indeed the gates to goodness are
many: glorifying God, praising Him, magnifying Him, saying 'There is no
god but Allah,' enjoining the good and forbidding the wrong, removing
(any source of) harm from the road, making the deaf hear (and
understand), guiding the blind, showing the seeker his need, striving as
far as your two legs could carry you and with deep concern to give
succor to him who asks, carrying with the strength of your arms (the
burdens of) the weak. All these are (acts of) charity." And he
added, "And your smiling in the face of your brother is charity,
your removing of stones, thorns, and bones from people's paths is
charity, and your guiding a man gone astray in the world is charity for
you."
Any person who comes across this beautiful
saying must pause for some moments to consider some of its meanings and
implications. The hadith has two main concerns:
1. Awakening the springs of goodness in the
human heart
2. Strengthening the society with the bond of
love, affection, and brotherhood
Charity, as it is traditionally understood,
consists of money or various objects given by the rich to help the poor or
by the strong to help the weak. Charity, according to this understanding,
is extremely narrow and its effects on the life of society are limited.
The saying of the Prophet, however, takes charity out of this narrow,
physical meaning and on to a spiritual plane that opens up a vast and
limitless world by emphasizing that every good is charity. And on every
person is the obligation of charity. This is a unique concept of charity.
What is charity? Isn't it "giving"? Indeed, so it is. Then let
every act of giving be charity—even a smile in the face of your brother.
Charity has a physical and a spiritual dimension which are thus fused into
one so that a person can say in giving charity: Take this penny or take
this helping hand or take this feeling!
It is all one practical method proceeding from
the depths of the soul, but we do not always realize the essence of it.
The noble Prophet makes us realize the single spiritual essence which lies
behind every act of goodness. But the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon
him) does not want us merely to know. Knowledge is not an end in itself.
He wants to make us return to goodness, goodness which is the very word of
God, and the word of God is supreme. He wants that each of us should move
and stir ourselves from within into goodness so that giving would become a
habit of life, and that this habit would pass from person to person and
prove infectious throughout society.
The wisdom of the Prophet lies in expanding the
scope of goodness so that it becomes within the scope of each individual.
If charity or goodness were to remain restricted to tangible things or to
money, many persons would be prevented from doing humanitarian deeds and
much wealth would remain locked up within individuals with no one
benefiting and no one discovering its rich and abundant meaning.
The noble Prophet himself acted in a kind and
concerned manner in all his human relationships just as a kind and
concerned father would behave towards his son. He showed the way to
people—step by step—and identified himself with their problems
tirelessly and whatever the obstacles were. He showed in so doing the best
way to train people and to win their hearts. That is why he made actions
which seem to be quite a significant part of charity. That is why he was
able to say:
"Smiling in the face of your brother
is charity … and pouring out from your bucket into your brother's
bucket is charity." (Authenticated by Al-Albani)
There are some people who do not ever smile and
they do not ever open up their facial features when they meet others.
There are people who are even stingy with a drop of water, a drop of
God-given water! They may be malicious, or within them there is a disease
that has blocked the springs of goodness in their souls. The problem is
not merely a smile or a drop of water. It concerns the act of giving.
Giving is movement from within which opens up the locked doors of the
self, stirring the spiritual hand and making it open freely and widely.
Giving is a positive movement, and the soul that is conditioned by
positive impulses is a living, stirring, active soul that stands in marked
contrast to the negative, cramped, and feeble soul.
Charity in its tangible, narrow sense divides
people into the receivers on the one hand and the givers on the other.
This division inspires among the receivers feelings of weakness and even
of error, and among those who give feelings of pride and conceit. Such a
division, for society, is extremely evil.
But the comprehensive Islamic concept of
charity, which includes all good actions however small they may be, allows
all people, whether rich or poor, to become givers and receivers on an
equal basis. This points to another basic principle of Islamic thought and
behavior—that the standard on which life is judged is not the
materialistic or the economic standard alone but one based on faith,
feeling, and sensitivity, which form the core of human relations.
Mankind has always been absorbed with and
infatuated by amassing wealth and possessions, and often considers such
materialism to be the very mainstay of life. But a society based on
economic and materialistic considerations alone is often dry and hard and
callous and is eaten up by hatred and envy. Of course, Islam does not
neglect the material world and the needs of life. Indeed it gives it due
attention. But it does not merely stop there, because life in actuality
does not stop there. Instead it carries it on to wider and varied
horizons, to greater and higher levels. For Islam is the religion of life
complete. And from it comes the ties of faith, affection, and love to bind
hearts and the society together. Allah says in the Qur'an,
(And (as
for the believers) God has brought their hearts together. And if you had
spent all that is in the earth you could not have brought their hearts
together.) (Al-Anfal 8:63)
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)
said,
"No one of you (truly) believes until
he loves for his brother what he loves for himself." (Al-Bukhari
and Muslim)
This is the essence of charity. So begin by
meeting your brother with a smile. This would open up locked souls,
penetrate to the depths of the heart, and exert a magnetic bond on
society. Read the hadith again and see how it reaches into the depths of
the soul, the essence of existence, and creates hearts that are tender,
pure, radiant, and beautiful.
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