Some of the Etiquettes of Charity

Imam Ali Ibn Hussein (AS) has said:

“Charity during night extinguishes God’s wrath.” The Imam said to Abi Hamzah: “If you wish God to make you die cleansed, and to forgive you your sins when meeting Him, do good, give charity secretly and observe ties of kinship, for, these three acts, make you live long, remove poverty, and ward off seventy kinds of bad deaths.”

The Holy Prophet (SAW) was asked: which charity is the best? The Holy Prophet (SAW) said: “Charity to kinsfolk who hide their enmity from you.”

Imam Sadeq (AS) was asked: To whom should we give charity, to the beggar or needy relatives? The Imam said: “Give charity to relatives, for it has greater reward.”

It has been reported on the authority of Imam Baqer (AS): “If you wish to give charity one day before Friday, leave it off for Friday.”

“Whoever quenches the thirst of another man, God will quench his thirst from intact wine.” Imam Sadeq (AS) has said: “The best kind of charity is to quench thirst. Whoever quenches the thirst of others whether human or quadruped, on the Day of Judgment when there is no shades save His shade He will set a shade for him.” Extras of life is a heavy burden on the shoulder of man, for what is unlawful in this world will entail punishment and what is lawful is being reckoned.

Abdul Ibne Omar says: I heard the Holy Prophet (SAW) saying: “My ummah are classified into three groups”: “The first groups are those who do not like to amass wealth; they do not attempt to gain much wealth nor hoard it; they are content with what keeps them alive and what covers their nakedness. Whatever ensures their Hereafter is sufficient for them. These groups are secure and there is no fear for them.” “The second group are those who wish to obtain wealth in a legal way so as to look into the affairs of their relative; do good to their brethren, and help the poor. For them, it is easier to eat stone than to gain a Dirham illegally or not to give it to someone who is entitled to it until the day of death and save it. If any argument is made against them on the Day of Judgment, they will be punished, and if forgiven, they will be secure.” “The third group like to amass wealth; lawful and unlawful wealth are indifferent to them; they abandon what is obligatory and are extravagant; even when they do not spent, it is out of envy and hoarding; these are people the reins of whose hearts are in the hands of the world so as to enter Hell as a result of their sins”.

The Holy Prophet (SAW) has said: “No one is allowed to gain wealth illegally and to give it as charity and to be rewarded. If he spends of that wealth, it has no blessings for him and if the wealth survives him, it will put him in Fire”.

Imam Ali (AS) being asked about the worst kind of wretchedness, said: “Whoever abandons the world for the sake of world; he has lost both the world and is a loser in the Hereafter. Whoever performs prayer and keeps fast in order to be seen by people he is deprived of world and only labor is left for him, but if he had devotion in it, he was entitled to reward. Such a person enters the scene of the Day of Judgment while he thinks he has with deeds which add to his good deeds whereas he finds it gone with the wind”.

Imam Ali (AS) being asked to whom belongs the utmost degree of regret, said: “One who sees his wealth in the scales of others while he enters Hell because of unlawful wealth and his heirs will enter paradise because of the charity they have given.” Asked how this is possible, Imam Ali (AS) said: “A brother told me the following story: I went to see a man who was giving up the ghost. He said to me: I have a hundred thousand Dirhams in this coffer the alms of which I have not given. What shall I do with it? I said: What have you amassed it for? He said to pay the tax levied by king, to puff before relatives, for fear of poverty and for a rainy day. The Imam said: The man had hardly left the house when he died.” Then the Imam (AS) said: “Praise is due to Allah who took him from this world with reproach while he amassed the wealth illegally and had withheld the right of one who was entitled to it, he had tied up the purse too, the wealth for the amassing of which he had traversed deserts, cities and seas. O you who dwell in this world! Do not ever be deceived as that man was deceived yesterday. Surely the worst regret on the Day of Judgment belongs to one who sees that his wealth is in the scales of other. They have gone to paradise but he himself will go to Hell for the sake of his wealth.”

Imam Sadeq (AS) has said: “More regretful than that man is one who has amassed a huge wealth with labor but he has ruined it with alms and charitable deeds, has spent his youth and power in prayers but has considered no right for Ali Ibn Abu Taleb (AS), has not deemed a position for him in Islam and has considered as superior those who were inferior to him in rank, who never ponder on the Imams and whenever they reasoned with the Quranic Verses or Hadiths, he would not accept, because he had gone astray. This person has the maximum regret. He enters the scene of the Day of Judgment while his charitable deeds have taken the shape of vipers biting him, and his prayers taking the shape of the angels, of Hell driving him to Hell.” “He will say: Woe to me, was I not among the worshippers? Was I not among alms-givers? Was I not one who had no covetous eye on the wealth of people and their women? Why then I have been so much afflicted? “He is said: O wretched one! Your deed will not benefit you, for you have ruined the greatest divine doctrine after belief in god and prophethood. You have not recognized the friend of Allah, Ali Ibn Abi Taleb (AS) as he deserved and you have given in to the enemy of God instead. If you had prayed from the beginning of the world to the end of it, if you had spent all the wealth of the world instead of these deeds, you would not have gained anything save becoming more aloof from God and getting nearer to His wrath.”

It has been reported on the authority of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his household): Avoid too much wealth, for in the past a man had amassed a great fortune for his children. When the angel of death appeared at his house disguised as a poor man and knocking at the door, the doormen opened the door. The angel of death said: Tell your master to come out; I have some business with them. They said: Shall our master come to a person like you? With this answer they kept the man from the door.

The angel of death came with the same appearance once again saying: Tell your master to come out and inform him that I am death angel. Hearing this, the master of the house was overwhelmed with fear. At this time he sat down and said to his doormen: Speak to him softly and say; May God blesses you, perhaps you are looking for someone else. The angel of death said: No and entering the house, he said to the master of house: make your will, for I have to take your life soon.

At this moment, the family members started weeping. The man rose up and had all the coffers of gold and silver opened and listed and then turned to the coffers swearing at them saying; May God curses you! It was you who made me forget God. You made me to be negligent of the Hereafter until they have given the news of my death.

At this time God made his wealth speak saying: Why do you swear at me? You are to blame! You were mean in the eyes of people! It was me who raised your position. Was it not you who were present at royal courts and although there were qualified person there but they would let you in before others? Was it not you who proposed the girls of wealthy people along with pious men but they would accept only you? Had you spent me on charitable deeds, could I have prevented you?

Had you spent me for the cause of Allah, you would never have your wealth decreased. Now that you are in such a state you are swearing at me while you yourself are to blame! We both have been created from dust. I returned to that dust but you go to the sins you have committed through me. Then the angel of death said: Wealth speaks to its master in this way!