URGINGS AND PLEADINGS

Muhammad makes an eloquent plea for aims-giving.  Everyone should give charity even if it is only half a date.  AbU Mas�Ud reports: �We were commanded to give charity though we were coolies� (2223).

One hadIs tells us: �There is never a day wherein servants [of God] get up at mom, but are not visited by two angels.  One of them says: O Allah, give him more who spends, and the other says: O Allah, bring destruction to one who withholds� (2205).  Was not the first part enough?  Must a blessing always go along with a curse?

The Prophet warns believers to make their Sadaqa and be quick about it, for �there would come a time when a person would roam about with Sadaqa of gold but he would find no one to accept it from him.� He also adds that �a man would be seen followed by forty women seeking refuge with him on account of the scarcity of males and abundance of females� (2207).  What does this mean?  The translator finds the statement truly prophetic.  By citing the male and female population figures for postwar England and showing their disproportion, he proves �the truth of the Prophetic statement� (note 1366).

author : ram swarup