Charity and giving

Take from among you an offering to the LORD. Let everyone whose heart is willing bring an offering to the LORD: gold, silver, and bronze;

“The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become rich. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, camels and donkeys.

And all who could present an offering of silver or bronze brought it as a contribution to the LORD. Also, everyone who had acacia wood for any part of the service brought it.

Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and He will repay the lender.

The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the LORD will praise Him. May your hearts live forever!

A generous man will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.

Each one should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not out of regret or compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver.

“Who has first given to God, that God should repay him?”

We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If one’s gift is prophecy, let him use it in proportion to his faith;

The mishna mentions: And gifts distributed to the poor. Rav Yosef taught a baraita that the verse states: “And of sending portions one to another” (Esther 9:22), indicating two portions to one person. The verse continues: “And gifts to the poor” (Esther 9:22), indicating two gifts to two people.

§ Rabbi Elazar said: One who performs acts of charity is greater than one who sacrifices all types of offerings, as it is stated: “To perform charity and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than an offering” (Proverbs 21:3), including all types of offerings. And Rabbi Elazar said: Acts of kindness, assisting someone in need, are greater than charity, as it is stated: “Sow to yourselves according to charity, and reap according to kindness” (Hosea 10:12). This means: If a person sows, it is uncertain whether he will eat or whether he will not eat, since much can go wrong before the seed becomes food. However, if a person reaps, he certainly eats. In this verse, charity is likened to sowing, while acts of kindness are likened to reaping. And Rabbi Elazar said: The reward for charity is paid from Heaven only in accordance with the kindness and generosity included therein and in accordance with the effort and the consideration that went into the giving. It is not merely in accordance with the sum of money, as it is stated: “Sow to yourselves according to charity, and reap according to kindness.”

And from the fact that the Merciful One has mercy upon one who brings an offering in poverty, in that He permits him to bring an offering that is worth one-sixteenth of the value of the lamb that is brought in wealth, it may be inferred that the Merciful One takes pity upon one who brings an offering in extreme poverty, and consequently He permits him to bring an offering which is worth one-sixteenth of the value of the offering brought in moderate poverty. Accordingly, the offering brought in extreme poverty may be equal to a two hundred fifty-sixth part of the value of a sela.

The alms are only for the poor and the needy, and those who collect them, and those whose hearts are to be reconciled, and to free the captives and the debtors, and for the cause of Allah, and (for) the wayfarer; a duty imposed by Allah. Allah is Knower, Wise

If ye publish your almsgiving, it is well, but if ye hide it and give it to the poor, it will be better for you, and will atone for some of your ill-deeds. Allah is Informed of what ye do The guiding of them is not thy duty (O Muhammad), but Allah guideth whom He will. And whatsoever good thing ye spend, it is for yourselves, when ye spend not save in search of Allah's Countenance; and whatsoever good thing ye spend, it will be repaid to you in full, and ye will not be wronged (Alms are) for the poor who are straitened for the cause of Allah, who cannot travel in the land (for trade). The unthinking man accounteth them wealthy because of their restraint. Thou shalt know them by their mark: They do not beg of men with importunity. And whatsoever good thing ye spend, lo! Allah knoweth it

For the beggar and the destitute

Narrated Abu Masʿud Al-Ansari: Whenever Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) ordered us to give in charity, we used to go to the market and work as porters and get a Mudd (a special measure of grain) and then give it in charity. (Those were the days of poverty) and today some of us have one hundred thousand

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "A man said that he would give something in charity. He went out with his object of charity and unknowingly gave it to a thief. Next morning the people said that he had given his object of charity to a thief. (On hearing that) he said, "O Allah! All the praises are for you. I will give alms again." And so he again went out with his alms and (unknowingly) gave it to an adulteress. Next morning the people said that he had given his alms to an adulteress last night. The man said, "O Allah! All the praises are for you. (I gave my alms) to an adulteress. I will give alms again." So he went out with his alms again and (unknowingly) gave it to a rich person. (The people) next morning said that he had given his alms to a wealthy person. He said, "O Allah! All the praises are for you. (I had given alms) to a thief, to an adulteress and to a wealthy man." Then someone came and said to him, "The alms which you gave to the thief, might make him abstain from stealing, and that given to the adulteress might make her abstain from illegal sexual intercourse (adultery), and that given to the wealthy man might make him take a lesson from it and spend his wealth which Allah has given him, in Allah's cause

Narrated Abu Mas'ud: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "If a man spends on his family (with the intention of having a reward from Allah) sincerely for Allah's sake then it is a (kind of) alms-giving in reward for him

The food that people enjoy is also threefold, like the ways of sacrifice, austerity, and almsgiving. Listen to the distinction.

And that which is given at an inappropriate place or time or to one who is undeserving, or with disrespect or contempt - such a gift is the result of ignorance.

In the light of wisdom, our ancestors who sought deliverance performed their acts. Act thou also as our fathers of old did.

O Agni (Bright Being)! Lead us to blessedness by the good path. O Lord! Thou knowest all our deeds, remove all evil and delusion from us. To Thee we offer our prostrations and supplications again and again.

Yama said: The good is one thing and the pleasant another. These two, having different ends, bind a man. It is well with him who chooses the good. He who chooses the pleasant misses the true end.

The great-soured Yama, being well pleased, said to him (Nachiketas): I give thee now another boon. This fire (sacrifice) shall be named after thee. Take also this garland of many colours.

A friend in need is a blessing; it’s a blessing to be content with whatever; good deeds are a blessing at the end of life, and giving up all suffering is a blessing. In this world it’s a blessing to serve one’s mother and one’s father. And it’s a blessing also to serve ascetics and brahmins.

If a mendicant is poor in offerings, the well-to-do ought not look down on them. For the gods indeed praise them, who are tireless and pure of livelihood.

The miserly don’t ascend to heaven, it takes a fool to not praise giving. The attentive celebrate giving, and so find happiness in the hereafter.

the recollection of generosity …

“Mendicants, there are these eight grounds for giving. What eight? Someone might give a gift out of favoritism or hostility or stupidity or cowardice. Or they give thinking, ‘Giving was practiced by my father and my father’s father. It would not be right for me to abandon this traditional family custom.’ Or they give thinking, ‘After I’ve given this gift, when my body breaks up, after death, I’ll be reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm.’ Or they give thinking, ‘When giving this gift my mind becomes clear, and I become happy and joyful.’ Or they give a gift thinking, ‘This is an adornment and requisite for the mind.’ These are the eight grounds for giving.”

‘Those who give with faith and a clear and confident heart, partake of food in this world and the next. So you should dispel stinginess, overcoming that stain, and give a gift. The good deeds of sentient beings support them in the next world.’”

The Lord, the Great Giver, Himself gives His Gifts. Celebrate and praise the Great Giver! ||3|| Granting His Grace, the Lord unites the mortals with the True Guru. O Nanak, the Naam is enshrined within the heart. ||4||6||

The humble beggar has found the Great Giver, but he is unable to eat what he has been given. He cannot leave it alone, but it is never exhausted. He shall not go to beg from others any longer. ||3|| Those select few, who know how to die while yet alive, Enjoy great peace. Kabeer has found that wealth; meeting with the Lord, he has erased his self-conceit. ||4||6||

Someone may give away horses and elephants, or women on their beds, or land; he may give such gifts over and over again. He may purify his soul, and give away in charity his body weight in gold; none of these is equal to the worship of the Lord's Name. ||3||

The things which from of old have got the One (the Tao) are— Heaven which by it is bright and pure; / Earth rendered thereby firm and sure; / Spirits with powers by it supplied; / Valleys kept full throughout their void / All creatures which through it do live / Princes and kings who from it get / The model which to all they give. All these are the results of the One (Tao). If heaven were not thus pure, it soon would rend; / If earth were not thus sure, ’twould break and bend; / Without these powers, the spirits soon would fail; / If not so filled, the drought would parch each vale; / Without that life, creatures would pass away; / Princes and kings, without that moral sway, / However grand and high, would all decay. Thus it is that dignity finds its (firm) root in its (previous) meanness, and what is lofty finds its stability in the lowness (from which it rises). Hence princes and kings call themselves “Orphans,” “Men of small virtue,” and as “Carriages without a nave.” Is not this an acknowledgement that in their considering themselves mean they see the foundation of their dignity? So it is that in the enumeration of the different parts of a carriage we do not come on what makes it answer the ends of a carriage. They do not wish to show themselves elegant-looking as jade, but (prefer) to be coarse-looking as an (ordinary) stone.

When the Tao prevails in the world, they send back their swift horses to (draw) the dung-carts. When the Tao is disregarded in the world, the warhorses breed in the border lands. There is no guilt greater than to sanction ambition; no calamity greater than to be discontented with one’s lot; no fault greater than the wish to be getting. Therefore the sufficiency of contentment is an enduring and unchanging sufficiency.

The people suffer from famine because of the multitude of taxes consumed by their superiors. It is through this that they suffer famine. The people are difficult to govern because of the (excessive) agency of their superiors (in governing them). It is through this that they are difficult to govern. The people make light of dying because of the greatness of their labours in seeking for the means of living. It is this which makes them think light of dying. Thus it is that to leave the subject of living altogether out of view is better than to set a high value on it.