By Anonymous
This past weekend I asked my daughter to help me choose a few of her toys to gift to a family of Syrian refugees. I told her the kids didn’t have any toys and we should share with them. To be honest, I thought she’d put up a fight. I mean she’s not even four yet (and not the best sharer). But to my surprise, she ran to her toy box and started pulling some items:
-A beautiful, soft purple stuffed horse (with the tag still attached).
-A car with big, strong wheels that zooms about really fast.
-A doll that I bought her for Eid (she named her Azizah for some reason).
All of these things are things that she loves and plays with regularly – literally her favourite toys.
I thought that she was going to dig around and pull out the weird odds and ends that always end up strewn about the bottom of the toy box…random, lonely pieces of Legos, pieces of a puzzle that has long since disappeared, or the things she hasn’t played with since she was a baby.
But I underestimated her. She pulled out the best of what she had. It reminded me of a verse from the Quran:
“Never will you attain the good [reward] until you spend [in the way of Allah] from that which you love. And whatever you spend - indeed, Allah is Knowing of it” (3:92).
She was giving up the very things that she loved, and it was natural to her. In many ways my little one is still on the fitrah – the original state that we are all born in where we have no inclination towards evil, but every inclination towards what is beautiful, kind, and true.
I had to stop myself from dissuading her to give up her favourite toys. I was about to because I feared she would later regret it. But I stopped myself because the fitrah is a beautiful thing that shouldn’t be stomped on. The very fact that I had to restrain my tongue tells me that my own fitrah has been diluted over the years.
When I think about giving the best of what we have, in the best way, I always remember this story of Aisha (ra) when she developed the nickname “Mother of Fragrance.” Every time she would give money away in charity, she would put perfume on the coins first. When asked why she did this, she explained that the charity would reach Allah before it reached the beggar’s hands. She wanted the charity to be given to Allah in the best condition possible.
The way we conquer our egos, our desires, our attachment to worldly things is to give from the best of what we have. Not just the things that no longer interest us, or that we’ve outgrown. Not just the things that are collecting dust or that are stored in some creaky attic or clammy storage room. Of course there is good in giving from every possession we have, but there is much greater good and reward in giving from what is close to our hearts. Not to mention, giving it in a beautiful way that keeps the dignity of the recipient intact. That’s true charity.
May Allah (swt) allow us to give from what we love in the hopes that He will reward us with something much better.