Sadullah Khan – 3rd Post Witr Talk Ramadaan 1444 2023
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
We continue our theme,
moral guidance from everyday experiences.
Many people believe that
the more you have,
the more generous you will be.
And
we found very often that this is not
the case.
To become more generous,
you have to have a spirit of generosity
already within you.
You see,
real generosity
is not dependent so much on income
as much as it is dependent on the
capacity of the heart.
There are many who have the means to
give,
but not the heart to give. And there
are so many who the more they have,
the less they give.
The
prophet said
And this is a fundamental
principle in Islam
implying that you don't have to be rich
or to have money for example to be
able to be charitable because every good deed,
dear Rasool
said, is charity.
Giving of your time,
your empathy,
your labor,
whatever you have at your disposal that can
be of benefit to people that is a
form of charity.
The prophet
Muhammad advised one of his beloved companions, Abdullah
ibn Mus'ud
he said to
him,
When you console the poor with whatever you
may have
and you give of yourself,
then you are truly a believer.
This brings us to an inspiring incident
involving
a companion of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam, Abdulrahman
Abu
When
the
Rasulullah
asked his companions
to contribute towards the financing
of a very strategic
incident,
an important expedition is called the expedition of
Tabuk.
So the companions
rushed to provide whatever financial assistance and contribution
you could make.
Abdulrahman Abu al Ansari was among the poor
companions
who had absolutely nothing to give.
So he went looking for work.
And a Jewish farmer in Madinah
gave him a temporary job. He said come
work tonight,
and you draw the water for me. I
need a lot of water for my animals
and for my people and so on. So
you come and draw water.
So he went
to work for this Jewish farmer
in Madinah.
Meanwhile, many of the other companions brought whatever
they could, the contribution, the money, and whatever
they could, and hid it in front of
the prophet
Abu Akil al Ansari was among the last
of the companions
to bring something.
And he came with a contribution to the
Prophet, he said,
He said, oh, prophet Allah,
I spent the entire night
pulling water from the well,
and I earned
2,
you know, maybe 2 handfuls of grapes.
Is about 3 kilos.
I earned 2 of that.
I left 1 for my family
and the other I brought as my contribution.
Some of the people who are around
saw this. I mean, people brought large sums
of things. Some people brought gold and so
on. Some people give money, dinar and dinar.
And he came with this,
handful of dates.
And so they mocked Abu Akil. They said
to him,
He said,
Allah does not need a handful of grapes
or a handful of dates,
implying that what benefit can this little of
your charity do.
Allah revealed a verse regarding this.
The verse is
as a verse in Suratawba,
There are those among you who find fault
with those who come, who
come with the charity willingly and freely.
And some of you mock them for coming
forward with the earnings of the fruits of
the labor.
You mock them and Allah will avenge their
mocking.
The messenger of Allah then had Abu Akil's
dates, that handful of dates or whatever he
brought and he spread it over the gold
and the money that other people brought
in order to show the people
the appreciation of the prophet head of his
contribution.
Aburah Abdurrahman, Abu Akhil Ansari,
one of the companions of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam who had perhaps the smallest of
pockets,
but certainly among the biggest of hearts.
Teaching us that generosity
is not really about the money
and about how much you have.
It's actually about the goodness of the heart
and the true sincerity of whether you really
want to give.
The prophet
response and of course Allah's revelation
reminds us that whatever little we do
is appreciated.
The contribution may be like a drop in
the ocean, but the vast ocean is made
up of drops.
Each drop counts. No drops,
no ocean.
Said never be ashamed
to give even a little bit
for because there's always
goodness in giving
even if your giving may seem a little.
We realize that nothing is too small in
the estimation of Allah as long as our
hearts are big
and our intentions are pure.
We learn from Abu Akhil Ansari,
the one whom Allah referred to in a
verse in the holy Quran in Suratawba,
that a generous mindset, a generous mindset
is always
a positive and a beneficial mindset.
He didn't limit himself
because he did not have, he went out
to find something
to give.
Though he did not have something, he didn't
let the negative mindset of not having hold
him back from trying to contribute.
He went out
looking for a job
so at least he could contribute
something from his labor,
from his own personal labor
even if it was little.
You know, the first mark in Islam was
Sumayyah,
Hassan Ammar bin Yasir,
noble companion of the Rasulullah Alaihi Wasallam,
said words that capture the spirit of faith.
He said, salafun
manjamahun
nafakaljamahal
iman.
A person who combines three characteristics
within himself or herself have combined the essence
of Iman.
A person who combines three characteristics within themselves
have combined the very essence of iman.
A person who is just from the very
being of his core, not only try to
be just your very essence, you try to
be as just and fair as you can
be. Being just from the very core of
yourself,
spreading peace and the greetings of peace wherever
you may go,
and being generous
even when you have a little to give.