By Ishola Balogun

Generally, all acts of worship, through financial expenditure are by broader definition classified as Sadaqah. But by extension, good deeds and acts that tend to save or ameliorate the sufferings of another creature of God are also considered as sadaqah.  Today, we are not going to focus on Zakat as it implies but other acts of worship that are not only ihsan but also Sadaqah.

Goodness or ihsan, and a sense of collective responsibility towards one another were a hallmark of the early Muslims. That ultimately resulted in orderliness in the society in which they lived and a flexible hierarchical social structure that prevailed before now. The poor and the needy were entitled to a share of the society’s wealth. They were sensitive to each other, even governments and leaders did not shirk from their responsibilities.

Crimes were almost unreported and life was meaningful to every living being. Through tat, Islam could be easily explained and seen to be thriving in the lives of people. But today, the reverse is the case. Insensitivity to the plight of the people, looting, cruelty, worse crime against human beings are the order of the day.

Given that Charity is not mandatory and has no preset limit, it is strongly encouraged in hundreds of verses in the Quran. Various verses of te Holy Qur’an pontificate the act as a means of obtaining God’s mercy and forgiveness (24:22, 92:17 to 92:18), cleansing the souls of impurity (9:103), and attaining superior degree faith (30:38, 76:8 to 76:9, 90:10 to 90:16).

In fact, one area that we should reflect properly on is one that states, Aljazahu-li Ihsana, ilaa-li ihsan.  No one does any atom of goodness, except that he is paid back with goodness.

As human beings, we all enjoy numerous blessings of Allah in our lives and the only way we can show gratitude to Allah for His blessings is to pass some of the blessings on to our fellow humans beings. If we take a critical look at Quran Chapter 93, we will realise that we have greater respsibilities to the less fortunate than we think we have.

In the same way, causing avoidable pain and suffering to the defenseless and innocent creatures of Almighty Allah is not justifiable under any circumstances. No doubt, it attracts its own punishment too.  Another point is that it is not only necessary on human beings, animals are also part of Allah’s creatures and kindness to them is also a act of ibadaah and charity.

As Muslims, we are encouraged to act and think in such a way of accepting all species of creatures in their own right and do what is right on them.  It is true that Allah has given human beings dominions over all other creatures but we cannot sit in judgement on them according to our whim and caprices. Causing emotional distress on animals is no less a physical injury on it.

There was a story of the Prophet cutting off his shirt’s sleeve as a cat was sleeping on it, rather than disturbing the sleeping cat; when it was time for prayers. When people at the mosque noticed him wearing a torn sleeved robe, they asked: “Holy Prophet, why is your garment torn?”

The Prophet simply replied that his cat was sleeping soundly upon the sleeve of his robe and rather than disturbing the cat, he cut the sleeve and put on what remained of his garment. The Prophet is so kind to animals that he would not pull the garment or awaken the cat, instead he rather cut his robe and let the cat sleep undisturbed.

In another story narrated by Abdul Rahman bin Abdullah bin Mas’ud, he stated that: “We were on a journey with the Prophet (s.a.w), and he left us for a while. During his absence, we saw a bird called hummara with its two young ones and took the young ones. The mother bird was going round over us in the air, clapping its wings in grief, when the Prophet (s.a.w), returned, he said: “Who has hurt the feelings of this bird by taking its young ones? Return them to her, he said.”

We also read the story of an Israeli prostitute who was saved from being out of the dwellers of Hell as a result of her kindness to a dog.  The dog was reported dying of thirst, running helter-skelter searching for water. It got to a well and it was going round the well in utter discomfort.  This Israeli prostitute saw this dog and came to its rescue.  She took off her shoe and watered it and fed the dog severally until the dog was satisfied.  By this singular act, Allah forgave her and admitted her into al-janah.

The Prophet taught that if a Muslim is performing ablution for prayer and somebody who is dying of thirst cries for water, it becomes necessary for the Muslim to sacrifice the water meant for ablution to quench the thirst of that person, even if he is a non-Muslim.  Islam therefore is all about goodness to the creatures of Allah and not solely about a salat without any iota of goodness to humanity.

Those who are bent on amassing wealth, and denying the less fortunate a share are those who will suffer in the hereafter and will be deprived of the mercy of God. (3:180, 4:37, 47:38, 89:17 to 89.24). Not feeding the needy is cited amongst the major reasons for which someone will not be in paradise (74:42 to 74:46). Being insensitive to the plight of those in need of help is another means of incurring the wrath of Allah.

The Quran describes as hypocrites those who perform their salat but do not show kindness to the orphans and the needy; these are those who have sold their chances of being in al-janah. (107:1-7). Amassing wealth for its own sake or for the love of bequeathing money for children unborn is an evil deed deserving of extreme punishment on the Day of Judgment (9:35).

The lesson is that not only are Muslims repeatedly instructed to spend, they are explicitly instructed to spend from their most cherished possessions, from what is dear to them, from what they consider to be the best that they own to relieving those who are in one for of hardships or the other. Apart from financial consideration, kindness in deed, and act of goodness even to those who wrong you are the major kernel of what Islam is all about.

Allahuma ihdina fii man adaeta, a aafina fii man aafaeta, wa tawallana fii man tawallaeta, Nastagfirka wa na tubu ilaeka. Rabana atina fi duniyya hasanata wa fil akhirat. Rabbana aatina fid dunya hasanah, wa fil akhirate hasanah, wa qina azaban naar.

Preparing for Hajj
By  Harun Rasaq

HAJJ is Muslim pilgrimage to the holy land of Makkah and other places in Saudi Arabia during the month of Hajj with specific conditions. Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam which requires early and adequate preparation. The importance of Hajj cannot be over-emphasized in Islam.

This is because the Qur’an, Sunnah and consensus of the Muslim from the period of the salaf till now support it. Hajj is so important in Islam that any Muslim that met its condition and refused to answer the call is regarded as kafir.

Unfortunately, many Muslims today in Nigeria have refused to carry out this divine injunctions inspite of the fact that they are qualified.  They give unacceptable excuses of time, building of houses or other flimsy excuses. Contrastively, many of those who are not qualify embark on the journey yearly and thus turn the holy status of Alhaji to another thing entirely.

Therefore before Hajj can be beneficial, the Hujaj, an intending pilgrim must meet certain conditions and some steps must be taken before embarking on the journey.

Some of the conditions for Hajj are: (1) the intending pilgrim must be a practising Muslim with sound ‘Aqidah (doctrine); must be a true Muslim must not involve in any act that nullifies iman-belief). The ten most common ones are (i) associating partner with  Allah, (ii) Setting up intermediary between oneself and Allah (iii) not considering Mushrikin to be unbelievers, (iv) believing that some guidance is better than what the prophet’s (s.a.w) came with, (v) hating something that the Messenger (s.a.w) came with, (vi) mocking something of the faith, (vii) practising sorcery,(viii) Supporting the polytheists against the Muslims, (ix) believing that some people are permitted to deviate from the Shariah, (x) turning away from the religion of Allah. So, faith is a condition of the validity of the deeds and its approval.

(2) Must have attained adulthood; (3) Must be of a sound state of mind and in full control of his mental faculties; (4) Ability: this include the following: Must be healthy and physically fit, to undergo the rigours of the journey and rites; Must be sure that the way to the holy land is safe; Must be financially sound enough to be able to bear all of the expenses for Hajj, also to provide adequately for his dependants before leaving home.