Charity
is given to the poor and needy to meet their needs, and is done with the
intention of seeking the Face of Allaah. There is no intention of giving it to
a specific person, rather it is given to any poor or needy person.
A
gift is not necessarily given to a poor person, rather it may be given to rich
or poor; the intention is to show friendship and to honour the recipient.
Both
of them – charity and gift-giving – are righteous deeds for which a person will
be rewarded, but which is better?
Shaykh
al-Islam [Ibn Taymiyah] said in Majmoo’ al-Fataawa:
Sadaqah
(charity) is that which is given for the sake of Allaah as an act of worship,
without intending to give it to a specific person and without seeking anything
in return, rather it is given to charitable causes, such as to the needy. A
gift is given with the intention of honouring a specific person, either because
you love him and he is your friend, or because you want something. Hence the
Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) used to accept gifts and reward people
for them, so that no one could remind him of their favours, but he did not
accept the “refuse” of people that they gave to purify themselves of sins,
namely charity. He did not accept charity for this and other reasons. Once this
is understood, then charity is better, but there is a sense in which a gift is
better than charity, such as giving a gift to the Messenger of Allaah
(sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) during his lifetime out of love for him, or the
gifts which a person gives to a relative in order to uphold the ties of
kinship, or to a brother in Islam. These gifts may be better than charity.[1]
No comments:
Post a Comment