Category: Q n A

“Save yourself from Hell-fire even by giving half a date-fruit in charity.”

that she had gone to the Prophet (ﷺ) and he said, “Do not shut your money bag; otherwise Allah too will
withhold His blessings from you. Spend (in Allah’s Cause) as much as you can afford. ”

A 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, and did not eat
anything herself, and then she got up and went away. Then the Prophet (ﷺ) came in and I informed him
about this story. He said, “Whoever is put to trial by these daughters and he treats them generously
(with benevolence) then these daughters will act as a shield for him from Hell-Fire.” (See Hadith No.
24, Vol. 8).

Hudhaifa said, “`Umar said, ‘Who amongst you remembers the statement of Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) (p.b.u.h)
about afflictions’?’ I said, ‘I know it as the Prophet (ﷺ) had said it.’ `Umar said, ‘No doubt, you are bold.
How did he say it?’ I said, ‘A man’s afflictions (wrong deeds) concerning his wife, children and
neighbors are expiated by (his) prayers, charity, and enjoining good.’ (The sub-narrator Sulaiman
added that he said, ‘The prayer, charity, enjoining good and forbidding evil.’) `Umar said, ‘I did not
mean that, but I ask about that affliction which will spread like the waves of the sea.’ I said, ‘O chief of
the believers! You need not be afraid of it as there is a closed door between you and it.’ He asked,
‘Will the door be broken or opened?’ I replied, ‘No, it will be broken.’ He said, ‘Then, if it is broken, it
will never be closed again?’ I replied, ‘Yes.’ ” Then we were afraid to ask what that door was, so we
asked Masruq to inquire, and he asked Hudhaifa regarding it. Hudhaifa said, “The door was `Umar.
“We further asked Hudhaifa whether `Umar knew what that door meant. Hudhaifa replied in the
affirmative and added, “He knew it as one knows that there will be a night before the tomorrow
morning.”

A man came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and asked, “O Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ)! Which charity is the most superior in
reward?” He replied, “The charity which you practice while you are healthy, niggardly and afraid of
poverty and wish to become wealthy. Do not delay it to the time of approaching death and then say,
‘Give so much to such and such, and so much to such and such.’ And it has already belonged to such
and such (as it is too late).”

I said to Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ), “Before embracing Islam I used to do good deeds like giving in charity,
slave-manumitting, and the keeping of good relations with Kith and kin. Shall I be rewarded for those
deeds?” The Prophet (ﷺ) replied, “You became Muslim with all those good deeds (Without losing their
reward).”

Some of the wives of the Prophet (ﷺ) asked him, “Who amongst us will be the first to follow you (i.e. die
after you)?” He said, “Whoever has the longest hand.” So they started measuring their hands with a
stick and Sauda’s hand turned out to be the longest. (When Zainab bint Jahsh died first of all in the
caliphate of `Umar), we came to know that the long hand was a symbol of practicing charity, so she
was the first to follow the Prophet (ﷺ) and she used to love to practice charity. (Sauda died later in the
caliphate of Muawiya).

Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) (p.b.u.h) said, “A man said that he would give something in charity. He went out with
his object of charity and unknowingly gave it to a thief. Next morning the people said that he had
given his object of charity to a thief. (On hearing that) he said, “O Allah! All the praises are for you. I
will give alms again.” And so he again went out with his alms and (unknowingly) gave it to an
adulteress. Next morning the people said that he had given his alms to an adulteress last night. The
man said, “O Allah! All the praises are for you. (I gave my alms) to an adulteress. I will give alms
again.” So he went out with his alms again and (unknowingly) gave it to a rich person. (The people)
next morning said that he had given his alms to a wealthy person. He said, “O Allah! All the praises
are for you. (I had given alms) to a thief, to an adulteress and to a wealthy man.” Then someone came
and said to him, “The alms which you gave to the thief, might make him abstain from stealing, and
that given to the adulteress might make her abstain from illegal sexual intercourse (adultery), and that
given to the wealthy man might make him take a lesson from it and spend his wealth which Allah has
given him, in Allah’s cause.”

My grandfather, my father and I gave the pledge of allegiance to Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ). The Prophet (ﷺ) got me
engaged and then got me married. One day I went to the Prophet (ﷺ) with a complaint. My father Yazid
had taken some gold coins for charity and kept them with a man in the mosque (to give them to the
poor) But I went and took them and brought them to him (my father). My father said, “By Allah! I did
not intend to give them to you. ” I took (the case) to Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) . On that Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, “O
Yazid, you will be rewarded for what you intended. O Ma’n, whatever you have taken is yours.”

The Prophet (p.b.u.h) said, “Seven people will be shaded by Allah under His shade on the day when
there will be no shade except His. They are:
(1) a just ruler;
(2) a young man who has been brought up in the worship of Allah, (i.e. worship Allah (Alone)
sincerely from his childhood),
(3) a man whose heart is attached to the mosque (who offers the five compulsory congregational
prayers in the mosque);
(4) two persons who love each other only for Allah’s sake and they meet and part in Allah’s cause
only;
(5) a man who refuses the call of a charming woman of noble birth for an illegal sexual intercourse
with her and says: I am afraid of Allah;
(6) a person who practices 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).
(7) a person who remembers Allah in seclusion and his eyes get flooded with tears.”