2:264- Showing off your charity?
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"2264 O you who believe, do not nullify your charities with insult and harm; like the one who spends his money in vanity to show the people, and he does not believe in God and the Last Day. His example is like a stone on which there is dust, then it is subjected to heavy rain which leaves it bare. They cannot do anything with what they earned; and God does not guide the rejecting people."
so here it states that charity is null if done to show off to people. So what I am now thinking about is the process of gift giving.
When someones birthday comes up, one might go out to buy a gift for them.
I am not sure if gifts count as "charity" which is one of the questions i'm asking. If so, how does this play in? Like my friend asked me to get them a birthday gift and i'm like "sure" but now wondering if this gift giving counts as charity and if it does, am I showing off here to her? Should I avoid it then? I am quite confused here /
I know tradtionalists call this a major major sin if you showoff your charity cause of some hadiths i've seen, but according to the Quran it simply states it will null it.
What is your opinion everyone?
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Slaamm bro hope ypu well and in Blessings of Allah
I dont have verse in mind but its says something like And share the best of what you have with known f(frindes family )and unknown(travellers, orphans poors) in need.. and theres other verses who say to share as equal.. so If you want to buy a gift? no problem its kindness afterall, if you give it with sincerity, and not just for showing yourself .. well sugestion buy something by the meaning and not by prize.. or simply make yourself something original..
Slaam hope helps a little prpeace
NOMAd
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there was a time when i had only 5 dollars to my name and under a lot of financial stress. my friend stepped in and paid my bills, financially supporting me till i was able to get back on my feet. now, if he went around telling everyone how he bailed me out financially and i would not be where i am now if it were not for him - ok, that would be very hurtful to me and what he did for me would be void per this ayat. when i thanked him for what he did for me, he said how he cannot take any credit as all credit goes to God. and that to me is a definition of a righteous man.
if i give to a charity like the red cross because i want recognition and to show off how generous i am, i am not hurting anyone but just being vain.
giving gifts for birthdays, christmas, etc is not something i would consider charity, though.
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Okay sounds good. Now let me throw in another feature.
What if I had a friend who was not happy with me at the moment and thus to get them to like me more I wanted to get them a really nice gift. Thus at this point i'd be intending to show them that i'm quite nice and spendy cause i'm getting them such a gift. How is that perceived? -
can be perceived as bribery. heck i do that with kids all the time. give them lollipop and a toy in return for them to behave. also i'd perceive it as you being a bigger man in building bridges with someone who isn't happy with you. peace is better.
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can be perceived as bribery. heck i do that with kids all the time. give them lollipop and a toy in return for them to behave. also i'd perceive it as you being a bigger man in building bridges with someone who isn't happy with you. peace is better.
XD I was actually thinking of a similar example involving an angry wife and her husband. So then giving a gift while hoping they like you better doesn't fit such a criteria then?
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absolutely not. actually it would be highly encouraged in this case for a husband to please his wife. melt her heart doing whatever it takes! make her fall in love with you all over that it would be so hard for her to stay angry. buy her a gift. sing her a song. whisper sweet nothings. she will be putty in your hand. wanting to appease your wife is a good thing that i am sure will earn good credit from God and his blessings!
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absolutely not. actually it would be highly encouraged in this case for a husband to please his wife. melt her heart doing whatever it takes! make her fall in love with you all over that it would be so hard for her to stay angry. buy her a gift. sing her a song. whisper sweet nothings. she will be putty in your hand. wanting to appease your wife is a good thing that i am sure will earn good credit from God and his blessings!
ooh I like the way you put that down ^_^ Alright sounds good.
Now lastly, what if between you are one person who you don't have an issue with you buy a gift for them so that they would think that you are a good person? I guess in a way where your relations would start off or improve?
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ok so you want this person to have an opinion about you. to accomplish that you give the person a gift. so what's wrong with that? isn't it a good thing on your part to do something that will lead to a better relationship with that person? obviously you care about this person's opinion of you and thinking of what you can do to make that person like you (better than hate you 8-)
i don't know the specific ayat but God does say something along the lines of making friends out of enemies. if that means buying gifts, hey go for it. kill em with kindness! do what it takes to build bridges, peace and good feelings!
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ok so you want this person to have an opinion about you. to accomplish that you give the person a gift. so what's wrong with that? isn't it a good thing on your part to do something that will lead to a better relationship with that person? obviously you care about this person's opinion of you and thinking of what you can do to make that person like you (better than hate you 8-)
i don't know the specific ayat but God does say something along the lines of making friends out of enemies. if that means buying gifts, hey go for it. kill em with kindness! do what it takes to build bridges, peace and good feelings!
Sounds good, and what if its business related? In that you buy your boss a nice gift and hope he likes you enough to give you a promotion?
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buying a gift for the boss hoping would be promoted sounds like a business savvy employee! nothing 'un-islamic' about it.
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Alright so that sounds good.
So basically the idea is that you do it so people besides the two of you see it is what makes your charity null?
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buying gift to appease angry wife is not charity. buying gift for a boss to get promotion is not charity. buying a gift so that the person will think of you in a positive way is not charity.
charity is when you give money or time to an organization that serves to promote or help a cause. if you do charity so people around you think you are such a nice person, ok you got what you wanted - recognition. no harm was done. no harm, no gain except recognition. now, if you gave money to charity because you really believe in the cause and want to help and plus you do it for God then that is something that would earn credits/blessings from God.
now if you give money to someone and then go around town telling everybody how you did this and that hurting and embarrassing the person, then that is an action which would earn God's anger. as in this case you did more harm than good that it would've been better if did nothing at all.
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Well regardless then I understand and thank you )
The verse on closer inspection seems to indicate that it refers to how the hypocrites gave money as they did it so people would think they are just muslims. Interesting how things work.
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Showing off is a bad thing. God Almighty does not like show offs!
Just as a member posted from the NT, there is a cross referense in the Quran
"If you do deeds of charity openly, it is well; but if you bestow it upon the needy in *secret, it will be even better for you, and it will atone for some of your bad deeds. And God is aware of all that you do. (2271)
"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full"-Matthew 62
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Showing off is a bad thing. God Almighty does not like show offs!
Just as a member posted from the NT, there is a cross referense in the Quran
"If you do deeds of charity openly, it is well; but if you bestow it upon the needy in *secret, it will be even better for you, and it will atone for some of your bad deeds. And God is aware of all that you do. (2271)
"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full"-Matthew 62
Well i'm not talking about showing off charity to other people but rather directly to the people in transaction
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Well in that case, please check the "recipients" of charity cited in the Quran
"Charities is only for the poor, the needy, the workers who collect them, the new converts, to free the slaves, to those burdened by sudden expenses, in the cause of GOD, and to the traveling alien. Such is God's commandment. God is Omniscient, Most Wise. (960)however, god Almighty commands us to be nice (2195), and so, if you can develop positive relationships with people by giving gifts on occasions, that might be a nice thing.
It might not necessarily be charity, but it might be a nice thing, god loves the nice people(2195), just like he loves the charitable (128 -
Well in that case, please check the "recipients" of charity cited in the Quran
"Charities is only for the poor, the needy, the workers who collect them, the new converts, to free the slaves, to those burdened by sudden expenses, in the cause of GOD, and to the traveling alien. Such is God's commandment. God is Omniscient, Most Wise. (960)however, god Almighty commands us to be nice (2195), and so, if you can develop positive relationships with people by giving gifts on occasions, that might be a nice thing.
It might not necessarily be charity, but it might be a nice thing, god loves the nice people(2195), just like he loves the charitable (128Sounds good
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Alright so one last question. This one regards the same or rather similar verse in 438
(436)....God does not love the arrogant, the boastful.
(437) Those who are stingy and order the people to stinginess, and they conceal what God has given them from His bounty. And We have prepared for the rejecters a humiliating retribution.
(438 )And those who spend their money to show off to the people, and they do not believe in God or the Last Day. And whoever has the devil as his associate, then what a miserable associate!The section seems to start at the end of 436 about the pride and boastful and that they those who are stingy and not willing to give. Now then it leads to 438 which states the same line as 2264 on how people who spend to show off and not believe in God. That is word by word the same as what is in2264.
The question is that 438 doesn't state the word charity in it before that repeated text but the verses before on 437 mention stinginess, which has been used elsewhere to refer to being too cheap to pay charity. So does 438 refer only to charity or all cases? If all cases that would mean that simply buying clothes, getting a certain haircut, or painting would be "spending money to shown off" as we like for others to see our stuff like how nice our hair is, or how pretty our painting is, etc... thus I would think it only refers to charity but would like a confirmation to make sure.