Abu Huraira reported God’s messenger as stating that God most high had said, "If you spend, son of Adam, I shall spend on you.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Umama reported God’s messenger as saying, "Son of Adam, to give away what you have extra is better for you and to withhold it is worse for you, but you are not blamed for having a sufficiency. Give first to those who are dependent on you.” Muslim transmitted it.

Abu Huraira reported God’s messenger as saying, "The niggardly man and the one who gives alms are like two men wearing coats of iron with their hands pressed closely to their breasts and their collar-bones. As often as the one who gives alms does so it becomes expanded for him, but as often as the niggardly man thinks about giving alms it contracts and every ring keeps to its place.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Jabir reported God’s messenger as saying, "Beware of oppression, for oppression (zulm) will produce excessive darkness (zulumat) on the day of resurrection; and beware of niggardliness, for niggardliness destroyed your predecessor, inducing them to shed one another's blood and to treat things forbidden them as lawful." Muslim transmitted it.

Haritha b. Wahb told that God's messenger exhorted the people to give sadaqa, for the time was coming when a man would go with his sadaqa and find no one to accept it. A man would say, “If you had brought it yesterday I would have accepted it, but I have no need of it today." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Huraira told that when a man asked God’s messenger which sadaqa produced the greatest reward he replied, “That which you give when you are healthy and inclined to be mean, fearing poverty and hoping for a competence. Do not put it off and then say when you are about to die that you give such and such to so and so and such and such to so and so when it has already become the property of so and so.”* (Bukhari and Muslim.) * i.e. by inheritance.

I came to the Prophet when he was sitting in the shade of the Ka'ba, and when he saw me he said, “By the Lord of the Ka'ba, they are the ones who suffer the greatest loss." I asked, “Who are they, you for whom I would give my father and my mother as ransom?" He replied, “Those who have most property, except those who say, ‘Take this and this and this,’ before them, behind them, on their right and on their left; but they are few." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Huraira reported God’s messenger as saying, “The generous man is near God, near paradise, near men and far from hell, but the miserly man is far from God, far from paradise, far from men and near hell. Indeed, an ignorant man who is generous is dearer to God than a worshipper who is miserly." Tirmidhi transmitted it.

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reported God’s messenger as saying, “It is better for a man to give a dirham as sadaqa during his lifetime than to give a hundred at the time of his death.” Abu Dawud transmitted it.

Abud Darda’ reported God’s messenger as saying, “One who gives sadaqa or who frees a slave at the time of his death is like one who gives gifts when he has more than enough.” Ahmad, Nasa’i, Darimi and Tirmidhi transmitted it, and Tirmidhi said it is sahih.

miserliness and a bad disposition." Tirmidhi transmitted it.

Abu Bakr as-Siddiq reported God’s messenger as saying, “A crafty one, a miser, and one who keeps reminding people of what he has given will not enter paradise.” Tirmidhi transmitted it.

Abu Huraira reported God’s messenger as saying, “The worst things in a man are anxious niggardliness and unrestrained cowardice.” Abd Dawud transmitted it.

Al-Mughira b. Shu'ba said the Prophet wore a Byzantine cloak with narrow sleeves. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Burda said ‘A’isha brought out to them a patched garment and a coarse lower garment and told them that God’s messenger’s spirit was taken when he was wearing those. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

‘A’isha said that when some of the Prophet’s wives asked him which of them would join him soonest, he replied that it would be the one with the longest arm. So they took a rod and measured, and Sauda was the one among them who had the longest arm. They later came to know that sadaqa was the meaning of the length of the arm, for Zainab was the one who joined him soonest and she was fond of giving sadaqa.* Bukhari transmitted it. In Muslim’s version she reported God’s messsenger as saying, “The one of you who will join me first is the one who has the longest arm.” She said they measured one another’s arms to see which was the longest, and the one with the longest was Zainab because she worked with her hand and gave sadaqa. * She was called Umm al-masakin (mother of the needy), a title given her in the pre-Islamic period.

Abu Huraira said that God’s messenger told of a man who expressed his intention to give sadaqa, and who when he took it out placed it in a thief’s hand. In the morning the people were talking and saying, “Sadaqa was given to a thief last night.” The man said, “O God, to Thee be the praise—to a thief!’’ He then expressed his intention to give sadaqa and when he took it out he placed it in a prostitute’s hand. In the morning the people were talking and saying, “Sadaqa was given to a prostitute last night." The man said, "O God, to Thee be the praise— to a prostitute!" He then expressed his intention to give sadaqa and when he took it out he placed it in a rich man’s hand. In the morning the people were talking and saying, “Sadaqa was given to a rich man last night." The man said, “O God, to Thee be the praise—to a thief, a prostitute and a rich man!” He then had a vision in which he was told that his sadaqa to a thief might result in his refraining from his theft, the prostitute might perhaps refrain from her immorality, and the rich man might perhaps pay heed and spend from what God had given him. (Bukhari and Muslim, the wording being Bukhari’s.)

He said that the Prophet told of a man in a waterless plain hearing a voice from a cloud say, “Water so and so’s garden.” Those clouds then moved away and emptied their water on a lava tract, and a channel collected the whole of that water. He followed the water and came upon a man standing in his garden diverting the water with his spade. He asked him his name, and when he told him, it was the very name he had heard from the cloud. The man then asked him why he had asked his name, and he replied that he had heard a voice from the clouds from which that water had come saying, “Water so and so’s garden," using his name. He then asked him what he was doing in the garden and he replied, “Since you have said this, I am waiting for what it produces, when I shall give a third as sadaqa, use a third as food for myself and my family, and put a third back into it.” Muslim transmitted it.

He said he had heard the Prophet say there were three men among the B. Isra’il, one leprous, one bald and one blind, whom God wished to test. He therefore sent to them an angel who came to the leper and asked him what he would like best and he replied, “A good colour, a good skin, and to be rid of what makes me loathsome to people.” Thereupon he stroked him and his loathsomeness departed and he was given a good colour and a good skin. He then asked What property he would like best and he replied that he would like camels—or perhaps he said cattle, for Ishaq* was uncertain, but either the leper or bald man said camels and the other said cattle. He was given a she-camel ten months gone with young, the angel expressing the wish that God’s blessing might accompany it. He then went to the bald man and asked him what he would like best and he replied, "Good hair, and to be rid of what makes me loathsome to people.” Thereupon he stroked him and it departed from him and he was given good hair. He then asked what property he would like best and he replied that he would like cattle, so he was given a pregnant cow, the angel expressing the wish that God’s blessing might accompany it. He then went to the blind man and asked him what he would like best, and he replied, "That God should restore my sight to me so that I may see people.” Thereupon he stroked him and God restored his sight to him. He then asked what property he would like best and he replied that he would like sheep, so he was given a pregnant ewe. Flocks and herds were produced for the three men, the one having a wadi with camels, the second one with cattle, and the third one with sheep. Then the angel came to the one who had been a leper in the form and appearance of a leper and said, “I am a poor man whose resources are exhausted in my journey, and my only means of arriving at my destination are dependent on God and then on you, so I ask you by Him who gave you the good colour, the good skin and the property for a camel by which I may get to the end of my journey,” but he replied, "I have many dues to pay.” He then said, "I seem to recognise you. Were you not a leper whom people found loathsome and a poor man to whom God gave property?” He replied, "I became heir to this property as one great in dignity from one great in dignity.”** Then he said, "If you are lying, may God return you to your former condition.” He went to the one who had been bald in the form of a bald man ...

Umm Bujaid said she told God’s messenger that a poor man would stand at her door till she was ashamed, for she had nothing in her house to put in his hand, and he replied, “Put something in his hand, even though it should be a burnt hoof." Ahmad, Abu Dawud and Tirmidhi transmitted it, Tirmidhi saying that this is a hasan sahih tradition.

A client of ‘Uthman said that Umm Salama was presented with a piece of meat, and because the Prophet liked meat she told the servant to put it in the house as the Prophet might perhaps eat it. She put it in the window ledge in the house. A beggar came and stood at the door and said, “Give alms, may God bless you," and when they replied, “God bless you,"* the beggar went away. Then the Prophet entered and asked Umm Salama whether she had anything for him to eat. She replied that she had, and told the servant to go and bring God's messenger that meat, but when she went she found only a piece of flint in the window ledge. The Prophet then said, “That meat changed into flint because you did not give it to the beggar." Baihaqi transmitted it in Dalail an-nubuwa. * A pious remark used to indicate that there is no intention of giving anything. The most common phrase in such circumstances is Allah karim (God is generous).

Ibn ‘Abbas said that the Prophet asked some people whether they would like him to tell them who was in the worst position, and when they replied that they would, he said, “The one who is asked for something in God’s name and does not give it in His name.” Ahmad transmitted it.

Abu Dharr said that he came with his stick in his hand and asked ‘Uthman for permission to enter and this was granted. ‘Uthman then told Ka‘b that ‘Abd ar-Rahman had died leaving some property and asked what he thought about it. When he replied that if he had given what was due to God on it there was no harm in it, Abu Dharr raised his stick and struck Ka'b and said he had heard God’s messenger say, “If I had a quantity of gold equivalent to this mountain which I could spend and have accepted from me, I would not like to leave six uqiyas behind me.” He then adjured ‘Uthman three times to tell him if he had not heard him, and he replied that he had. Ahmad transmitted it.

‘Uqba b. al-Harith said that on an occasion when he had prayed the afternoon prayer in Medina behind the Prophet, he got up quickly after uttering the salutation and, stepping over the people, went to one of the rooms of his wives. The people were startled at his haste, and when he came out and saw their astonishment at his quick movement he said, “I remembered some gold which we had and did not want to be under its thrall, so I gave orders that it should be distributed.” Bukhari transmitted it. In a version by him he said, “I had left some gold belonging to the sadaqa in the house, and did not wish to keep it till night.”

‘A’isha said that during the illness of God’s messenger she had six or seven dinars belonging to him which he ordered her to distribute, but she was kept busy ministering to his suffering. He asked her what had happened to the six or seven dinars, and when she replied she had done nothing about them because she had been kept busy ministering to his suffering, he called for them, and placing them in his hand he said, “What would God’s prophet think if he were to meet God who is great and glorious while possessing these?” Ahmad transmitted it.

Abu Huraira said that when the Prophet once visited Bilal and saw he had a heap of dates, he asked him what it was. One his replying, “It is something I have stored up for tomorrow,” he said, “Are you not afraid that tomorrow you may see on account of it steam in the fire of jahannam on the day of resurrection? Spend it, Bilal, and do not fear poverty from the Lord of the Throne.” Baihaqi transmitted it in Shu’ab al-iman.

He reported God’s messenger as saying, “Liberality is a tree in paradise of which he who is liberal will seize a branch, and the branch will not leave him till it brings him into paradise. And niggardliness is a tree in hell of which he who is niggardly will seize a branch, and the branch will not leave him till it brings him into hell.” Baihaqi transmitted it in Shu’ab al-iman.

‘Ali reported God’s messenger as saying, “Give the sadaqa without delay, for it stands in the way of calamity.”* Razln transmitted it. * The idea is that it acts as a barrier beyond which calamity cannot pass.

Abu Huraira reported God’s messenger as saying, “If anyone gives as sadaqa the equivalent of a date from something lawfully earned, for God accepts only what is lawful, God will accept it with His right hand, then foster it for the one who gave it as one of you fosters his colt, till it becomes like a mountain.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

He reported God’s messenger as saying, “Sadaqa does not reduce property; God increases the honour of him who forgives another; and no one will humble himself for God’s sake without God exalting him.” Muslim transmitted it.

He reported God’s messenger as saying, “If anyone contributes a pair of anything in God’s path he will be invited to enter by the gates of paradise, for paradise has gates. Those who engage in prayer will be invited to enter by the gate of prayer; those who take part in jihad will be invited to enter by the gate of jihad; those who give sadaqa will be invited to enter by the gate of sadaqa; and those who fast will be invited to enter by the gate ar-Rayyan.”* Abu Bakr said, “No distress will rest on him who is invited to enter by those gates,** but will anyone be invited to enter by all those gates?” He replied, “Yes, and I hope you may be one.” (Bukhari and Muslim.) * This word means literally 'well-watered,’ or 'fresh’. ** This is explained as meaning ‘by one of those gates,’as one who enters by any gate will get into paradise

He said that God’s messenger [once] asked who had observed a fast that day and Abu Bakr said he had. He asked who had followed a bier that day and Abu Bakr said he had. He asked who had fed a poor man that day and Abu Bakr said he had. He asked who had visited an invalid that day and Abu Bakr said he had. God’s messenger then said, “Anyone in whom these good deeds are combined will certainly enter paradise." Muslim transmitted it.

He reported God’s messenger as saying, “None of you Muslim women must consider even a sheep’s trotter too insignificant a gift to give to her neighbour.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Jabir and Hudhaifa reported God’s messenger as saying, “Every act of kindness is sadaqa.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Dharr reported God’s messenger as saying, “Do not consider any act of kindness insignificant, even meeting your brother with a cheerful face.” Muslim transmitted it.

Abu Musa al-Ash‘ari reported God’s messenger as saying that every Muslim must give sadaqa. He was asked how this could apply to one who had nothing and replied that he should work with his hands, gaining benefit for himself thereby, and give sadaqa. He was asked what would happen if he were unable to do this or did not do it, and replied that he should help one who was in need and sad. He was asked what he should do if he did not do that and replied that he should enjoin what is good. He was asked what he should do if he did not do that, and replied that he should refrain from evil, for that would be sadaqa for him. (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Huraira reported God's messenger as saying, “Every bone of men’s fingers and toes must give sadaqa every day the sun rises. If one gives justice between two men it is sadaqa; if one helps a man with his beast, loading or lifting* his goods on it, it is sadaqa; a good word is sadaqa; every step one takes towards prayer is sadaqa; and if anyone removes anything injurious from the road it is sadaqa.” (Bukhari and Muslim.) * Mirqat suggests that the transmitter says 'loading or lifting', being doubtful which word was used.

‘A’isha reported God’s messenger as saying, “Everyone of the children of Adam has been created with three hundred and sixty joints, so he who declares God’s greatness, praises God, declares that He is the only God, glorifies God, asks forgiveness of God, removes a stone, a thorn, or a bone from people’s path, enjoins what is reputable, or forbids what is objectionable to the number of those three hundred and sixty, will walk that day having removed himself from hell.” Muslim transmitted it.

Aba Dharr reported God’s messenger as saying, “In every ascription of glory to God, every declaration of His greatness, every utterance of praise to Him, every declaration that He is the only God, in enjoining what is reputable, in forbidding what is objectionable, and in a man’s sexual intercourse there is sadaqa.” On being asked whether a reward would be given for satisfying one’s passion, he said, “Tell me; if he were to devote it to something forbidden, would it not be a sin on his part? Similarly, if he were to devote it to something lawful, he would have a reward.” Muslim transmitted it.

Abu Huraira reported God’s messenger as saying, “A milch-camel with abundant milk given as a loan and a ewe with abundant milk given as a loan, which produces a vessel of milk in the morning and another in the evening, is good sadaqa.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Anas reported God’s messenger as saying, “If any Muslim plants something or sows seed from which man, bird, or beast eats, it counts as sadaqa for him.” (Bukhari and Muslim.) In a version by Muslim from Jabir it says that what is stolen from it counts as sadaqa for him.

Abu Huraira reported God’s messenger as saying, “Forgiveness was granted to an unchaste woman who coming upon a dog panting and almost dead with thirst at the mouth of a well, took off her shoe, tied it with her head-covering, and drew some water for it. On that account she was forgiven.” He was asked whether people received a reward for what they did to animals, and replied, “A reward is given in connection with every living creature.”* (Bukhari and Muslim.) * Literally, everything possessed of a moist liver.

Ibn ‘Umar and Abu Huraira reported God’s messenger as saying, “A woman was punished on account of a cat which she kept shut up till it died of hunger. She did not feed it or let it out so that it might eat things creeping on the earth.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Abu Huraira reported God’s messenger as saying, “A man who came upon a branch of a tree overhanging a road and decided to move if from the way of Muslims to keep it from annoying them was brought into paradise." (Bukhari and Muslim.)

He reported God’s messenger as saying, “I have seen a man going about in paradise as a reward for cutting down a tree which was overhanging a road and annoying people." Muslim transmitted it.

Abu Barza said that when he asked God’s Prophet to teach him something from which he would receive benefit he told him to remove things which caused annoyance to Muslims from their path. Muslim transmitted it.

When the Prophet came to Medina and I went and examined his face, I recognised that it was not the face of a liar. The first thing he said was, “If you people greet all whom you meet, provide food, care for the wellbeing of your kindred, and pray at night when people are asleep, you will enter paradise in peace.’’ Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah and Darimi transmitted it.

‘Abdallah b. ‘Amr reported God’s messenger as saying, “If you worship the Compassionate One, provide food, and greet all Whom you meet, you will enter paradise in peace.” Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah transmitted it.

Anas reported God’s messenger as saying, “Sadaqa appeases the Lord’s anger and averts an evil death." Tirmidhi transmitted it.

Jabir reported God’s messenger as saying, “Every act of kindness is sadaqa, and kindness includes meeting your brother with a cheerful face and pouring water from your bucket into your brother’s vessel." Ahmad and Tirmidhi transmitted it.