Charity begins to safeguard you wealth & You are answerable how you earn it.

By Marshad Barry (Dip in Journalism University of Colombo)

Smiling in your brother’s face is an act of charity. So is enjoining good and forbidding evil, 
giving directions to the lost traveller, 
aiding the blind and 
removing obstacles from the path. -Prophet Muhammad (SAW)

Today many of us work from dawn to dusk to earn money, making that the only goal in our lives. Sometimes, we fail to think about how we have spent our life so far and what we have achieved by earning our money. Abdullah Bin Mas`ud (RA) narrated that Allah’s Messenger Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said: “A man shall be asked concerning five things on the day of resurrection first concerning his life, how he spent it; secondly concerning his youth, how he grew old; thirdly oncerning his wealth, from whence he acquired it, and then in what way he spent it; and what was it that he did with the knowledge that he had.” (Tirmidhi, 5, 197)

Allah may give you great wealth and test how you react to it. As all us are aware the certain recent incident happened in our country will confirm this. Allah can make you the richest person in the universe and then make you the poorest person in a short span of your life. We can see many examples in today’s world apart from recent incident in our country. In 1923, eight of the wealthiest people in the world met. Their combined estimated wealth exceeded the wealth of the government of the United States of America. These men knew how to make money and accumulate wealth. It’s very interesting to read about what happened to these eight people. After twenty five years, the President of the largest Steel Company, Charles Schwab, died bankrupt. The President of the largest Gas Company, Howard Hobson, went insane. One of the greatest commodity traders, Arthur Cutton, died insolvent. The President of the New York Stock Exchange, Richard Whitney, was sent to jail. A member of the President’s cabinet, Albert Fall, was pardoned from jail. The greatest “bear” on Wall Street, Jessie Livermore committed suicide. The President of the world’s greatest monopoly, Ivar Krueger, committed suicide. The President of the Bank of International Settlement, Leon Fraser, too committed suicide.

This is a classic example for us to think where we are heading and where we stand now. Islam teaches us how to safeguard our wealth by giving charity. Regarding charity, the Prophet Muhammad said: “Every Muslim has to give in charity.” The people then asked: “(But what) if someone has nothing to give, what should he do?” The Prophet replied: “He should work with his hands and benefit himself and also give in charity (from what he earns).” The people further asked: “If he cannot do even that?” He replied: “He should help the needy who appeal for help.” Then the people asked: “If he cannot do (even) that?” The Prophet said finally: “Then he should perform good deeds and keep away from evil deeds, and that will be regarded as charitable deeds.” (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 2, Hadith 524)

The most important words to pick is “perform good deeds and keep away from evil deeds” at least some of these top officials realize this factor and would have followed they could have avoid those down falls in their life but what happened is happened this can be a good lesson to all of us to be humble and live a simple life.

When it comes to give charity it is important to distribute our Zakath, which literally means to “purify”, in a perfect manner. It refers to the purification of a Muslim's wealth and soul. Wealth purification denotes the mobilization of assets for the purpose of financial growth and justified distribution. Purification of the soul implies freedom from hatred, jealousy, selfishness, uneasiness and greed. Other Qur'anic connotations include the purification of sin. Zakath is mentioned with Salat (prayer) in 30 verses of the Qur'an. It was first revealed in Surah Al Muzzamil which says; “…and establish regular prayers and give regular charity; and loan to Allah a beautiful loan. And whatever good ye send forth for your souls, ye shall find it in Allah’s presence, better and greater in reward, and seek ye the grace of Allah: for Allah is oft-forgiving, most merciful.” 

Also in another verse, in At Taubah: 11: “But (even so), if they repent, establish regular prayers, and practice regular charity, they are your brethren in Faith: (thus) do we explain the Signs in detail, for those who understand.”

You don’t need to worry about what others have or don’t have simply because you are living your life, not theirs. 

Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be upon Him) led an exemplary life. So don’t wait until you are on your death bed to talk about what you could have, would have and should have done and regret.

So let us safeguard ourselves from all calamities following the order of the most merciful and beneficent and try to live an exemplary life.