Charity, the Biggest Protection :)

Nothing protects more than charity, even if you give five cents everyday, it can save you from ending up with a bad accident. Oh believers! Give charity daily! It will remove accidents from you. Keep a box near your door and when you leave put as much as possible inside. Charity uplifts the Kingdom of Allah and put down the kingdom of Satan. Every believer must give charity everyday.

- Adapted from Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani’s Princess Diana’s Death

Just off hand, the list of benefits charity brings:

- reward, material and spiritual, from God Himself ( it really works, just have ikhlas and don’t even bother about this reward, ironic isn’t it? Then why am I telling you?)
- Protection from bad mishaps
- Eases the burden of the community ( in our Singapore context, I guess it is much better to donate to organizations such as mosques than to stranger passers-by, because many people have cheated money by abusing people’s sympathy)
- Helps the community
- Lightens your mood, makes you feel good, not proud nor arrogant, and at ease, tranquility
- Instills in you the sense of wanting to help others in need
- Instills in you the sense of money management, savings etc ( it has been proven, in fact encouraged, to have little toddlers practise putting coins in piggy banks, that way they are more likely to be people with better sense of money management)
- Slowly washes away miserliness
- Barakah spills over to your close family and friends
- Your prayers get answered better and faster insyaAllah
- Sins are forgiven because of charity
- God is pleased with you
- AND MANY MANY MORE!

As to how much, it really doesn’t matter, what counts is the sincerity. Do with what is in your comfort. If you are a student surviving on allowance, then do away with a few cents! Nothing difficult at all!

Of course do not take advantage of this and donate only a few cents even when you are earning thousands! You yourself will know whether or not you are trying to manipulate things for your own personal gain.

Don’t trust what Satan says about being poor when you donate! Satan is our enemy and he lies through his forked tongue!

One thing about cheats who constantly take the easy way to just beg and not work even if they very well can afford to work and earn a living, Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jailani gave a stupefying reply;
“Do you not feel ashamed of your hypocritical self? Do you not feel ashamed to beg from other than Allah when you are in the Presence of Allah AR-RAZZAQ!?”
In other words, beg only from God because He is the One Who Provides and if He tells you that your rezeki is already prepared and all you need to do is go get it, then jolly well go get it and work! Do not beg if you can work!

Yet another blow to the misconception that Sufis shun this world and survive in it solely by begging – from Sultanul Awliya, Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jailani himself.

Even the Prophet pbuh careered as a merchant and trader…