Charity – Part 02

Hello,

see?

Salam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh I'd like to welcome you to another in our series, the best in Islam.

In this series, we look at what Allah and His Messenger may God's peace and blessings be upon him have identified as the best. In this segment, we are continuing with the charity element of what is best. Now we're looking at a hadith from Hakeem in his arm, in which he quoted Prophet Mohammed Salaam Salaam is saying, of the sada caught my Canon vampirina Walia de loja hieron, mineralia de su Fleur

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the best charity is that given when one has surplus wealth,

and the upper hand is better than the lower, but begin giving charity, with your dependence.

The best charity is that given when one has surplus wealth, meaning that

in general, relative to families, and societal needs,

when a person has additional wealth, to give the charity from that without harming the family, then that is what's best. Meaning, if what you have is just sufficient to handle your family needs for you to take charity out of that and giveaway. So then your family suffers, then this is not good charity, because the prophet may God's peace and blessings be upon him said and begin with your own dependence. The charity should start with those who are closest to you. As he said, charity begins at home, you know. So that's the principle here, because we're going to hear some other statements of the prophet may God's peace and blessings be upon him in which he describes charity from other

perspectives. But this is really from the perspective of the family. So that your charity when you're giving, you don't harm your family members, and your friends, maybe asking you for help your close friends, they have some business or whatever that's reading into difficulty. They're asking for help. And you know, and so you want to be charitable to them. But if in being charitable to them, you now make life difficult for your family, we have to say that when we weigh these two, you know it's not balanced, we're off balance, because those who are closest to us have more right on our wealth than those who are farthest away from us. So, this is the message that the prophet may

God's peace and blessings be upon him is conveying through talking about charity being best given when we have a surplus, and that is actually a direct translation of zecca. Because the car is only required when you have a surplus, that is the principle governing Zakah only when you have sufficient wealth. We could say minimum exemption limit for the car, which is the value of two ounces of gold, whatever that is in your currency.

No at your period of time, the value of two ounces of gold, if you have that much in saving

for one year, you haven't touched it, it remains,

then

you give 2.5% of that, in charity. That's what is required. So it is from your surplus. And this is a principle, which

covers and protects families as opposed to amounts.

As opposed to taking that charity, whether it's forced, or whether it is voluntary. Taking that charity, from the amount of money you have, it's from the surplus. For example, in Christian tradition, you have what is known as the tide. That's the 10th, which is given, but that 10th is regardless of whether it is surplus or not surplus, how many people you have in your family, there's no consideration, you have money, a 10th should go to the church

automatically, again, that 10th going to the church doesn't necessarily even reach the needy people, it's going to maintain the priest, you know, give him a good life. He has a nice, comfortable circumstance, education for his children, car, etc, you know, there is no consideration for the one giving, nor for the family of the one giving. So one person may have 10 kids, and he earns the same as somebody else who has no kids, they both have to give the same amount. That's not fair.

That's not fair. Whereas the Islamic system of xhaka, it takes into account the one who has 10 kids, and gets the same as the one who has no kids, obviously, his savings are not gonna be the same.

Though they both earned the same amount of money, the one with 10 kids is consumed most of that money. So if he consumes and what is left is not above the minimum exemption limit, then he doesn't even have to pay the car, even though he is earning the same as the other person.

So you can see the Islamic system takes into account the need of the individual, the need of his family, etc. So, this when we shift now to voluntary charity, because that is obligatory charity zeca we're obliged to pay it. We're not requested and suggested this is an obligation to not pay the car when you're able is a sin.

Whereas what we're talking about here in terms of voluntary charity saga, this is best done, when it is from the surplus wealth that we have. And I think that makes perfect sense. Then the Prophet sallallahu Sallam went on to say, Well, yeah, de loja Hi, Ron mineralia de su Fleur, and the upper hand is better than the lower hand. Now what is meant by the upper hand, the lower hand, the upper hand, as it is properly understood, meant the hand which was giving, you're giving

the hand which is receiving is the one out, that is the lower hand, the upper hand is the giving. So therefore, the one who gives

his baton better than the one who receives

a general principle.

Of course, it's not necessarily always the case, when you go down to persons faith, and you know, there's a lot of other issues, because, of course, ultimately, who is best or those who fear God the Most. So the one was receiving might fear God more than the one who's giving. So that's quite possible also. But this is relative to the act of giving. This is what is being referred to here, the concept of giving, is it better to give or to receive, that's where we're dealing with what is better, and it is better as a general principle life principle that it is better to give than to receive

the one that's begging, the one that's receiving, that is the one in need, or it could be greed.

But in general, it's the one in need, whereas the one who is giving

As the one with means, or the one prepared to sacrifice. So, in other words, when the Prophet Muhammad wa sallam told us that the upper hand is better than the lower hand, he's saying, Go and give, the greater reward is in giving nothing receiving. This is what you're rewarded for. This is the charity, this is what is blessed by God. So that's where we need to be, we need to be in a position, a charitable position, whether it's because we have surplus wealth, which is better, as the prophet SAW, Allah told us, or it is a sacrifice that we're making, we see people in greater need than we are. So we take from what we have, and give to help them. So an emergency situation,

yes, our family will be the loss, we will take some things from the family, but still have to take in those things from the family to give to those people in need, because they're in dire need, we're still much better off than those people who are in need. So this is the principle that we keep in mind the life principle here, of trying and striving to be in the position of giving, we're gonna take a short break here, and we'll see you after the break.

Welcome back from the break. And to just recap, we were looking at charity, in the Hadith of the Prophet, may God's peace and blessings be upon him in which he said, the best chart is that given when one has surplus wealth, and the upper hand is better than the lower hand,

but we should begin giving charity with our independence. This is the Hadith that we're looking at, in this episode.

In the case of the charity, being best when we have surplus, you know, one might say, isn't the charity best, when we have a struggle, were striving, there's effort to give, why when you have surplus when you have surpluses, no pressure on you, giving charity at that time is much easier. Well, this is looking at the giving of charity, from the perspective of the family of the giver.

Those who depend on the giver,

that he or she who is giving, should not give and put their family in difficulty, they should give from the extra wealth that they have.

So that the family doesn't suffer in any way. And

giving is better than receiving.

Giving as a general principle is better than receiving, though, the one receiving might be himself as an individual better than the one who's giving the principle of giving is better than receiving we want to be among the givers. We want to be among those who gives a cap

as opposed to being among those who receive Zakah. Of course, this may be according to our last caller, allows this decision, he decided that you ended up in a poor family and the other person ended up in a rich family. So the one in the rich family is in a much better position to give than you are going to be take that aside. Where you have a choice, you can go out and receive what you can go out and give. It's better to go out and give the last point

which the Prophet sallallahu Sallam spoke of

that is begin with your dependence. This is following the principle that charity begins at home. Charity begins at home, those who are closest to you, they're the ones who you are obliged to look after you know in this society for the society to function effectively. The government cannot look after everybody. Everybody's needed in society. There are so many people with so many needs. So therefore there has to be in the society and network of support support network. We could call it a safety net that is there to catch people who are slipping through the cracks, falling it without others knowing it etc.

Safety Net is there. So we'll provide that safety net. Now we have organizations, special NGOs, and these type of things which tried to catch, you know, needs within the society which the governments are not able to catch. But fundamentally, that should be the family where it is possible, it should be the family, who is looking after the needs of its members, the extended family, not necessarily father, mother, kids, the extended the uncles, the grandparents, the cousins, the other relatives who make up that family who may be much better off than their relatives, they are first responsible before the government steps in, they are responsible to help out their relatives. But as a general

principle, looking after one's dependence is a life principle, you need to be that safety net, you need to be there for your extended family. It's your job, primarily,

God put you in that relationship. And that network of blood

relations, God put you there for a reason. If you have surplus, then they have first right to that surplus, or to some of that surplus to share with them. So beginning with one dependence makes good sense.

It's reasonable, it's practical, it is the safety net, which the society needs, so that the government is not expected to do everything. Because the government is never able to provide for all of the needs of its citizens.

Never,

no government is going to be able to do that. Unless they are among the super rich, the numbers are small. And they've been blessed with massive wealth. few countries like that, vast majority of countries are not like that. So the norm is that the dependence should get support from those on whom they depend you with the means? owe it to your fellow family members, your relatives distant or close? You owe it to them, to help them. And this also tightens the bond. Because there will come a time, maybe, maybe not, but maybe there may come a time when you are in need. And who will you first turn to the state? No, you will turn to your relatives. It's make sense. So it's not to say that you

give thinking, Okay, I'm going to give so that when my turn comes, they'll give me? No, we don't have to give in that way. Because then that takes away from the true spirit of giving, because you're giving, expecting to receive no. When we give in charity, there shouldn't be an expectation that you receive, because maybe you give to your relative when they're in need. And when you're in need, they don't give you

then what then when your situation changes, and you become now the one with means and they're in need again, you say well, you didn't give me when I was in need, so I'm not gonna give you that's not real charity. Real charity is, even though they did that to you, when the time comes their family because maybe that individual, he was stingy. He didn't help you and he should have but his family are they to blame his wife, his children?

Are they to blame? No. So for you to say I'm not going to help them because your brother didn't help you when you need it. And this is not the charitable way. This is not the charitable spirit. That charitable spirit is one of giving. That's why the Prophet sallallahu Sallam said, the upper hand is better than the lower hand. So it's a lot other that you're the one always on the upper end. Because you're the one with the means which Allah gave you, then hamdulillah you embrace it. This is what the law has given you is made you

put you in that position where you can earn great reward for yourself. But that reward is only being earned, if you have the right intention. So that's why I said, you shouldn't give it with the intention of Okay, when my time comes, you know, I will be expecting from them, they should give me when I need. This is I gave them.

No, it's our nature to want and to expect that. But we should never allow that, to prevent us from helping those who are really in need. That's the point, we have to go beyond go that extra step,

not be caught within the confines of our circumstance and situation, we have to look beyond it. And look for the higher goal, the better position, be among those who give, rather than be among those who receive. So this is the message of the Prophet, God's peace and blessings be upon him give from our surplus, don't take from what your family needs to give to others, if they need it, and they have the first right to it be among those who are giving, rather than those who are constantly receiving. If you're able, of course, if you're not able, you have no other choices, your situation, then Allah does not burden you beyond your capacity to give when you're not able to give.

And

you should always keep in mind, your dependents, your family, your extended family, Allah has put you there for a reason. If they need you, then you should be there for them. It's your duty before that of anyone else in this society.

So with those thoughts, we're going to close this session of the best in Islam. We're Prophet Muhammad may God's peace and blessings be upon him, has given us advice with regards to charity, the best in Islam with regards to charity

deals with the essence of charity,

which is portrayed in Zakah giving from our surplus wealth, then, if we have the choice of being among those who give or those who receive, we should strive to be among those who give. And don't forget your family members, your relatives, your dependents. They have the first right on us. We hope to see you in the next episode of our program, the best in Islam salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah here warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu. See, I

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