Imaam Ibn Qayyim said:
A generous person is close to Allah –
the most High, to His creatures, to his family, to Paradise and far from the
Fire, while a miser is far from Allah’s creatures, far from Paradise and close
to the Fire. The generosity of a man endears him to his opponents while his
miserliness makes him unpopular with his children.
“A man’s stinginess
manifests his fault among the people while his generosity conceals it from all
of them. Cover yourself with the garments of generosity because I see every
fault, so generosity is its covering. If you will associate, then associate
with the free because a youth is only beautified or disparaged based on his
companions. Reduce your speech as much as you can, because the errors of an
individual will be few if his speech is limited…
Source: Al-Waabil as-Sayyib min al-Kalim
at-Tayyib, p. 46 by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah. Translated by Abdus-Samee
Abdus-Salaam.
