Islamic Moral Stories!

Generosity and Miserliness

Part 1: The generous man and the miser

The Prophet ( s.a.w ) teaches us: 'The generous person, is nearer to Allah, nearer to Paradise, nearer to people and far from hell fire. And the miser, is far from Allah, far from Paradise, far from people and nearer to hell fire.'

Generous people love to help others by giving out their money or whatever they have, willingly. By being helpful, even without being asked,  we become dear to Allah and to other people. That is why the hell fire is kept far away from us and Paradise is brought nearer. Such people usually participate in different projects that are started near them. They help for the sake of Allah and not to show off or to gain fame.

Miser do not like helping others or even spending money on themselves! Who likes such people? They are not useful to themselves, let alone to the society. They have forgotten what the Almighty Allah said in Hadith Qudsy: 'Wealth is My wealth and the rich are by My agents in My wealth.  Whosoever will become a miser on my wealth to the poor, I will certainly year him and I do not care the least.'

It is unfortunate that some miser live without comfort. Their families and relative also suffer because they do not appreciate the favors (wealth) which Allah has given them. The Prophet ( s.a.w ) says: 'Verily Allah loves to see the effect of His favors on His servants (people). We should strive to be generous in our own wat and avoid being miser for Allah does not like it.'

Part 2: The beautiful farm

There was a good pious man who had a large beautiful farm. He had many trees and plants in his farm. Whenever he harvested from his farm, he would divide the harvest into three portions. One third was for himself, the other third was for the poor and the last third was for re-cultivation. The needy and the poor were allowed to pick anything, anytime, from the farm without his permission.

When he died, his children vowed not to be as generous as their father. To them, he was wrong. The poor and the needy had no right to pick what they needed from the farm. They decided to wake up much earlier on the day of the harvest. They would go to the farm and harvest everything so that the poor would get nothing.

Allah knew of their evil plans. That night He sent a fore whoch destroyed the whole farm.  On reaching the farm, the children of the pious mancpuld not believe what they saw. They even thought thy the were in the wrong farm. Finally, they realized that they were wrong. They knew that Allah had punished then because they had refused to be as generous as their father. They had become misers and losers.

'The best among them said: "Did I not tell you: Why say you not InshaAllah?" They saud: "Glory to Our Lord!  Verily, w heave been wrong!" Then they turned one against another, blaming. They saud: "Woe to us! We have indeed transgressed! We hope that Our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this.  Truly, we return to Our Lord (in repentance)"'
(Quran, Surah 68: Verse 28-32)

Let's take a minute to ponder about ourselves: are we misers or generous beings? If we happen to fall into the miser category, we need to change ourselves for the better, since that will only help us. It may take time, but as long as your intentions are clear, Allah will help you.

If you have any queries or suggestions please feel free.

Asalamualaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu