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الفتح الربانی
Fath al-Rabbani
كتاب الزكاةBook of Zakat
بَابُ نَهْيِ الْغَنِيِّ عَنِ السُّؤَالِ وَحَدِّ الْغِنَى - وَمَنْ لَا تَحِلُّ لَهُ الصَّدَقَةُChapter: Forbidding the Wealthy from Begging, the Definition of Wealth, and Who Is Not Permitted to Receive Charity
Hadith 3514
اُردوEn
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَسَلَّمَ: ((مَنْ سَأَلَ النَّاسَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ تَكَثُّرًا، فَإِنَّمَا يَسْأَلُ جَمْرًا، فَلْيَسْتَقِلَّ مِنْهُ أَوْ لِيَسْتَكْثِرْ))
Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, narrates that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: Whoever asks people (begs) to increase his wealth, in fact he is collecting embers of fire; now it is up to him whether he collects a little or a lot.
Brief Explanation
Benefits: … There is another hadith regarding the amount: A man from the Muzayni tribe was told by his mother, “Will you not go to the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) so that you may ask him for something, as people keep asking him?” So I (upon her saying this) went to ask for something. I saw that he (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) was addressing the people and saying: “Whoever seeks chastity, Allah will make him chaste; and whoever seeks self-sufficiency, Allah will make him self-sufficient. And whoever asks people while he has the equivalent of five awqiyah, then he has asked insistently.” I said to myself: Our she-camel is better than five awqiyah, and my slave also has a she-camel which is better than five awqiyah. On this basis, I returned and did not ask the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) for anything. (Musnad Ahmad: 4/138, Sahihah: 2314)
In the above blessed ahadith, where asking (begging) has been severely condemned, the following five different amounts have been set as the limit of sufficiency (ghina) and as a barrier to asking:
(1) … Fifty dirhams, i.e., (12, 13) tolah of silver
(2) … Forty dirhams, i.e., (10) tolah of silver
(3) … Food for two meals
(4) … Food for one meal
(5) … Five awqiyah, i.e., (200) dirhams, which is approximately (52) tolah of silver.
The real issue is that these rulings are not absolute, but rather conditional. For example, a person whose living expenses can be met with forty dirhams cannot, under any circumstances, ask (beg); for instance, a laborer who earns eight or nine dirhams daily and also possesses forty dirhams cannot beg from people, even if at times he does not find work. The same applies to street vendors and small shopkeepers. However, if a person has a house to live in and a goat for milk, but these two things cannot possibly cover his household expenses, even though he owns more than forty dirhams’ worth of wealth, then he may ask from people. The summary is that whoever’s life can be managed with wealth worth forty dirhams or less cannot stretch out his hand to others. The intent of the Shari‘ah is that a person whose income fulfills his and his family’s necessary expenses cannot ask from people; otherwise, permission may be given for it. And Allah knows best what is correct.
In the above blessed ahadith, where asking (begging) has been severely condemned, the following five different amounts have been set as the limit of sufficiency (ghina) and as a barrier to asking:
(1) … Fifty dirhams, i.e., (12, 13) tolah of silver
(2) … Forty dirhams, i.e., (10) tolah of silver
(3) … Food for two meals
(4) … Food for one meal
(5) … Five awqiyah, i.e., (200) dirhams, which is approximately (52) tolah of silver.
The real issue is that these rulings are not absolute, but rather conditional. For example, a person whose living expenses can be met with forty dirhams cannot, under any circumstances, ask (beg); for instance, a laborer who earns eight or nine dirhams daily and also possesses forty dirhams cannot beg from people, even if at times he does not find work. The same applies to street vendors and small shopkeepers. However, if a person has a house to live in and a goat for milk, but these two things cannot possibly cover his household expenses, even though he owns more than forty dirhams’ worth of wealth, then he may ask from people. The summary is that whoever’s life can be managed with wealth worth forty dirhams or less cannot stretch out his hand to others. The intent of the Shari‘ah is that a person whose income fulfills his and his family’s necessary expenses cannot ask from people; otherwise, permission may be given for it. And Allah knows best what is correct.
