T h e Fo u r Pill a rs
47
you for God’s sake only; we seek of you neither recompense
nor thanks: for we fear from our Lord a day of anguish and
woe.” (76:9-10)
3. Whoever is given charity should not be reminded of it, nor
should anything be said to hurt his self respect. “Those who
give their wealth for the cause of God and do not follow
their almsgiving with taunts and insults shall be rewarded
by their Lord.” (2:262)
4. Givers shouldnot consider their donations either a financial
loss or a burden. They should “give away their wealth from
a desire to please God and to strengthen their own souls.”
(2:264)
5. According to the Quran it is better to give alms to the poor
in private rather than in public. The Prophet’s companions,
therefore, took special care to keep their almsgiving secret.
There is the story of Abdur Rahman bin Sabit Jamhi who,
when he received his stipend, would buy essential food for
his family and give away the rest of his money in alms. If
his wife asked him about the remainder of his earnings, he
would reply that he had lent it to someone. Such actions
often created many delicate situations in the household.
How the
Sahaba
(followers of the Prophet) dealt with such
situations is illustrated by the following incident.
Hassan bin Atiya narrates that when Caliph Umar dispatched
Saeed bin Amir to Syria as governor, the latter set out with his
wife, a bright-faced Quraysh girl. But he was very soon in dire need
of money. When Umar heard of this, he sent him one thousand
dinars. Saeed brought the money home to his wife and said that
Umar has sent it for them. His wife suggested that he had better
store food and other necessities with that money. He offered a
better suggestion, that they entrust the money to someone who
should bring it to themwhen they were in great need, that is, in the
Hereafter. (
Abu Nuaim, Hilyatul Auliya
, Vol. 1, p. 244)
The narrator goes on to say that Saeed then quietly gave away
all the money in charity. When the wife came to know of this, she
