Quality of Al-Infaq

1) Thauban reported Allah’s Messenger (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) as saying: “The most excellent dinar is one that a person spends on his family, and the dinar which he spends on his animal in Allah’s path, and the dinar he spends on his companions in Allah’s path.” Abu Qilaba (one of the narrators) said: “He (the narrator) started with family,” and then Abu Qilaba said: “Who is the person with greater reward than a person who spends on young members of his family (and thus) pre_serves (saves them from want and by virtue of which) Allah brings profit for them and makes them rich.”

Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) as saying: “Of the dinar you spend as a contribution in Allah’s path, or to set free a slave, or as a sadaqa given to a needy, or to support your family, the one yielding the greatest reward is that which you spent on your family.”

Khaithama reported: While we were sitting in the company of ‘Abdullah b. ‘Amr there came in his steward. He (Ibn ‘Amr) said: ‘Have you supplied the provision to the slaves?” He said: “No.” Upon this he said: “Go and give (the provision) to them, for the Messenger of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) has said: “This sin is enough for a man that he withholds the subsistence from one whose master he is.”

Jabir reported: A person from the Banu ‘Udhra set a slave free after his death. This news reached the Messenger of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam). Upon this he said: Have you any property besides it? He said: No. Upon this he said: Who would buy (this slave) from me? Na‘im b. ‘Abdullah bought it for eight hundred dirhams and (this amount was) brought to the Messenger of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) who returned it to him (the owner), and then said: Start with your own self and spend it on yourself, and if anything is left, it should be spent on your family, and if anything is left (after meeting the needs of the family) it should be spent on relatives, and if anything is left from the family, it should be spent like this, like this. And he was saying: In front of you, on your right and on your left.

Anas b. Malik is reported as saying: Abu Talha was one among the Ansar of Medina who possessed the largest property and among his property he valued most was his garden known as Bairaha‘ which was opposite the mosque, and the Messenger of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) often visited it and he drank of its sweet water. When this verse was revealed: “you will never attain righteousness till you give freely of what you love,” Abu Talha got up and, going to Allah’s Messenger (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam), said: Allah says in His Book: “You will never attain righteousness till you give freely of what you love”, and the dearest of my property is Bairaha, so I give it as sadaqa to God from Whom I hope for reward for it and the treasure with Allah. So spend it, Messenger of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam), on whatever purpose you deem it proper. The Messenger of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) said: Bravo! that is profit-earning property. I have heard what you have said, but I think you should spend it on your nearest relatives. So Abu Talaha distributed it among the nearest relatives and his cousins on his father’s side.

Maimuna bint Harith reported that she set free a slave-girl during the life time of the Messenger of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) and she made a mention of that to the Messenger of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) and he said: Had you given her to your maternal uncles, you would have got a greater reward.

Zainab, the wife of ‘Abdullah (b. Mas‘ud) reported that the Messenger of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) said: “O women give sadaqa even though it be some of your jewellery.”  She returned to ‘Abdullah and said: ‘You are a person with empty hands, whereas the Messenger of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) has commanded us to give sadaqa, so better go to him and ask and if this will suffice for me; otherwise I shall give it to someone else.’ ‘Abdullah said to me (his wife):  You better go yourself.’  So I went and there was another woman of the Ansar at the door of the Messenger of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) having the same purpose as I had. Now Allah’s Messenger (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) was invested with awe (so we did not like to knock). Then Bilal came out and we said to him: ‘Go to the Messenger of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) and inform him that there are two women at the door asking him whether it will serve them to give sadaqa to their spouses and to orphans who are under their charge, but do not inform him who we are.’ Bilal went to the Messenger of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) and asked him (what these women had instructed him to ask). The Messenger of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) asked him who these women were? He (Bilal) said: ‘They are women from Ansar and Zainab.’ Upon this the Messenger of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) said: ‘Which of the Zainabs?’ He said: ‘The wife of ‘Abdullah.’ The Messenger of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) said: ‘There are two rewards for them, the reward of kinship and the reward of sadaqa.”

Umme Salama said; I asked the Messenger of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) whether there is a reward for me if I spend on Abu Salama’s sons, and I am not going to abandon them in this state (of helplessness) for they are my sons. He (the Holy Prophet, Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) said; “Yes for you is the reward for what you spend on them.”

Abu Mas‘ud reported Allah’s Apostle (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) as saying. When a Muslim spends on his family seeking reward for it from Allah, it counts for him as sadaqa.

Asma’ daughter of Abu Bakr reported: I said: “Messenger of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) my mother, who is inclined or scared, has come to me. Should I (even in her position of being opposed to Islam) treat her well?’ He said: “Yes.”

2) Abu Huraira reported that there came a person to the Messenger of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) and said. “Messenger of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam), which charity is the best? Upon this he said: That you should give charity (in a state when you are) healthy and close-fist_ed, haunted by the fear of poverty, hoping to become rich (charity in such a state of health and mind is the best). And you must not defer (charity to such a length) that you are about to die and would be saying: This is for so and so, and this is for so and so, Lo, it has already come into (the possession of so and so).”

3) Asma’, daughter of Abu Bakr (Allah be pleased with him), re_ported: The Messenger of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) said to me: “Spend, and do not calculate or otherwise Allah would also calculate in your case.”

Asma’, daughter of Abu Bakr, reported that she came to the Apostle of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) and said: “Apostle of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam), I have nothing with me, but only that which is given to me by Zubair (for household expenses). Is there any sin for me if I spend out of that which is given to me (by Zubairy?” Upon this he (the Holy Prophet, Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) said: “Spend according to your means; and do not hoard, for Allah will withhold from you.”

4) Abu Huraira reported that the Apostle of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) had said: Seven are (the persons) whom Allah would give protection with His Shade on the Day when there would be no shade but that of Him (i.e. on the Day of Judgement) and they are: a just ruler; a youth who grew up with the worship of Allah; a person whose heart is attached to the mosques; two persons who love and meet each other for the sake of Allah and depart from each other for the sake of Allah; a man whom a beautiful woman of high rank seduces (for illicit relation), but he (rejects this offer and) says: “I fear Allah”; a person who gives charity and conceals it (to such an extent) that the right hand does not know what the left has given, and a person who remembered Allah in privacy and his eyes shed tears.

5) It is narrated on the authority of Abu Dharr that the Messenger of Allah, (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) observed: There are three (persons) with whom Allah would neither speak on the Day of Resurrection, nor would look at them nor would absolve them, and there is a painful chastisement for them. The Messenger of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) repeated it three times. Abu Dharr remarked: They failed and they lost; who are these persons, Messenger of Allah (Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam)? Upon this he (the Holy Prophet, Sall Allah-o-alaihe wa sallam) observed: They are: the dragger of lower garment, the recounter of obligation, the seller of goods by false oath.

Source: Economic Teachings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him): A Select Anthology of Hadith Literature on Economics, Muhammad Akram Khan. Republished with permission.