Malik related to me from Yahya ibn Said from
Abu'l-Hubab Said ibn Yasar that the Messenger of Allah,
may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Whoever
gives sadaqa from good earning - and Allah only accepts
the good - it is as if he placed it in the palm of the
Merciful to raise it, as one of you raises his foal or
young camel until it is like the mountain "
Malik related to me that Ishaq ibn Abdullah ibn Abi
Talha heard Anas ibn Malik say, "Abu Talha had the
greatest amount of property in palm-trees among the Ansar
in Madina. The dearest of his properties to him was
Bayruha which was in front of the mosque. The Messenger of
Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to go
into it and drink from the pleasant water which was in
it."
Anas continued, "When this ayat was sent down 'You will
not obtain rightness of action until you expend of what
you love,' (Sura 2 ayat l76), Abu Talha went to the
Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace, and said, 'Messenger of Allah! Allah, the Blessed,
the Exalted, has said, "You will not obtain until you
expend of what you love." The property which I love the
best is Bayruha. It is sadaqa for Allah. I hope for its
good and for it to be stored up with Allah. Place it
wherever you wish, Messengerof Allah. ' "
"The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant
him peace, said, 'Well done! That is property which
profits! That is property which profits. I have heard what
you have said about it and I think that you should give it
to your relatives.' Abu Talha said, 'I will do it,
Messenger of Allah!' Abu Talha therefore divided it among
his relatives and the children of his paternal uncle."
Malik related to me from Zayd ibn Aslam that the
Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace, said, "Give to a beggar even if he comes on a
horse."
Malik related to me from Zayd ibn Aslam from Amr ibn
Muadh al-Ashali al-Ansari that his grandmother said, "The
Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace, said, 'O trusting women! Let none of you despise
giving to her neighbour even if it is only a roasted
sheep's trotter.'
Yahya related to me from Malik that he heard that a
beggar asked A'isha, the wife of the Prophet, may Allah
bless him and grant him peace, for something while she was
fasting and there was only a loaf of bread in her house.
She said to her female mawla, "Give it to him." The mawla
protested, "You will not have anything to break your fast
with." A'isha repeated, "Give it to him," so she did so.
When evening came, the people of a house or a man who did
not usually give to them, gave them a sheep and some food
to go with it. A'isha, umm al-muminin, called her mawla
and said, "Eat from this. This is better than your loaf of
bread."
Yahya related to me that Malik said, "I heard that a
beggar asked for food from A'isha, umm al-muminin, while
she had some grapes. She told some one to take him one
grape. He began to look in amazement. A'isha said, 'Are
you amazed? How many atoms' weights do you see in this
grape?' " (referring to Sura 99 ayat 7).
Malik related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from Ata
ibn Yazid al-Laythi from Abu Said al-Khudri that some
people of the Ansar asked the Messenger of Allah, may
Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he gave to them.
Then they asked him again, and he gave to them until he
used up what he had. Then he said, "What wealth I have, I
will not hoard from you. Whoever has forbearance, Allah
will help him. Whoever tries to be independent, Allah will
enrich him. Whoever tries to be patient, Allah will give
him patience, and no one is given a better or vaster gift
than patience."
Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi from Abdullah
ibn Umar that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him
and grant him peace, said from the mimbar when mentioning
sadaqa and refraining from asking, "The upper hand is
better than the lower hand. The upper hand is the one
which expends, and the lower one is the one which asks."
Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam from
Ata ibn Yasar that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless
him and grant him peace, sent a gift to Umar ibn al-Khattab,
and Umar returned it. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah
bless him and grant him peace, said, "Why did you return
it?" He said, "Messenger of Allah, didn't you tell us that
it is better for us not to take anything from anyone?" The
Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace, said, "That is by asking. Provision which Allah
gives you is different from asking." Umar ibn al-Khattab
said, "By the One in whose hand my self is, I will not ask
anything from anyone, and anything that comes to me
without my asking for it, I will accept."
Yahya related to me from Malik from Abu'z-Zinad from
al-Araj from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah, may
Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "By Him in
whose hand myself is! To take your rope and gather
firewood on your back is better for you than that you come
to a man to whom Allah has given some of His favour and
ask him, so he gives to you or refuses."
Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam from
Ata ibn Yasar that a man of the Banu Asad said, "My family
and I dismounted to rest at Baqi. My family said to me,
'Go to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and
grant him peace, and ask him for something that we can
eat,' and they began to mention their need. I went to the
Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace, and found that a man was asking for something, and
the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace, was saying, 'I do not have anything to give you.'
The man turned away from him in anger, saying, 'By my
life! You give to whomever you wish.' The Messenger of
Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'He
is angry with me because I do not have anything to give
him. Whoever asks of you while he has an uqiya or its
like, has asked with importunity.' "
The man continued, "I said to myself about a camel that
we had, 'It is better than an uqiya.' (Malik explained
that an uqiya was forty dirhams.) So I returned and did
not ask him for anything, and the Messenger of Allah, may
Allah bless him and grant him peace, sent me barley and
raisins after that. He gave us from his share until Allah,
the Mighty, the Majestic gave us relief."
Yahya related that Malik heard al-Ala ibn Abd ar-Rahman
say, "Sadaqa does not decrease property, and Allah only
increases a slave in worth for his restraint, and no slave
is humble but that Allah raises him."
Malik said, "I do not know whether this hadith goes
back to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace, or not."
Yahya related to me from Malik that he heard that the
Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace, said, "Sadaqa to the family of Muhammad is not
halal. It is only people's impurities."
Yahya related to me from Malik from Abdullah ibn Abi
Bakr from his father that the Messenger of Allah, may
Allah bless him and grant him peace, gave a man from the
Banu Abd al-Ashal charge over some sadaqa. When he came to
ask him for some camels from the sadaqa, the Messenger of
Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was so
angry that the anger showed in his face. One way in which
anger could be recognised in his face was that his eyes
became red. Then he said, "This man has asked me for what
is not good for me or him. If I refuse it, I hate to
refuse. If I give it to him, I will give him what is not
good for me or him." The man said, "Messenger of Allah! I
will never ask you for any of it!"
Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam that
his father said, "Abdullah ibn al-Arqam said, 'Show me a
riding-camel which the amir al-muminim can give me to
use.' I said, 'Yes. One of the sadaqa camels.' Abdullah
ibn al-Arqam said, 'Would you want a stout man on a hot
day to wash for you what is under his lower garment and
its folds, and then give it to you to drink?' I was angry
and said, 'May Allah forgive you! Why do you say such
things to me?' Abdullah ibn al-Arqam said, 'Sadaqa is the
impurities of people which they wash off themselves.' "