6. Give your Best in Order to Get the Best

How to be best at giving?

Share your expertise to help yourself and others excel; one of the best ways to learn is to teach. To achieve the best, you will have to give (1)Imām Yassine prefers not to use the word “sacrifice” because it implies that the giver is valuing too much that which is given. On the contrary, the Arabic word badhl (to give) implies belittling the present value of that which is “sacrificed” as compared to the great reward received from God (Yassine, 1981) your best, if needed and doable, including your life, time, money, possessions, knowledge, expertise, and efforts‎ (Yassine, 1981)‎. The more you give for a noble cause the better you get from God, hence more success (2)Qur’ān 59:9 “And those who are saved from the greed of their hearts are the successful.” [وَمَن يُوقَ شُحَّ نَفْسِهِ فَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ ] in this life for the next.

Thank God for entrusting (3)Qur’ān 57:7 “And spend of that whereof He has made you trustees.” [وأنفقوا مما جعلكم مستخلفين فيه] you with what you can give; do not betray the trust. Thank Him for giving you an opportunity to give, and for finding someone who is in need of what you have and is willing to accept it. (4)Saḥīḥ al-Bukhārī; Ḥādīth narrated by Ḥāritha bnu Wahb “Spend in charity, for there will come a time when a man cannot find who will accept his charity” [تصدَّقوا، فسيأتي على الناس زمان، يمشي الرجل بصدقته فلا يجد من يقبلها] Thank whom you are giving for being a cause for your resulting reward and raised status. Be the first at giving and at offering help before you are even asked to. Seek God’s forgiveness for not giving as much as you can or should and for any showing off. And sincerely wish you had more to give; you’ll be rewarded for it even if you can’t give it. Always be willing and ready to give your soul for a right cause.

How to be best at spending?

Spend on the needy more than what religion/state requires. “A child dies of hunger every six seconds, and hunger now kills more people every year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.” (Blake, 2008). The most faithful like others to be fed as they do for themselves. “One of you will not have full faith until he likes for his brother (in humanity) what he likes for himself.” (5)Saḥīḥ al-Bukhārī; Ḥādīth narrated by Anas may God be pleased with him [لا يؤمن أحدكم حتى يحب لأخيه ما يحب لنفسه]

Spend from that which is properly earned (6)Saḥīḥ Muslim; Ḥādīth narrated by Imām Abū Hurayra, may God be pleased with him “Verily God is pure and does accept only what is pure.” [إِنَّ اللّهَ طيِّبٌ لاَ يَقْبَلُ إلاَّ طَيِّباً] . Spend freely from what you love. (7)Qur’ān 3:92: “You shall never attain righteousness unless you spend from what you love.” [لَن تَنَالُواْ الْبِرَّ حَتَّى تُنفِقُواْ مِمَّا تُحِبُّونَ] Spend when there is an urgent need for it, before the Victory. (8)Qur’ān 57:10 “And why should you not spend in the way of God when to God belongs the heritage of the heavens and the earth. Not equal among you are those who spent and fought, before the Victory, (with those who did so later). Those are higher in rank than those who spent and fought afterwards. But to all has God promised a goodly (reward). And God is well acquainted with all that you do.” [وَمَا لَكُمْ أَلَّا تُنفِقُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَلِلَّهِ مِيرَاثُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ لَا يَسْتَوِي مِنكُم مَّنْ أَنفَقَ مِن قَبْلِ الْفَتْحِ وَقَاتَلَ أُوْلَئِكَ أَعْظَمُ دَرَجَةً مِّنَ الَّذِينَ أَنفَقُوا مِن بَعْدُ وَقَاتَلُوا وَكُلّاً وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الْحُسْنَى وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرٌ] Spend while you are healthy and miserly, fear poverty, and hope to be wealthy. (9)Saḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Saḥīḥ Muslim; Ḥādīth narrated by Imām Abū Hurayra, may God be pleased with him “A man came to the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, and said: O messenger of God, what kind of charity is best in reward? He said: “when you donate while being healthy and stingy, you fear poverty and hope for affluence, you don’t postpone until your last breath comes up to your throat and then you say this is for so and so, and this is for so and so, when so and so has already been allocated his share [through the laws of inheritance as a result of your death.” [جاء رجل إلى النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فقال: يا رسول الله، أي الصدقة أعظم أجرا؟ قال: (أن تصدق وأنت صحيح شحيح، تخشى الفقر وتأمل الغنى، ولا تمهل حتى إذا بلغت الحلقوم، قلت: لفلان كذا، ولفلان كذا، وقد كان لفلان)] Spend first on your dependentsSaḥīḥ Muslim; Ḥādīth narrated by Thawbān, may God be pleased with him “The best dinar that a man can spend is the one spent on his children, [then] the one spent on his vehicle for the sake of God, [then] the one spent on his friends in the cause of God.” [أفضل دينار ينفقه الرجل دينار ينفقه على عياله ودينار ينفقه الرجل على دابته في سبيل الله ودينار ينفقه على أصحابه في سبيل الله] (10)Saḥīḥ al-Bukhārī; Ḥādīth narrated by Imām Abū Hurayra, may God be pleased with him “The best of charity is what is given out of abundance of wealth (or out of full trust in God, as in the case of Abū Bakr aṣ-Ṣiddīq, may God be pleased with him, who donated all of his wealth). And spend first on your dependants.” [خير الصدقة ما كان عن ظهر غنى، وابدأ بمن تعول]

but moderately to be able to spend on the needy. Spend the maximum in proportion to your wealth, not in proportion to what others spend (11)Saḥīḥ Muslim; Ḥādīth narrated by Imām Abū Hurayra, may God be pleased with him “A single dirham may be superior to one hundred thousand dirhams.” Someone said, “O Messenger of God, how can one dirham be superior to one hundred thousand dirhams?” He replied, “It may be so if a man who has only two dirhams gives one of them in charity, while another who has a lot of money takes one hundred thousand dirhams from his wealth and gives them in charity.” [سبق درهم مائة ألف درهم. قيل: يا رسول الله، كيف يسبق درهم مائة ألف؟ قال: رجل له درهمان أخذ أحدهما فتصدق به، ورجل له مال كثير فأخذ من عرضه مائة ألف فتصدق بها] ; $1 donated out of $2 is superior to $100,000 donated out of an abundant wealth worth millions of dollars.