Charity and Its Virtue
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Charity does not end with Ramadan; rather, it is prescribed at all times.As the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: (Charity extinguishes the sin as water extinguishes fire) Who among us has not sinned? (Every son of Adam is a sinner) How numerous are our mistakes! And how much we are extravagant with ourselves! Charity extinguishes the sin as water extinguishes fire, and charity is charity even if it is half a date.The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: (Fear the Fire even if with half a date) Because Allah the Exalted is Good and accepts nothing but what is good. And if a person gives charity from what is good, then Allah the Exalted takes his charity with His right hand, even if it is the weight of a date, and He grows it as a man grows his foal, until it becomes like a great mountain.
So give charity, O my brother, and know that charity is not only what a person gives to a stranger who is not from his family; rather, charity to your family is better than charity to strangers, and spending on your family is charity. Indeed, the dinar you spend on yourself is also charity. And charity to a close relative is better than charity to a distant one, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, because it is charity and maintaining family ties. The important thing is that you spend in charity seeking the Face of Allah the Exalted.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) visited Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas and said to him: (And know that you will not spend any expenditure seeking the Face of Allah but you will be rewarded for it, even what you put in your wife's mouth) (expenditure) meaning: any expenditure, because it came as an indefinite noun in the context of negation, encompassing every expenditure, small or large, little or much.You will be rewarded for it on the condition: That it be for Allah, and that it be from what is good, and that you seek thereby the Face of Allah, even though your spending on your wife is obligatory.If you did not spend, she would say: Either you spend or you divorce her. So you spend on her to reconcile her and to fulfill her right, and out of fear that she will demand divorce. And despite that, you are rewarded for spending on her. So the doors, and praise be to Allah, are many and wide.
So give charity, O my brother, and know that charity is not only what a person gives to a stranger who is not from his family; rather, charity to your family is better than charity to strangers, and spending on your family is charity. Indeed, the dinar you spend on yourself is also charity. And charity to a close relative is better than charity to a distant one, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, because it is charity and maintaining family ties. The important thing is that you spend in charity seeking the Face of Allah the Exalted.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) visited Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas and said to him: (And know that you will not spend any expenditure seeking the Face of Allah but you will be rewarded for it, even what you put in your wife's mouth) (expenditure) meaning: any expenditure, because it came as an indefinite noun in the context of negation, encompassing every expenditure, small or large, little or much.You will be rewarded for it on the condition: That it be for Allah, and that it be from what is good, and that you seek thereby the Face of Allah, even though your spending on your wife is obligatory.If you did not spend, she would say: Either you spend or you divorce her. So you spend on her to reconcile her and to fulfill her right, and out of fear that she will demand divorce. And despite that, you are rewarded for spending on her. So the doors, and praise be to Allah, are many and wide.