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certainly give you increase, but if you are ungrate-
ful, My punishment is severe." (Surah Ibrahim: 7)
At the same time, all blessings are a part of a human
being's worldly testing. For this reason, people of faith, in ad-
dition to giving thanks, use the blessings given to them as much
as possible in doing good works; they don't want to be stingy
and hoard wealth. This is because collecting and hoarding
wealth is a characteristic of the people of the Fire. Our Lord draws
our attention to this in the Qur'an:
But no! It is a Raging Blaze stripping away the limbs and
scalp, which calls for all who drew back and turned away,
and amassed and hoarded up. Truly man was created head-
strong, desperate when bad things happen, begrudging when
good things come. (Surat al-Ma'arij: 15-21)
In response to the question as to what people should give
away, Allah recommends that one give from
"whatever is surplus
to your needs."
(Surat al-Baqara: 219) It is a requirement of the
teachings of the Qur'an that believers use a portion of their earn-
ings apart from their own needs for good works as Allah directs.
The legal minimum of that is the obligatory zakat, which is col-
lected by the ruler or community leader for distribution to the poor
and needy and those others Allah mentions in the ayah about
zakat. Giving beyond that is not
obligatory but highly recom-
mended.
Certainly believ-
ers' thanksgiving for
their blessings will
be to use the bless-
ings Allah has given
them to win His ap-
proval. A believer is re-
24 Hours in the Life of a Muslim
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