Never lose the reward of this good deed!
We all know that in Islam, we get a reward for every good we do. But did you know that there is a good deed that we do, the reward of which could be lost due to how we behave after we do it? Well, there is. And that deed is charity!
Allah says in the Quran:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تُبْطِلُوا صَدَقَاتِكُم بِالْمَنِّ وَالْأَذَىٰ كَالَّذِي يُنفِقُ مَالَهُ رِئَاءَ النَّاسِ وَلَا يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ
“O you who have believed, do not invalidate your charities with reminders or injury as does one who spends his wealth [only] to be seen by the people and does not believe in Allah and the Last Day….” Suratul Baqarah, 264
Allah tells us not to waste or invalidate our charities with مَنِّ or أَذَىٰ. Let’s explore these two words separately to understand this ayah.
The word مَنِّ in Arabic means a to do a favour. It’s also to remind someone of a favour done to them. So this part of the ayah is describing how a person reminds the person they gave charity to, about the favour he did for them. Statements like, remember how I gave you that amount of money last month? You were really in need weren’t you?
These are some explicit ways of doing it. But it can also be done indirectly. Stuff like, ‘Gosh I couldn’t save as much money as I wanted to. But Alhamdhulillah, I’m happy I gave it for the right thing”. It can also be done by the way we behave when we are around the people we gave charity to. We can really make people think less of themselves from the attitude that we carry. May Allah protect us from it. Ameen!
The next word Allah said in the ayah is, أَذَىٰ. This word means to cause pain to the other person. When we remind a person of a favour we did for them, we are hurting them. Because nobody likes to be in a position where they need to ask. And it’s not a nice thing for us to remind anyone of the time they were in need.
So these are the two things, that can completely make our charity go in vain. We may have given away the money, or some material thing, or even our time to help someone. Even the time we give for helping others can be considered charity. But if we keep reminding the people we helped about the favour we did for them, we have done no good in the sight of Allah. And we will not find the reward of it in the Hereafter.
And look how Allah describes these people as ones who don’t believe in Allah and the Last Day. Because if they truly believed in Allah, they will know that Allah has already seen the charity that they gave. So they won’t feel the need to remind anyone of it whatsoever. And if they truly believed in the Last Day, they will know that they will get the reward of it on that Day. So they won’t feel the need to put down the people they gave charity to. They won’t feel the need to get respect, excessive gratitude or other favours in return for that charity. Because they will know that Allah Will give them the reward of it without account!
May Allah accept all of our charities from us and protect us from the characteristics that invalidate them. Ameen!
