[1]<\/a><\/p>\nOne day the Prophet Muhammad offered the prayer in the mosque and then hurriedly went to his house and returned immediately.\u00a0 A companion asked \u00a0why he left and he replied,<\/p>\n
\u201cI left a piece of gold at home which was given for charity and I disliked letting it remain a night in my house, so I bought it to the mosque to distribute.\u201d (Saheeh Al-Bukhari<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Our worldly possessions are bounties from God, who is Al Kareem, the Most Generous.\u00a0 Muslims believe that everything originates from God and everything will return to Him, thus, it is logical to behave as if that which we possess is merely a loan, something we are obligated to preserve, protect and ultimately share.<\/p>\n
Whenever Prophet Muhammad met a miserly person, he advised him to be more generous and charitable.\u00a0 Ibn `Abbas said that he heard Prophet Muhammad say, \u201cThe believer is not the one who eats when his neighbour beside him is hungry,\u201d<\/strong> another companion heard the Prophet say, \u201cThe believer is simple and generous, but the wicked person is deceitful and ignoble.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nGenerosity Defined<\/h2>\n
Princeton University wordnet defines generosity as the willingness to give freely.\u00a0 Islam encourages this concept of generosity so much so that it is embedded in one of the five pillars of Islam, the obligatory charity known as Zakaat.\u00a0 In Arabic, the term zakaat literally means purification of the heart however; it is also the payment, from surplus money, of an obligatory charity designed by God to provide for all the needy members of the community.\u00a0 It is a fixed calculable amount.<\/p>\n
There is also another form of generosity in Islam called sadaqa<\/em>.\u00a0 Linguistically, sadaqa<\/em> means truthfulness, and some scholars have described it as the heart being truthful to its Creator. Anything given generously – freely to others – with the intention of pleasing God is sadaqa<\/em>.\u00a0 Sadaqa<\/em> can be as simple as a smile, helping an elderly person with their groceries or removing objects from the road or path.<\/p>\nGenerosity can be viewed as a wise investment in the future. Generosity or sadaqa<\/em> may pave the way to Paradise because with every generous act comes great reward from God. However, being generous does not only mean giving freely from what you have in abundance.\u00a0 Generosity does not lie in giving away something that is no longer useful but in giving freely from the things we love or need.<\/p>\nAisha (the wife of the Prophet) said, \u201cA lady, along with her two daughters came to me asking for some alms, but she found nothing with me except one date which I gave to her and she divided it between her two daughters.\u201d (Saheeh Al-Bukhari<\/em>)<\/p>\nGod tells us in the Quran that whatever we give away generously, with the intention of pleasing Him, He will replace it. God knows what is in the hearts of men.<\/p>\n
Say: \u201cTruly, my Lord enlarges the provision for whom He wills of His slaves, and also restricts it) for him, and whatsoever you spend of anything (in God\u2019s Cause), He will replace it.\u00a0 And He is the Best of providers.\u201d (Quran 34:39)<\/p>\n
The Value of Generosity<\/h2>\n
The companions of Prophet Muhammad understood the value of being generous. Abdullah ibn Omar was seen in the market buying fodder for his camel on credit.\u00a0 One of the men queried this knowing that Abdullah had received 4000 dirhams and a blanket the previous day.\u00a0 It was explained that before nightfall Abdullah had distributed the money amongst the needy.\u00a0 He then took the blanket, threw it over his shoulder and headed home, but by the time he arrived even the blanket was gone, he had given it to a needy person.<\/p>\n
After the death of the Prophet, the people faced great hardship due to drought.\u00a0 They came to Abu Bakr asking him to provide them with enough to sustain them, but he was unable to help, the treasury was empty.\u00a0 Just at that time, the camel caravan belonging to Uthman arrived from Damascus.\u00a0 It was filled with foodstuffs and other goods.\u00a0 The merchants gathered at Uthman\u2019s house offering him large amounts of money for the goods; however, he turned them down saying he was prepared only to give the goods to the One from whom he would receive the greatest reward.\u00a0 Uthman gave all the goods to the starving people of Madinah and did not charge them.\u00a0 He knew that God would reward him with something far greater than money.<\/p>\n
Even in the direst of circumstances, person who is a true believer in Almighty God is able to be generous.<\/p>\n
The people came to the Prophet Muhammad and asked, \u201cIf someone has nothing to give, what will he do?\u201d\u00a0 He said, \u201cHe should work with his hands and benefit himself and also give in charity (from what he earns).\u201d\u00a0 The people further asked, \u201cIf he cannot find even that?\u201d\u00a0 He replied, \u201cHe should help the needy who appeal for help.\u201d\u00a0 Then the people asked, \u201cIf he cannot do that?\u201d\u00a0 He replied, \u201cThen he should perform good deeds and keep away from evil deeds and this will be regarded as charitable deeds.\u201d (Saheeh Al-Bukhari<\/em>)<\/p>\nAnd God says in the Quran that He will repay the generosity of a believer.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd whatever you spend in good, it will be repaid to you in full, and you shall not be wronged.\u201d (Quran 2:272)<\/p>\n
God is the One who provides for us and He expects us to share generously.\u00a0 We are encouraged to be benevolent and unselfish with our possessions, with our time and with our exemplary behaviour towards others.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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Footnotes:<\/p>\n
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[1]<\/a> Saheeh Al-Bukhari, Saheeh Muslim<\/em><\/p>\nThe Islamic month in which Muslims fast, one of the five pillars of Islam.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Aisha Stacey As humans, we have an innate sense of morality.\u00a0 No matter what religion, race or colour we are, certain qualities serve as the moral standard.\u00a0 We admire justice, bravery, honesty...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[27,70,29,13,41,67],"class_list":["post-214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ethics-in-islam","tag-ethics","tag-generosity","tag-human","tag-islam-2","tag-moral","tag-morality"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=214"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":215,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214\/revisions\/215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}