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Is it true that alms giving grants wealthy people an advantage over poor people in winning the Grace of Allah?

  • | Wednesday, 5 June, 2019
Is it true that alms giving grants wealthy people an advantage over poor people in winning the Grace of Allah?

By

Prof. Dr. Mahmoud Hamdy Zakzouq

The President of Al-Azhar Center for Interfaith Dialogue

Edited by

Dr. Kamal Boraiqa Abdelsalam Hassan

                                                                                                                                                                     Al-Azhar Magazine (Shawwal, 1440 A.H. June, 2019.)

     Alms in Islam are considered the first organized system of taxation in the history of the economy of the world. Prior to Islam, heads of states imposed taxes as they willed, according to the wealth they needed for their own personal requirements. The burden of taxes was laid chiefly on the poor whereas the rich were often exempted.

     With the advent of Islam and its legislation of alms, Islam organized the collection of alms and specified the amount to be paid. Furthermore, Islam imposed alms only on wealthy people and people of medium means and exempted poor people. Alms giving is not only a system of finance but it is also a religious duty like performing prayers, observing fasting during the Month of Ramadan, and making the pilgrimage to Makkah and is therefore obligatory for all those who are eligible to pay it, who do so, not through any fear of the governing regime but out of their free will to obey the laws of Islam and to seek the Grace of Allah.

     During the lifetime of the Prophet, poor people felt that they were at a disadvantage for not being able to donate alms as did the rich. They believed that by giving alms, rich people gained the Grace of Allah for performing this religious duty while they were unable to do so through no fault of theirs, as they were not to be blamed for their poverty. They expressed their fears to the Prophet who advised them to glorify, praise, and declare the greatness of God thirty-three times after each prayer, assuring them that this would elevate them to the same status of rich people who gave alms.

     The criterion recognized by the Qur'an by which people are judged is that of piety and righteousness as it is stated in the following Qur'anic verse: “People, We created you all from a single man and a single woman, and made you into races and tribes so that you should recognize one another. In God’s eyes, the most honoured of you are the ones most mindful of Him: Allah is all knowing, all aware” (Al-Hujurat 49:13). Taqwa (Mindfulness of God, Piety or God consciousness) means any good deed that a person performs whether it is in the cause of Allah and obeying His Commands, for the welfare of mankind in this world, or to ward off evil.

     Thus to come within Allah's Grace does not only depend upon giving alms and upon other religious observances but also depends upon one's attitude, disposition, conduct, and what one utters. Islam attaches the greatest importance to one's intention, as stated by the Prophet: "Deeds are judged according to the intentions behind them". Consequently, a poor man who sincerely wishes that he were able to give alms shall be rewarded by Allah for his sincere intention, whereas rich people who give alms ostentatiously to attain a high status among the people who witness their display of charity will not attain the divine reward.

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