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lan tanālū l-birra ḥattā tunfiqū mimmā tuḥibbūna wa-mā tunfiqū min shayʾin fa-ʾinna llāha bihī ʿalīmun
You will never attain piety until you spend out of what you hold dear, and whatever you may spend of anything, Allah indeed knows it.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah 'Ali-Imran, Verse 92
Ever living Testimony to the Truth of Islam Attaining to goodness demands sacrifice -Main features of Abraham's religion from the basis of Islam -The first house of blessings and guidance to the worlds-
92. "You will never attain righteousness unless you spend out of what you love; and whatever thing you spend, surely Allah is well aware of it."
In this verse, the Qur'an points to one of the signs of Faith in a believer. It says:
The Arabic Term /birr/ has a vast meaning which covers all good deeds irrespective of belief and pious deeds. As it is understood from Surah Al-Baqarah, No.2, verse 177, belief in Allah, belief in the Resurrection Day, belief in prophets, helping the indigent, prayer and fasting, to fulfil the promise, and to be steadfast in confronting with problems and adventures, all in all, are counted the branches of righteousness. Therefore, to attain the rank of righteousness needs many qualities. One of those qualities is spending out from the possessions that are loved by that person. This kind of giving charity is a standard for measuring the Faith and personality of the person.
To attract the attention of the givers of charity, at the end of the verse, it says:
The Believers and Giving Charity
1. Abu-Talhah Ansari had the largest number of date trees in Medina when his garden was his most beloved thing for him. This garden was located in front of the Prophet's Mosque wherein there was a spring with wholesome water.
Sometimes the Prophet (S) entered that garden and drunk water from the spring. The garden was so beautiful and splendid with a great income that people commonly spoke well of it. When the above verse was sent down, Abu- Talhah went to the Prophet (S) and said:
"The most beloved things with me is this garden. I want to give it in charity in the way of Allah."
The holy Prophet (S) said:
"Well done! this is a wealth which will be of profit for you."
Then the Messenger of Allah (S) continued saying:
"We have accepted it from you but we return it back to you in order that you give it to your own relatives as alms."
He accepted it and divided the garden among them willingly. 1
2. When Hadrat Fatimah Zahra (as) was going to go to her husband's house at her wedding night, a beggar asked her for a worn out dress. She (as) remembering the above verse, gave in charity the same new dress which was for her wedding. 2
3. Once it happened that a guest came to Abu Dharr Ghafari. Then he told the guest since he was busy at that time and he had some camels, then the guest would go out and bring him the best of them. So he went and came back with a thin camel.
Then Abu Dharr told him that he was not faithful to him with that camel. The guest replied that he found the best camel, but he thought of the future day he would need it. Then Abu Dharr said:
"Verily my needy day to it will be the day I will be put inside my grave, since Allah says: 'You will never attain righteousness unless you spend out of what you love; '." 3
4. Once it happened that 'Abdullah-ibn Ja'far, a rather rich but gracious Muslim, entered a palm-plantation where a black slave was working. At the time of need of food, a dog came inside the garden and approached the slave.
Then he threw a loaf of bread for the dog, and it ate it. After that the slave threw the second and the third loaves of bread for the dog one after another, and it ate both of them, too. 'Abdullah, standing looking at the slave, asked him how much his everyday food was, and the slave answered: "That which you saw." 'Abdullah said: "Why did you donate (the whole your food) to this dog?" The slave replied that the dog was not from that region and had come from a distanced place while it was hungry, so he (the slave) did not like to return it.
'Abdullah said that the slave was more gracious than him. Then, he bought the palm-plantation with all its equipments including the slave. He let him be free (not to be slave any more) when he donated him all the garden and the equipments, too.4
Footnotes