Yaser Birjas – Give While You Still Can
AI: Summary ©
The importance of giving charity during busy times, such as during a pandemic, is discussed. The speaker emphasizes the need to be mindful of one's finances and not to give charity to someone already has wealth. The importance of balancing charity and helping others is also emphasized. The conversation ends with a discussion about a person who is not speaking about z Ace and is not interested in helping charity.
AI: Summary ©
Tonight, inshallah, we have hadith number 90 from
Riyad al-Saliheen, chapter al-Mubadir al-Khayrat,
Hastening in Virtuous Act.
Translation
In this hadith, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ
is encouraging us to give your charity while
you still have the chance, when you have
the ability to do that, and don't wait
for too long when it's too late for
you to do so.
Like, again, the chapter is all about rushing
into doing good deeds.
Don't wait.
When you have an opportunity, then you should
be taking that advantage right away.
So when it comes to giving, when is
the best time to give?
So the Prophet ﷺ, he said, he was
asked, Which of the charity is more rewarding?
Like, the highest reward, when is that the
best?
Obviously, when do people think that would be
it?
When you have a lot of, when you
give too much, when you give, inshallah, half
of your wealth, when you give this, when
you give that.
That possibility crosses our mind.
But the Prophet gave a very beautiful principle
here.
He didn't give an actual answer directly to
the question, but he gave jawab al-hakim,
which means the wise answer, that will go
beyond the question itself.
So he ﷺ said, You should give charity
in a state when you are healthy and
close-* and haunted by the fear of
poverty, hoping to become rich.
Hoping to become rich.
Meaning, basically, you're afraid to give away that
money, so becoming rich becomes delayed.
So the Prophet ﷺ said, Look, the best
time to give charity is when you don't
really have much, you don't have much, but
you're healthy.
Alhamdulillah.
You're strong, you're healthy, physically taking care of
yourself, alhamdulillah rabbil ameen.
Shaheeh, which means, because you're healthy and you
don't have much, so you're not keen of
giving your money away easily.
You're close-*.
So that's the best time to give the
charity.
Takhshal faqr.
You're afraid of being poor if you give.
If you keep giving, you're going to be
afraid to be poor, and you hope for
being rich by keeping that money in your
hand.
He says, that time is the best time
to give your charity.
And I guess for many of us, mashallah,
that's what we usually have in our mind,
right?
Every time there's a fundraising in your mind,
I'm going to give inshallah 10,000 this
time.
The moment you commit the 10,000 in
your mind, what happens?
The shaitan comes from all over the place.
What about car payments?
Your son is going to get married.
Your daughter needs this for school, blah, blah,
blah.
And then by the time they come to
the 10,000, you went down to 3
,000.
So your intention is to give 10,000,
but at the end you squeeze it to
3,000, or even 1,000 and so
on.
And the Prophet says that this is the
best time when you give your charity.
Because you're afraid to be poor, but you
know ar-rizq comes from Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala, so I'm going to give it
anyway.
So he said, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, don't
wait for too long until your soul reaches
your throat, which means what?
It's departing right now.
You're dying.
You're on your deathbed.
That's when you start distributing your wealth.
He says, give this to so-and-so,
give this to so-and-so.
And the Prophet said, He said, salallahu alayhi
wa sallam, and even though that you're saying,
give this to so-and-so, give this
to that person, it has already come into
their possession anyway.
Through what?
Inheritance.
Which is why from this hadith, some of
the ulama, they say that people, given their
wealth, or start distributing their wealth on their
deathbed, that's an invalid wasiya.
That's an invalid wasiya.
And even they extend that to the situation
when someone is going through, diagnosed with chronic
illness.
And may Allah protect you all.
Someone has a million dollars.
A million dollars.
Alhamdulillah, he's keeping it.
He has cars, houses, blah, blah, all that
kind of stuff.
He went to the doctor for an appointment.
The doctor tells him bad news, you're dying
in three months.
You have four-stage cancer and you're dying
in three months.
And now he just kind of feels remorseful.
I'm dying, leaving all this money, so what
am I going to do with that?
He's calling his friends and his relatives.
He goes, you take $20,000, you take
$50,000, you take this car, you take
this house.
All that distribution Islamically will be nullified.
Because now the money is not his anymore.
He's dying.
So therefore, it's now considered part of inheritance.
But if you're healthy, alhamdulillah, and no sickness,
no illness, nothing, and then in one moment
in your time you thought, you know what,
I'm going to give away my money into
charity for my friends and so on.
And you gather, everybody says, hey, I want
to give you this much, I want to
give this much.
There is no objection to it.
Because that's your money, you can do with
it whatever you want to do.
Of course, unless there's an accusation that you're
doing this to avoid keeping haq of your
families and so on.
So that's a different story.
But overall, if you're healthy and wealthy and
everything, you can give it as you wish.
But once a person becomes close to death,
whether they're on their deathbed or being diagnosed
with terminal illness, this is it.
You cannot give that money to that person
because it's already been prescribed to this person
by inheritance law.
So the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, look,
the best charity you give is when you
own the money and it's still yours.
Once you start going towards the akhira, it's
no longer yours.
So when you give it, it doesn't have
the same value.
So remember this, don't wait for too long
to give charity.
If you would like to give something, a
legacy, this is the time for it, inshallah.
May Allah bless us all with health and
wealth.
And the ability to be charitable.
Any questions?
When you write your wasiyah, are you allowed
to write something for charity?
Yes, but no more than one third.
You cannot exceed one third with that charity.
And you don't give charity to somebody who
already receives through inheritance.
You cannot give to your son extra, your
daughter extra.
Well, because she's, for example, she needs that,
or my son, he's not married.
You can't give them more than what they
deserve from inheritance law.
Wallaha.
Yeah, of
course.
Allah mentioned that in the Quran.
Wallaha.
Don't hold your hand, close fist to your
neck, which means being so stingy like a
kid.
You know when kids want to hold something
in their possession, what do they do?
That's mine.
So Allah says, don't be so childish.
Like holding your wealth like a kid close
to your neck.
Wallaha.
And don't open it so wide to spend
it all day.
Keep it balanced.
How do you balance?
I mean, people have different capacities.
What does that mean?
Some people, mashallah, they're very minimalist, which means
they earn a million dollars, but they can
live on $25,000.
So therefore, they give, mashallah, charity.
And their family, alhamdulillah, supportive of that, so
they're on the same page.
Others, they, mashallah, they earn $50,000, but
they spend like a million dollars, mashallah, people.
They're always in debt.
So it really depends.
So the balance is based on your lifestyle,
how much you earn, and how much charity
you would like to give, inshallah.
Oh, I see what you're saying.
So you're afraid to be poor if you
keep giving, that's what you're saying, right?
I mean, I hope that we understand the
consistency, mashallah, of our jobs, that we know
that every month we earn this much money.
So alhamdulillah, I know the money's coming.
I don't worry about, you know, that part.
So therefore, I know if I give this
much money today, I can recover that in
the next three months.
So you calculate your risk, and give accordingly.
Wallaha.
Very good question.
If someone was in deathbed, and now they
want to give to charity, not to individuals,
are they allowed to do that, or should
we hold on to this money right now?
Same thing.
Same thing.
It's too late for that.
Now some ulama, they differentiate the death of
illness, or the circumstances of their death, but
if it becomes terminal, that money's not theirs
anymore.
Wallaha.
Interesting question.
Is it okay to borrow money to give
money?
And you want to be charitable, so you
borrow money to give charity.
I would say don't do that.
Because being in debt, being in debt in
itself, is not right.
It's not good.
Not right.
I wouldn't say it's not right, it's not
good.
So therefore, it's better for you that you
be debt-free, than giving charity.
Wallaha.
This Harith is not speaking about zakah.
He's speaking about what's beyond the zakah.
You see, the zakah is not better.
The zakah is wajib.
The zakah is not better.
The zakah is obligatory.
So when you say, which is better, what
charity is better, he's not talking about the
obligatory one.
He's talking about what is beyond the obligatory
one.
So that's just for charity in general.
Not for zakah.
Wallaha.
Subhanakallah wa bihamdik.
Ashara al-ant, as-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi
wa barakatuh.
So I'm going to plug it in right
now.