Each year we are given the gift of Ramadan, it goes as quickly as it comes and the bulk of us have the ongoing issue that we don’t take as much advantage of it as we should while in the know that there are those who do not have the provisional capability to make such a choice. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Sadaqah extinguishes sin as water extinguishes fire” [Hadith, Tirmidhi] as well as it providing shade for the believer on the day of judgment: “The believer’s shade on the Day of Resurrection will be their charity,”. We also know that during this sacred month our deeds are multiplied, the sunnah rises up to the value of a fardh deed and any good deed can rise up 700 times. Think about this, when you spend sadaqah with the correct niyyah (intention), you are quite literally spending on Allah, you are giving something that is so valued, so much so that it is even worshipped sadly. In today’s day and age, a paper bill is considered the highest rank of this dunya (worldly life) and when we spend it, we are performing a deed that not only strengthens our imaan, we are actively showing ourselves and Allah SWT that this worldly life and what is in it is nothing compared to the Almighty and what he has prepared for us and insha’Allah we will be granted something much greater than what we sacrificed in this world.
Our Prophet ﷺ said in a hadith: ‘Whoever feeds a person breaking his fast will earn the same reward as him, without anything being lessened from the reward of the fasting person’ [Tirmidhi]. Each year we are so busy thinking during the day about iftar, all the things we’re going to eat, we count the seconds and memorize time stamps for the sunset, yet we forget that there are others that are waiting for virtually nothing, and yet this is a big part of why we are fasting to begin with, Subhan’Allah. If these men, women and children found a scrap of bread in the waste bins at the back of a restaurant or a part of an apple tossed on the street it is the same triumph we would feel if we were given an entire buffet to ourselves and perhaps more, how can we sit as Muslims and allow this to happen? I’ll tell you a story I recently came across from a lecture I was watching the other day mentioning Abu Bakr a-Siddiq RA. He would give so much, that when our Prophet ﷺ would ask him ‘what have you left for your family?’ he would say ‘I have left for them Allah and His Messenger’ meaning he had forfeited all his wealth. These are the virtues that we should be so intent on following my brothers and sisters because these are the characteristics of a true Muslim and they will lead us closer to Allah SWT and they will strengthen our Imaan and bring us closer to Allah SWT. They will ultimately grant us serenity and satisfaction both in this life and the next. The issue is, is we don’t attribute enough of our trust in Allah SWT and we forget that everything down to the penny is the deliberate and complete will of Allah SWT, if he didn’t want you or I to have it, we simply wouldn’t. However He did, so shouldn’t we feel that when He the Almighty has entrusted us with so much that we should give to those who haven’t been entrusted with the same? Our wealth and what we do with it is a test and it is easy to forget that, but this Ramadan let us be thankful not only for the blessing of being able to fast but being fortunate enough to have something to give to those who have less than us in terms of worldly ease and sustenance.
The bulk of us like I said anticipate iftar eagerly for our fills of pastries and dessert, though we are still sustained before this. We forget that sustenance comes in many different ways, it is when we are able to bathe, to wash our clothes, to prepare our food, to clean the dishes and many don’t have this luxury. It is not only that some cannot find the means of the comfort of the stomach it is the sustenance of primary human necessity.
In this month we are encouraged to honor both the sunnah of our beloved Prophet ﷺ as well as of course the wajib (Islamic duties) and one that is highlighted during the month of Ramadan is Sadaqatul Fitr, which is a charity that should be made of a Muslim that has been granted food and provisions in excess of their needs. Fathers are specially instructed to provide this charity not only for themselves but on behalf of their dependents, however, a husband is not required to pay on behalf of his wife and a wife is not required to pay on behalf of her husband. However, if the primary provider of the family, by his own free will wishes to pay on behalf of the rest of his dependants he may after the authorization of said dependants. Each is equivalent to 1.6 kg of wheat or 3.2 kg of barley or it’s like and we may of course pay the equivalent in currency, though due to continuous market fluctuations, it would be inappropriate to list a particular integer (though it is said to range between 1 and 4 pounds). The charity is due before Salahtul Eid (Eid Prayer) so that those in need are able to receive and spend it on the day of Eid, however, if it is not paid it is said to still be due no matter how much time passes over, meaning that we should pay it as soon as possible after that. The charity should only be paid to someone who is Islamically entitled to Zakah
