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Keep your resources open for the welfare of humanity |
Whatever material or intellectual resources Allah has bestowed upon
you, keep them open for the physical, intellectual and
spiritual development of others [2:254]. You should do so
both in times of prosperity as well as in times of adversity
[3:134]. Those who are rich should do so according to their
means and those who are straitened should do so
according to their means [65:7]. As far as financial
resources are concerned, whatever is beyond your needs, must be left open for the welfare of
others [2:219]. Those, for whom you should keep your
resources open, include: your parents; family and relatives;
orphans, widows, and those who are left helpless; those
whose hard earned income is insufficient to meet their basic
needs, those whose businesses have stalled, and those who
have lost their jobs; the needy wayfarer, the homeless son
of the street, and the one who has come to your town in a
destitute condition; the needy who are suffering in the
Cause of Allah and cannot emigrate; those who are unable to
go about the earth in search of livelihood; those who are
unaware of their condition, might think they are free from
want, because they abstain from begging but you can
recognize them by the marks on their faces because they do
not ask people insistently [2:215, 2:273].
Spend on others
in the open or in secret [2:274, 13:22, 14:31, 35:29], in daylight
or at night [2:274] but make sure you do not spend just to
be seen or to show off [2:264, 4:38]. Spend on others from
what is good and you like it for yourself [2:267]. Spend
from things you love [3:92]. And, spend from what you have
earned with your own hard work [2:267].
Do not reproach
those whom you give, for what you confer upon them; do not
remind them of your generosity; do not recount your gifts to
them; and, do not hurt them with any annoying remarks
[2:262, 2:264].
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