By Ustadh Abdus Shakur
Great Rewards for Maintaining the Foundations of Islam
The Messenger of Allāh (peace and blessing upon him) said:
The foundations of Islam are five: The testimony that there is no deity except Allāh and Muḥammad is His messenger, establishing the prayer, paying the Zakāh, performing Ḥajj and fasting the month of Ramaḍān. [Bukhārī and Muslim]
The Messenger of Allāh (peace and blessing upon him) said:
There are five things that if a person brings them along with Iman, he will enter paradise: (1) observing the prayer (completely with ablution, bowing and prostration) (2) Observing the prayer in its prescribed time- (3) Fasting Ramaḍān (4) Making Ḥajj for those who have the ability (5) Paying Zakāh with a willing spirit. [Ṭabāranī]
Mu’ad Ibn Jabal (may Allāh be pleased with him) narrated that he once said to the Messenger of Allāh (peace and blessing upon him):
O Messenger of Allāh, inform me of an action that will enter me in to Paradise and keep me away from the fire? The Messenger of Allāh said “Verily you have asked concerning a great matter which is easy for one whom Allāh has made it easy for: Worship Allāh and do not associate with Him anything, perform the prayer, pay the Zakāh, fast Ramadan, and perform the Ḥajj”. [Aḥmad, Tirmidhī, Nasa’ī, Ibn Mājah]
Purification and the Removal of Sin
Allāh (Exalted is He) said:
Take from their wealth charity in order that it may purify them [Tawbah:103]
The Messenger of Allāh (peace and blessing upon him) said:
Pay Zakāh on your wealth for verily it is a purification which purifies you. [Aḥmad]
The Messenger of Allāh (peace and blessing upon him) said:
Shall I not guide you towards a gateway of good? I (Ibn Mas’ūd) said “Of course O Messenger of Allāh.” He said, “Fasting is a shield [junnah] and giving charity extinguishes sinful acts the way water extinguishes fire.” [Tirmidhī and Ibn Ḥibbān]
The Messenger of Allāh (peace and blessing upon him) said:
Verily charity removes the wrath of Allāh and pushes away sin[1]. [Tirmidhī and Ibn Ḥibbān]
The Increase of Wealth
That which you have given [as loan] for the sake of gaining interest (from the wealth of others) will not increase with Allāh. As for that which you give in Zakāh seeking Allāh’s countenance, it is these people who will increase their wealth [in the Hereafter]. [Rūm:39]
The Messenger of Allāh (peace and blessing upon him) said:
Whoever gives the likes of a date in charity from upright earnings –and Allāh does not accept other than upright earning- verily Allāh accepts it with his yamīn then he fosters it for him the way those amongst you foster a first born, until it becomes the likes of a mountain. [Bukhārī, Muslim, Tirmidhī, Nasa’ī]
A Key to Paradise
Allāh (Exalted is He) said:
Those who spend their wealth during the night and during the day, secretly and publicly, for them is their reward with their Lord and there shall be no fear on them and they shall not grieve. [Baqarah:274]
A Reminder Not to Tread the Wrong Path
Allāh (Exalted is He) says:
The day that they are scotched in the fire of Jahannam thus having their foreheads, sides, and backs severely burnt.” [Tawbah:34-35]
The Messenger of Allāh (peace and blessing upon him) said:
No owner who posses gold or silver and does not pay the due amount of Zakāh, when Judgment Day comes sheets (of gold and silver) will be prepared from fire for him and he will be scotched on them in the fire of Jahannam thus having his forehead, sides, and back severely burnt. Every time it becomes cold the process is repeated in a day the length of fifty-thousand years. [Bukhārī, Muslim]
[1] In a similar narration: “Verily Allāh, through charity, pushes away 70 gateways of sin. “ [Ibn Mubārak]
