Is printing Islamic books and distributing them considered ongoing charity, and what falls under ongoing charity?
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The questioner : This questioner, O esteemed Shaykh, asks whether printing Islamic books and distributing them is considered ongoing charity. Please inform us, may Allah reward you, and what falls under ongoing charity? May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment. Ongoing charity is that in which the benefit continues, and for this reason it is called "ongoing," meaning it does not stop. Non-ongoing charity is that in which a person benefits only at the time it is given. For example, if you give a poor person a thousand riyals to spend over a month or two, the charity ends. But if you endow a building, a house, or a shop so that its rental income goes to the poor, the charity is ongoing as long as the income exists.
Printing books and useful items is ongoing charity as long as people benefit from them; the reward is ongoing, the recompense is ongoing. These books may be destroyed, but benefit is derived from what is transmitted from them into other books, and then from what is transmitted from those other books. So printing useful books is ongoing charity without doubt. However, it is recommended that whoever wants to print books from which Muslims benefit should consult scholars whose knowledge is trusted, and not print every book that is presented to him, nor take the word of every person he does not know. A person may come who is eloquent, to whom Allah the Exalted has granted clarity, eloquence, and an attractive style, and he comes to a person and says, "This book is one of the best and finest books; it has what others do not." The man is deceived by this speech and says, "Print it." This is haste without doubt. Whenever a book is presented to you for printing and charity, consult scholars in whose knowledge, trustworthiness, and religion you have confidence, and who do not have envy for anyone. Perhaps the scholar you trust will say to you, "I cannot do it; I do not have free time." Give him time until he is free, and tell him, "If you read one page from it every day, it is three hundred pages, so it will take you three hundred days; there is no obstacle."
And here I remind my brothers who review books, whether from their own writings or others, to set aside a specific amount of time each day to commit to, for example, five pages. The important thing is that they do not say, "We will review five pages today," and then in the morning they do not review, and the next morning they do not review, and the days pass by. But if they set aside a specific amount of time each day to complete it, even at the hour of sleep, the book will be finished. But if they say, "When I have free time, when I am free, I will review it," it will not be finished quickly. This is what I say regarding the printing of useful books: that it is from ongoing charity, whether it remains and is benefited from directly, or in what is transmitted from it, or a scholar reads it and benefits from it and spreads his knowledge. It is from the best of deeds and the most beneficial, by the permission of Allah. But what I see is that it is obligatory, and I point to this, that no one among our brothers the merchants should proceed to print books except after consulting scholars whose knowledge and trustworthiness are trusted. Yes.
The questioner : And what, he asks, falls under ongoing charity?
The Shaykh : Everything continuous that brings one closer to Allah falls under ongoing charity. Yes.
The questioner : Praise be to Allah. May Allah reward you and bless you.
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment. Ongoing charity is that in which the benefit continues, and for this reason it is called "ongoing," meaning it does not stop. Non-ongoing charity is that in which a person benefits only at the time it is given. For example, if you give a poor person a thousand riyals to spend over a month or two, the charity ends. But if you endow a building, a house, or a shop so that its rental income goes to the poor, the charity is ongoing as long as the income exists.
Printing books and useful items is ongoing charity as long as people benefit from them; the reward is ongoing, the recompense is ongoing. These books may be destroyed, but benefit is derived from what is transmitted from them into other books, and then from what is transmitted from those other books. So printing useful books is ongoing charity without doubt. However, it is recommended that whoever wants to print books from which Muslims benefit should consult scholars whose knowledge is trusted, and not print every book that is presented to him, nor take the word of every person he does not know. A person may come who is eloquent, to whom Allah the Exalted has granted clarity, eloquence, and an attractive style, and he comes to a person and says, "This book is one of the best and finest books; it has what others do not." The man is deceived by this speech and says, "Print it." This is haste without doubt. Whenever a book is presented to you for printing and charity, consult scholars in whose knowledge, trustworthiness, and religion you have confidence, and who do not have envy for anyone. Perhaps the scholar you trust will say to you, "I cannot do it; I do not have free time." Give him time until he is free, and tell him, "If you read one page from it every day, it is three hundred pages, so it will take you three hundred days; there is no obstacle."
And here I remind my brothers who review books, whether from their own writings or others, to set aside a specific amount of time each day to commit to, for example, five pages. The important thing is that they do not say, "We will review five pages today," and then in the morning they do not review, and the next morning they do not review, and the days pass by. But if they set aside a specific amount of time each day to complete it, even at the hour of sleep, the book will be finished. But if they say, "When I have free time, when I am free, I will review it," it will not be finished quickly. This is what I say regarding the printing of useful books: that it is from ongoing charity, whether it remains and is benefited from directly, or in what is transmitted from it, or a scholar reads it and benefits from it and spreads his knowledge. It is from the best of deeds and the most beneficial, by the permission of Allah. But what I see is that it is obligatory, and I point to this, that no one among our brothers the merchants should proceed to print books except after consulting scholars whose knowledge and trustworthiness are trusted. Yes.
The questioner : And what, he asks, falls under ongoing charity?
The Shaykh : Everything continuous that brings one closer to Allah falls under ongoing charity. Yes.
The questioner : Praise be to Allah. May Allah reward you and bless you.