Someone asked Rasulullah
Sallallaho alaihe wasallam as to what Sadaqah was most reward able? Rasulullah
Sallallaho alaihe wasallam replied, "When at the time of giving Sadaqah
you are in good health, you have greed for wealth, you fear to become poor and
have a keen desire to become rich. That is the opportunity; do not postpone it
till the last moment of your life and then say, ‘So much to so and so, and so
much to that (Masjid) and that much to such and such (Madrassah), although now
the property belongs to so and so (heirs). (Mishkaat)
Note: The fact is that the heir
now has a rightful share in the property; the last will is applicable to at
most one third of the property, therefore the dying person can only give as
Sadaqah one third of his property. Another Hadith says, that Rasulullah
Sallallaho alaihe wasallam has said, "Man keeps saying ‘my property, my
property’; in fact his property is confined to three things only; that which he
has eaten, which he has worn and which he has given as Sadaqah and deposited in
Allah’s Treasury; whatever is left over, he is leaving for other people."
Another Hadith says, "It is better for a man to give one Dirham as Sadaqah
early in his life time than to give a hundred Dirhams at the time of his
death".
The reason is that anything given
away on the death-bed amounts to giving from someone else’s property, because
the dying man has to leave everything behind. Another Hadith quotes the saying
of Rasulullah Sallallaho alaihe wasallam that anyone who gives Sadaqah, at the
time of death, is like a man who, after satisfying his appetite, gives the
remaining food as a present to someone. (Mishkaat). Rasulullah Sallallaho
alaihe wasallam has repeatedly declared that the proper time for giving Sadaqah
is when one is healthy and fit; that is the time to control one’s personal
desires. This does not mean that Sadaqah at the time of death has no value.
It does carry a reward and
becomes an investment for the Akhirah, but it does not carry the same return as
that for giving Sadaqah in spite of ones needs and requirements. Allah Jalla
Shanohu has said:
It is prescribed for you that
when one of you approaches death and leaves property, he should make a will, in
a known manner, in favor of his parents and other relatives. All those who fear
Allah will do this as their bounden duty. (al-baqarah: 180)
This Divine order was given in
the early days of Islam. Later, when the detailed orders regarding inheritance
were revealed, the earlier order, for making will for those relatives whose
rights had been fixed in ‘Shariah’, was cancelled; nevertheless the order for
making a will up to one third of the property applied to all relatives who did
not come under the Inheritance order.
Ibne Abbas Radhiallaho anho has
said that, under the new order, the making of a will in favour of those who
have been given a right of inheritance, has been cancelled while those who do
not come under this order still enjoy the benefit of a will. Qatadah
Rahmathullah alaihe says that, for those who are not entitled to become
inheritors, the above Ayat regarding a will remains valid whether they be the
relatives or strangers.
Another Hadith says that Allah
Ta’ala says, "O son of Adam: You were a miser in life and extravagant at
the time of death; do not heap two evils together: one, the miserliness when
living and second the extravagance when about to die. Think of your relatives
who are deprived of your heritage, include them in your will". (Kanz).
Therefore, it is not desirable
that people should postpone giving Sadaqah and endowments to a later time near
their death. In the first instance, no one ever knows when that last moment is
to come, how and where. Several instances have come to notice where people were
highly desirous of leaving much for charity and endowments, but illness did not
give them a respite to do so.
Some were victims of paralysis,
some of a coma and some were adversely influenced by the heirs nursing them.
Even if they got a chance of fulfilling their desire, which was rare, the
reward for it would not be as much as it might have been, if they had given
Sadaqah in defiance of their own mundane desires. However, if a person has not
been able to give away Sadaqah in his life owing to negligence, he should take
the opportunity of spending for the cause of Allah at the time of death. For,
after death, few are remembered by their heirs, who mourn them for a few days
and then forget about them forever.
These are common occurrence now a
days. Therefore, whatever one wishes – take to the Akhirah, one had better
carry it with oneself without delay.
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