Deeds to Habit
11 / 28
Give No Matter How Small
Dr. Altaf Husain reflects upon the impact of spiritual, charitable giving and how we can establish a giving habit.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. I was in an event and a man came to me and said, you know, one time I gave a donation and I made the donation and I made the intention to make the donation and I didn't consult my wife and we were going through difficult times and we had a small business and I didn't know how or where I would get the money from. But I knew that I wanted to make this donation and I really wanted to become closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala through making this donation. Brothers and sisters, the habit today we're going to talk about is literally coming to terms with the fact that whatever it is we're able to give in charity, however small the amount is, never belittle it and never think it's too little. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was indeed reminding us when he said, ittaqun naar, save yourselves from the fire, even if it is with just half of a date. Think about what that means. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has blessed us with so much and sometimes we keep thinking about charity and sadaqa as being finances, as being money. That's one aspect of it. But giving of one's time, giving of one's talents and energy, right? Think about that. In another tradition, the Prophet peace be upon him said that there is a charity due for every joint in our bodies. And then he gave examples, right?
Helping someone to get onto their ride, because in those days of camels or horses, right? Being charitable by just helping someone. Maybe you spot someone who is elderly and you're walking past them. Both of you are approaching a door and you rush ahead of them so that you can open the door. Someone else is trying to pick up something and put that in their grocery cart. And you see that the object or the product is heavy and you rush to their aid and you lift it up and put it in their cart. Of course you talk to them, you acknowledge them, you don't just start grabbing things. But think about what that means. Think about the impact that it has on people when we have a spirit of being charitable, of giving, and we expand that to not just being wealth or money, if you will. When the Prophet peace be upon him is reminding us about the date, just giving half of a date in sadaqah, indeed there were times, and we have one tradition, when the Prophet peace be upon him, when Aisha radiAllahu ta'ala Anha was at home and a lady came with two of her daughters. In this tradition we are told in Sahih al-Bukhari that Aisha radiAllahu ta'ala Anha searched the entire house as to what to give because they were clearly hungry and they had come to ask for some help. And she could only find one date, one date in the house of the Prophet peace be upon him. She could have felt shy, she could have felt embarrassed and said, I can't do that, I'm not going to give that. It's just one date. Indeed subhanAllah, she saw the love of a mother for children appear in front of her own eyes. When she took that one date and she gave it to the mother, and the mother without hesitation
split the date into two and gave each half to her two daughters, subhanAllah. So we have to think about what is within our reach in terms of sadaqah. How can we sustain this habit on a regular basis? And indeed in the Quran we are told that the wealth that we are given, all the blessings we are given, is given to us from Allah. It's a loan to us from Allah. Our health, our time, our energy, our talent, and how we use this on a regular basis. So make it a habit to give whenever you can. Whenever you can. Don't think it's too little. Don't think it will be an embarrassment to say, you know, people might think, well, why are they only giving that much? No. Think about the impact that will come from that small gesture, whether it is of your time, of your talent, of your energy, and of course of your wealth. And give, the Prophet ﷺ also reminded us, that the small and consistent deeds are beloved to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So even suppose you're getting all these requests for different campaigns and you decide, I don't know how to manage this, so you give just a little bit to everyone, a few dollars to every campaign. And subhanAllah, it's so loving, so loving when you see the impact on the other side of people who are benefiting from that, what you thought was a small, just a small amount of money, or just a little bit of use of your time. Indeed, we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bless all of us and to help us to make the best use of the blessings He has given us, even if they're very little in our sights, may they be huge and heavy in our scales. Jazakumullahu khayran. Salamualikoum wa rahmatollahi wa barakatohu.
Welcome back!
Bookmark content
Download resources easily
Manage your donations
Track your spiritual growth
1 items
1 items
1 items
25 items
50 items
9 items
