Spending in the way of Allah is a great
virtue. It occupies paramount importance in divine religions. All Prophets of
Allah emphatically urged their followers to spend in the way of Allah. In this
article, we shall take a brief look at some of the blessings of spending in the
way of Allah.
True Attachment with God
The greatest benefit of
spending in the way of Allah is that it establishes a strong bond between a
person and his Creator. A man’s heart generally lies where his wealth is. If he
hides away his wealth in some secret place, he finds himself thinking about
that very place all the time. In case of investment in a business or a company,
he cannot help being pre-occupied with the continued viability of the investee.
In short, what is evident from practical experience is that man’s heart is
affixed to his wealth. Keeping in view the foregoing explanation, it can be
asserted that anyone who spends in the way of Allah would find that he is in an
everlasting communion with God since he has entrusted Allah with his wealth. In
this regard, Jesus (sws) is reported to have said:
Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven
where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and
steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Mathew
6:20-1)
Stronger Ties with the Society
The second benefit which
spending in the way of Allah affords the spender is that it helps him establish
unfailing ties with his society. A little deliberation here will reveal that
this achievement is not of less significance. Rather, it is one of the two
pillars upon which the whole structure of religion is based. These two pillars,
namely: prayer and spending, are a pre-requisite in order to make a person a
true servant of God. The first pillar helps in developing a true relationship
with the Almighty. And the second inculcates a deep-rooted connection amongst
the members of the society. Hence, both play an unsurpassed role in nurturing
and developing the persona conceived by the Qur’an. It is precisely for
this reason that Salah (the prayer) and Zakah (alms-tax) find
mention in the Qur’an side by side. For example, in the initial verses
of Surah Baqarah, what immediately follows the mention of Salah is
spending in the way of Allah.
As pointed out earlier, these
two pillars in fact constitute the foundations upon which the entire structure
of man’s relationship with the Creator and His creation is erected.
Consequently, one can safely conclude that the fabric of the Shari‘ah too
is based upon the prayer and spending. All ancient Semitic religions regard
both these pillars as the origin of righteous conduct. Once someone asked Jesus
(sws) about the great commandment in the law. Jesus (sws) enlightened him by
saying:
‘You shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind’. This is the first and
great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as
yourself’. On these two commandments hang all the law and the Prophets
(Matthew, 22:37-40)
The best possible way to
demonstrate affection towards a neighbor is to sympathize with him and help him
out financially whenever he is in trying circumstances. Just as Salah is
the only befitting way man can express his love for the Almighty, the only
appropriate manner he can exhibit his appreciation for his neighbour is to
spend for him whenever he is in need.
Both things apparently seem
distinct and separate yet if are viewed from a holistic perspective the love of
the neighbour would appear to be the direct outcome of the love of God. Anyone
who loves God would certainly care for His creation since He has analogously
regarded the whole mankind as His own children. Man is so created that whenever
he loves someone he instinctively falls in love with everything related to him
as well. So, when a person loves Allah he surely feels affection for His
Creation and this affection ultimately results in spending to ease the
sufferings through which the ‘children’ of his beloved Allah may be
going.
The brimming love that man
feels for Allah is the natural consequence of his sentiments of gratitude. When
he observes carefully around himself the providence and power of Allah, he
finds himself engulfed by the bounties of his Gracious Creator. This realization,
on the one hand, gives rise to the sentiments of worship which naturally
prompts him to offer the prayer and, on the other hand, induces him to be as
much generous as possible to mankind since he has become cognizant of the fact
that everything he possesses has been bestowed upon him generously by Allah
alone.
It can therefore be concluded
that the love for humanity is an offshoot of one’s love for God and that both
provide a rock-solid base for religion. While the former stands at the core of all
human rights, the latter is the stream from which all religious obligations
spring forth. Anyone who can willingly spend his wealth for others cannot be
assumed to be careless when it comes to discharging other moral obligations.
The only person who can be presumed to be the best member of a society is the
one who has done away with his undue love of riches, because should this love
prevail, it would awfully obstruct the normal flow of righteous conduct. The
Holy Qur’an alludes to both situations in the following words:
فَأَمَّا مَنْ
أَعْطَى وَاتَّقَى وَصَدَّقَ بِالْحُسْنَى فَسَنُيَسِّرُهُ لِلْيُسْرَى وَأَمَّا مَنْ
بَخِلَ وَاسْتَغْنَى وَكَذَّبَ بِالْحُسْنَى فَسَنُيَسِّرُهُ لِلْعُسْرَى
So, he who gave in the way of Allah and was
godfearing and believed in the good outcome [in the Hereafter], We shall,
indeed, take him to [a fate] of delight. And he who was a miser and was
indifferent and belied the good outcome [in the Hereafter], We shall, indeed,
take him to [a fate] of affliction. (92:5-10)
Spending nurtures Wisdom (Hikmah)
The third benefit of spending
is that it is like food and water for all the other religious obligations and
creeds. It helps, on the one hand, all those righteous deeds which are yet
feeble and have shallow roots in our soul and, on the other hand, it
strengthens all beliefs which have not yet gained sound basis in our heart.
This stability and depth of
all virtues and beliefs in a person is exactly what the Qur’an describes
as Hikmah (wisdom). From certain indications of the Qur’an we may
construe that the key to this wisdom is indeed spending in the way of Allah. At
one place, the Qur’an delineates the benefits of spending in the
following words:
الشَّيْطَانُ يَعِدُكُمْ
الْفَقْرَ وَيَأْمُرُكُمْ بِالْفَحْشَاءِ وَاللَّهُ يَعِدُكُمْ مَغْفِرَةً مِنْهُ وَفَضْلًا
وَاللَّهُ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ
يُؤْتِي
الْحِكْمَةَ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَمَنْ يُؤْتَ الْحِكْمَةَ فَقَدْ أُوتِيَ خَيْرًا كَثِيرًا
Satan threatens you with poverty and bids you
to conduct unseemly. Allah promises you His forgiveness and bounties, and Allah
cares for all and He knows all things. He grants wisdom to whom He pleases and
he to whom wisdom is granted receives indeed a benefit overflowing. (2:268-9)
Only that spending brings
this benefit to the spender which has been carried out in order to please Allah
alone and to reinforce what is yet feeble in heart. Therefore, the parable
described just before the above quoted verses begins as:
وَمَثَلُ الَّذِينَ
يُنفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ ابْتِغَاءَ مَرْضَاةِ اللَّهِ وَتَثْبِيتًا مِنْ أَنْفُسِهِمْ
And the likeness of those who spend their
substance seeking to please Allah and to strengthen their souls. (2:265)
The part ‘to strengthen
their souls’ implies that they spend in the way of Allah contrary to the ill
wishes of their heart so that they can overcome all the impediments, which
stand in their way to being a Godly person. The reward that God promises them
in return is that He will of surety bless them with His bounties and bestow
upon them the treasure of priceless wisdom.
Increase in Wealth
The fourth benefit of
spending in the way of Allah is that it augments the wealth of the spender. The
Qur’an says:
مَثَلُ الَّذِينَ
يُنفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ كَمَثَلِ حَبَّةٍ أَنْبَتَتْ سَبْعَ
سَنَابِلَ فِي كُلِّ سُنْبُلَةٍ مِائَةُ حَبَّةٍ وَاللَّهُ يُضَاعِفُ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ
وَاللَّهُ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ
The parable of those who spend their
substance in the way of Allah is that of a grain of corn: It grows seven ears
and each ear has a hundred grains. Allah gives manifold increase to whom He
pleases and Allah cares for all and He knows all things. (2:261)
The Qur’an sheds
light upon this fact in the following words as well:
يَمْحَقُ اللَّهُ
الرِّبَا وَيُرْبِي الصَّدَقَاتِ
Allah blights usury and augments what is
spent in His way. (2:276)
This spending no doubt
will bear fruit in the Hereafter but in this very world the person who spends
in God’s way enjoys a fabulous increase, for the needy people who are helped
pray for their benefactor. And, as these people are pitiful, they much deserve
that their prayers be granted by the Merciful Master. From some Ahadith,
we find that even the Angels of God pray for such a person:
قال رسول الله
صلى الله عليه وسلم ما من يوم يصبح العباد فيه إلا ملكان ينزلان فيقول أحدهما
اللهم أعط منفقا خلفا ويقول الآخر اللهم أعط ممسكا تلفا
The Prophet said: ‘Every day two angels come
down from Heaven and one of them says: ‘O Allah! Compensate every person who
spends in Your cause’, and the other [angel] says: ‘O Allah! Destroy every
miser’. (Bukhari: No. 1374)
It is, however, to be
noted here that this ‘increase’ in no way means that the spender would find his
safe overflowing with wealth or that his bank balance would increase or that
the value of his property would augment overnight. Rather, it implies that the
optimal benefit one can attain from the use of wealth is afforded to the person
who spends in Allah’s way. The benefit his wealth brings to mankind, others’
wealth cannot undertake to fetch; the contribution his wealth helps make to the
welfare of the society, others’ wealth fails to make; how he succeeds to please
the Lord, others remain unsuccessful; the profound respect and love he earns in
others’ hearts, others obnoxiously obsessed with piling up their riches cannot
even visualize and, above all else, peace of mind, the spiritual elevation and
satisfaction that he drives from this spending are in fact blessings which have
eluded many grand emperors of this world.
(Adapted
from Islahi’s Tadhkiyah - i - Nafs)
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