PROPHET MUHAMMAD’S LOVE OF THE POOR

                           

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) enjoined upon Muslims to treat the poor kindly and to help them with alms, Zakat, and in other ways. He said (peace and blessings be upon him) :

 “He is not a perfect Muslim who eats his fill and lets his neighbor go hungry.”
He (peace and blessings be upon him) asked, 

“Do you love your Creator? Then love your fellow beings first.”

Monopoly is unlawful in Islam and he (peace and blessings be upon him) preached that 

“It is difficult for a man laden with riches to climb the steep path that leads to bliss.”

He did not prohibit or discourage the acquisition of wealth but insisted that it be lawfully acquired by honest means and that a portion of it would go to the poor. He (peace and blessings be upon him) advised his followers:

“To give the laborer his wages before his perspiration dried up.”

He (peace and blessings be upon him) did not encourage beggary either and stated that:

“Allah is gracious to him who earns his living by his own labour, and that if a man begs to increase his property, Allah will diminish it and whoever has food for the day, it is prohibited for him to beg.”

To his wife he (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “O A’isha, love the poor and let them come to you and Allah will draw you near to Himself.” [Sahih Bukhari]

One or two instances of the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) concern for the poor may be given here. A Madinan, Ibad Bin Sharjil, was once starving. He entered an orchard and picked some fruit. The owner of the orchard gave him a sound beating and stripped off his clothes. The poor man appealed to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) who remonstrated the owner thus:

“This man was ignorant, you should have dispelled his ignorance; he was hungry, you should have fed him.”

His clothes were restored to the Madinan and, in addition, some grain was given to him [Abu Dawood]

A debtor, Jabir Bin Abdullah, was being harassed by his creditor as he could not clear his debt owing to the failure of his date crop. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went with Jabir to the house of the creditor and pleaded with him to give Jabir some more time but the creditor was not prepared to oblige. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) then went to the oasis and having seen for himself that the crop was really poor, he (peace and blessings be upon him) again approached the creditor with no better result. He (peace and blessings be upon him) then rested for some time and approached the creditor for a third time but the latter was adamant. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went again to the orchard and asked Jabir to pluck the dates. As Allah would have it, the collection not only sufficed to clear the dues but left something to spare. [Sahih Bukhari]

His (peace and blessings be upon him) love for the poor was so deep that he used to pray: “O Allah, keep me poor in my life and at my death and raise me at resurrection among those who are poor.” [Nasai]

The Prophet’s Kindness Towards the Poor

Prophet Muhammad’s life was not that different from the lives of the poor. Lady Aisha narrated:“The family of Muhammad did not eat their fill for three successive days till he died.” (Al-Bukhari)

Prophet Muhammad treated the poor with mercy and kindness, and he used to give them whatever he could, although he, himself, was poor. He also used to teach his companions to have mercy upon the poor as well.In this article, we compiled some of the hadiths that show the Prophet’s love and mercy upon the poor.It was narrated that Abu Sa’eed Al-Khudri said:Love the poor, for I heard the Messenger of Allah say in his supplication:

‘O Allah, cause me to live poor and cause me to die poor, and gather me among the poor (on the Day of Resurrection). (Ibn Majah)

The Prophet always considered giving to be better than keeping, and consequently, he continuously gave. Among the best descriptions of his merciful attitude is what Lady Aisha narrated:

“We slaughtered a sheep and gave away most of it. I told the Prophet only a small piece was left. He then said in all his wisdom:

‘All of it is remaining (through charity) but that piece’” (At-Tirmidhi)

He also said:

The worst food is that of a wedding banquet to which only the rich are invited while the poor are not invited.

Helping and Teaching

Anas ibn-Malik narrated:

“A man from the Ansar came to ask the Prophet (peace be upon him) for charity. The Prophet asked about what he has at home, and the man said that he has some fabric which they use to wear sometimes and other times to sit on.

The Prophet instructed him to bring it over. Then he asked if any of his companions would like to purchase the fabric. A man offered to buy it for one Dirham. The Prophet asked for a higher price, until a man offered two Dirhams for it.

The Prophet took the money and gave it to the poor man. The Prophet told him to buy food for his family with one Dirham and to use the other to buy an axe-head and bring it back to him.

The Prophet then tied a hand to the axe-head and asked the man to use it in cutting wood,then selling it. And so the man went to cut wood and began to sell it. He collected ten Dirhams which he used for food and clothes.

The Prophet said to the man:

“This is better than asking for charity which you will be asked about on the Day of Judgment. Asking charity is permissible for only three cases; extreme poverty, paying off a large fine, or for paying blood-money in case of killing someone by mistake.” (Ibn Majah)