Charity does not only help Muslims to get closer to Allah and purify their souls. It also has many rewards that is mentioned in many Hadiths about charity.
Charity has a great place in Islam as it is a religion of peace and love among people. No doubt that charity helps balancing society through helping those in need to ensure them a better life.
Charity is one of the teachings of Islam that encourage empathy, generosity and selflessness. And, it aims to alleviate poverty and suffering across the world.
Helping those in need, sharing our wealth, and supporting orphans and widows are of the main actions that Islam encourage and we can touch in many Hadiths about charity of the Prophet PBUH.
What is Charity in Islam?
Charity in Islam (Arabic: Sadaqh) is the act of giving what someone owns to another for the sake of pleasuring Allah SWT and not waiting for something in return.
In Islam, charity is not limited to giving money or something. It can be by any act of kindness or help to other people like smiling, removing harm from a road, or helping someone in need. Even spending on your family is considered Sadaqh if you intended it to be for Allah.
Types of charity
Charity in Islam can be classified into many types but there are mainly two types:
Mandatory charity or Zakat and it’s one of the five pillars of Islam that applies to all adult Muslims who meet the Nisab (a fixed amount) threshold. With which Muslims should pay a fixed amount usually 2.5% of their wealth.
Voluntary charity or Sadaqh it refers to any charity Muslims can donate with no minimum or maximum amount. This type was recommended by the prophet PBUH in many occasions and it has a great value in Islam.
This article will be focused on Sadaqh (the voluntary charity). We can read in the following lines amazing Hadiths about charity.
Hadiths about charity from Sunna
1. Hadith about charity in secret
Charity is as good deeds that require sincerity of intention to Allah to be accepted.
Giving charity isn’t by just by giving. It must be sincerely for the sake of pleasuring Allah and not for this world purpose. We can know this from Quran and the teachings of the propjet Salla Allahu Allihi Wassalam. Also, the following Hadith emphasize the importance of giving Charity secretly and how it helps the giver in the day of Judgement.
Abu Hurairah (RAA) narrated that The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:“Seven people will be shaded by Allah under His shade on the day when there will be no shade except His ….” He mentioned the rest of the hadith, which says, “and a man who gives charity so secretly that his left hand does not know what his right hand has given.” (i.e. nobody knows how much he has given in charity).
2. Charity will shade the giver in the day of Resurrection
The prophet said “Everybody will be shaded by his Sadaqah (on the Day of Judgment) until it has been judged between people.”
3. Hadith about Charity will continue to benefit after death
Unlike other good deeds which will not be more beneficial after we die. Charity will continue to get us more rewards from Allah as long there are people benefiting from this Sadaqh.
The prophet said: When a man dies, his acts come to an end, but three, recurring charity, or knowledge (by which people) benefit, or a pious son, who prays for him (for the deceased).
4. Allah is rewarding for charity in this life and the hereafter
Spending will be given back more by Allah in the hereafter. Because this life pleasure has an end but the pleasure in Junnah is endless making charity a permanent investment.
Abu Huraira reported God’s messenger as stating that Allah the most high had said, “If you spend, son of Adam, I shall spend on you.”
Meaning: you spend on other than yourself, Allah, the Almighty, will spend on you because: {Whatever you have will end, but what Allah has is lasting} [Sūrat An-Nahl: 96].
This Hadith implies that one shouldn’t be afraid from poverty when giving because the spending of Allah is in this life too and you will be more compensated and the spending will be too much in the hereafter for what a person has given as charity.
5. Charity protects from hellfire
The prophet said: So protect (yourselves) from (Hell) Fire, by giving in charity even half a date; and if he does not finds it, then with a kind word”.
6. Angels make Dua for the one who gives
Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: There is never a day wherein servants (of God) get up at morn, but are not visited by two angels. One of them says: 0 Allah, give him more who spends (for the sake of Allah), and the other says: 0 Allah, bring destruction to one who withholds.
7. Hadith about charity will not decrease wealth
The prophet said: “The wealth of a slave (of Allah) shall not be decreased by charity,
8. Giving relatives and family is Sadaqah
Anas said that Abu Talha was the one among the Ansar who possessed most palm trees, the property he prized most being Bairaha’ which was opposite the mosque and was often entered by God’s messenger who drank some of the sweet water it contained. When this verse came down, “You will never attain righteousness till you give freely of what you love,” [Quran 3:92] Abu Talha got up and went to God’s messenger said, “Messenger of God, God says, ‘You will never attain righteousness till you give freely of what you love,’ and my property which I prize most is Bairaha’, so I give it as sadaqah to God most high from whom I hope for reward for the act of righteousness and the treasure relating to it; so apply it, the messenger of God, to whatever purpose God shows you.” He replied, “Bravo! That is a profitable property. I have heard what you said, and I think you should apply it to your nearest relatives.” Abu Talha told God’s messenger he would do so, and divided it among his nearest relatives and his cousins on his father’s side.
In this hadith, Abu Talha the companion of the prophet wanted to devote his garden as Sadaqh. The prophet told him it will be profitable as charity and asked him to distribute it among his relatives. This is one of the Hadiths about charity for family and it can be for family or relatives.
9. Hadith about charity for family
Thauban reported God’s messenger as saying, “The most excellent dinar a man spends is one he spends on his family, one which he spends on his animal in God’s path, and one he spends on his companions in God’s path.”
10. Giving a needy debtor will ease this life and the hereafter
It was narrated from Abu Hurairah that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:
Whoever is easy with (a debtor) who is in difficulty, Allah will be easy with him in this world and in the Hereafter.”
11. Amazing Hadith about charity
Abu Huraira reported:
While a person was in the wilderness he heard a voice from the cloud (commanding it thus): Irrigate the garden of so and so. (After that the clouds slinked aside and poured water on a stony ground. It filled a channel amongst the channels of that land and that person followed that water and he found a person standing in the garden busy in changing the course of water with the help of a hatchet. He said to him: Servant of Allah, what is your name? he said: So and so. And it was that very name which he had heard from the clouds. and he said to him: Servant of Allah, why do you ask me my name? He said: I heard a voice from the clouds of which is the downpour, saying: Water the garden of so and so, like your name. What do you do (for the favour) shown to you by Allah in this matter? He said: Now as you state so. I look what yield I get from it, and I give one-third as charity out of it and my children eat one-third of it and one-third I return to it as an investment.
Conclusion
As we can see from reading what the prophet has said about charity and giving Sadaqah. We can find out how important is to give Sadaqah regularly and how it can change your life for the better if was done for the sake of Allah as many companions of the prophet were donating their wealth for the sake of Allah and in Jihad against enemies of Islam.
I hope those Hadiths about charity I mentioned in this post were helpful to you in knowing more about Sadaqh. And, I remind you of Zakat the mandatory charity that’s is a pillar of Islam when conditions are met.
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