Page 57 - Some Secrets of the Qur'an

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DIVINE PURPOSES IN SPENDING IN GOD'S WAY

God. Yet, there are limits specified in the Qur'an. For
example, God commands man to spend whatever is surplus
to his needs:

... They will ask you what they should give away.
Say, 'Whatever is surplus to your needs.' In this way
God makes the Signs clear to you, so that hopefully
you will reflect; (Surat al-Baqara: 219)
Man needs very little to live in this world. Property that
is in excess of one's needs is surplus goods. What is
important is not the amount given but whether one sincerely
gives away what he can really afford. God has knowledge of
all things and He has left it to man's conscience to decide the
things he actually does not need. Giving away is a very easy
form of worship for those who are not seized by worldly
ambitions and who have not sold out to this world, but yearn
for the hereafter. God has ordered us to give away out of our
wealth to avoid attachment to this world. This is a means to
purify ourselves of greed. No doubt, this form of worship is
very important for believers in respect of their reckoning in
the hereafter. God's Messenger, peace be upon him, also said
that he who spends in the way of God is favoured:
Two people are favoured: One is someone to whom God gave the
Qur'an and who lived by it. He accepted as lawful whatever it
commanded as lawful, and as unlawful whatever it commanded as
unlawful. The other is someone to whom God gave property and who
allotted this property among his relatives and spent it on God's
path. 6

Man should give of what he loves to the needy
People often tend to do someone a favour if that favour