Charity in the Quran
Assalamu alaykum,
You will recall that in the last blog I shared my reflections on Sural Al-Ma‘ūn and the insight it gives us into the conduct of those who engage in performative piety but are unable to offer small kindnesses to those most in need. Today, I want to take the message of that Surah and link this to the idea of charity in the Qur’an.
When it comes to charity, the popular religious discourse among Muslims tends to be parochial, both in terms of the form of charity and in terms of who to include and exclude. Perhaps one of the reasons why we tend to think in an insular bubble is the usual ‘them vs. us’ distinction, which harks back to the ideas of those who viewed the world as divided into dar ul Islam – the abode of the believers – and those who lived outside that abode. Due to this reason, we tend to think about charity as an exercise in giving money away to deserving Muslims. When I moved to the UK, I picked up in conversations how most Muslims send charitable funds back to their countries of origin. Many Muslims show massive reluctance to providing aid and charity to fellow citizens in their countries of residence.
I believe, based on my reading of the Qur’an, that Allah has set out charity as a fully inclusive idea that is universal in its aims. And if we embrace this inclusion, we will be able to think bigger and make a difference. Let me explain.
Poverty, hunger, destitution, debt slavery and disease are not contingent upon a religious or ethnic affiliation. They are global problems. Difficult circumstances can befall anyone regardless of their faith. When the Qur’an identifies groups of vulnerable people, it does not use qualifiers like the Muslim poor or the Arab orphan. It says simply, the poor and the orphan – meaning all those who are poor and all those who are orphaned who live amongst you and about whom you are aware.
So what matters to the Qur’an is someone’s financial situation, not their ethnicity or creed.
In Surah Al-Baqara chapter 2, verse 177, Allah says:
It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces Towards east or West; but it is righteousness- to believe in Allah and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; to spend of your substance, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves; to be steadfast in prayer, and practice regular charity…
And in verse 215 of the same surah, we read:
They ask thee what they should spend (In charity). Say: Whatever ye spend that is good, is for parents and kindred and orphans and those in want and for wayfarers. And whatever ye do that is good, -Allah knoweth it well.
For those of us living in Britain, let’s look around us and see the hungry and the homeless regardless of their faith. 30% of all children live in poverty in the UK; that’s 4.3 million children. In the US, 9 million children live in poverty. Please donate to the foodbank in your community. Please consider supporting local domestic violence shelters for women. Please consider supporting debt justice campaigns that work globally.
As Allah tells us in the Qur’an, we are all connected in our origin from one man and one woman. We are all connected in our humanity. Therefore, our aspirations to alleviate distress and poverty should rise above myopic considerations. When it comes to charity, we must learn to abandon our anger at colonialism and empire, and recognise that advanced capitalism exploits us all.
The key reflection for today is that charity in the Qur’an is universal and inclusive.
The criteria for charity are linked to someone’s life circumstances, not their faith or ethnicity. Hunger afflicts everyone equally. Debt slavery reduces everyone’s dignity and freedom. Yes, it is true that we feel affinity with the plight of fellow Muslims and want to help them and we should help them. But we should not exclude those with whom we don’t share our faith.
Islam’s vision is expansive and global. It is through the idea of universal charity and universal kindness that Islam has always stood above nationalist, colonialist, ethnocentric and tribal tendencies. It is through the idea of charity that we can set out a global vision. To restrict charity to a narrow bubble is to do injustice to the transformative power of inclusive charity as set out in the Qur’an.