The Act Of Giving In Ramadhan
By HalizaAbu Bakar

Bandar Seri Begawan - When we talk of the month of Ramadhan, what comes to your mind?

Almost all of us would say it is the month where we don't eat or drink during the daytime and refrain ourselves from our bad habits.

Most of us would say it is the month where we do "Terawih" prayers and where we have to pay our Zakat.

Some of us may say it is the month where we see all the promotions for "Sungkai" plus the number of"Gerai" to visit.

Others might include such as the month before the Eid celebration, Lailatul Qadr "The Night of Power" and the month of doing charitable acts.

There might be many other things that pop to mind but I'll mostly be focusing on two things - Zakat Fitrah and the act of giving in this holy month.

Both Zakat and "Sedekah" are one of the fundamentals under Islamic Financial Planning.

It is considered as a unique part of Islamic Financial Planning.

We are obliged (in the case of Zakat) and encouraged (in the case of charitable act) to part with our wealth since we are not the rightful owners of it.

More importantly, by parting with a proportion of our wealth, we are trying to re-balance the inequality among society and at the same time, we are improving ourselves to be less greedy and less stingy.

Through giving, we also become less attached to our worldly possession.

Zakat is different from "Sedekah". Although both involve giving away part of our wealth.

Zakat is an obligation for all Muslims as it comes under one of the pillars of Islam while "Sedekah" is a voluntary act.

Another reason why we give Zakat albeit being compulsory is to "cleanse" our act of fasting as we might unconsciously committed sins during our fasting.

Every Muslim, who's financially able, mentally stable and free, must pay out Zakat not only for himself but also his dependents.

For Zakat Fitrah, it is compulsory for Muslim to give out the staple food of the country.

For Brunei, this would be rice (either fragrant rice of -Siamese rice) and the amount stated was two kilos and 268 grammes.

However, for practical purposes, giving out Zakat in the form of monetary value is also allowed.

Therefore, in Brunei, the amount of Zakat Fitrah for this year is calculated to be $2.84 (in the case of fragrant rice) or $1.93 (in the case of Siamese rice).

Zakat Fitrah can be performed as early as the first day of Ramadhan.

However, following the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), Zakat Fitrah is encouraged to be paid on the eve of Syawal before the Hari Raya prayers.

The collection will then be disbursed to specific groups of people.

The categories of people eligible to receive them have already been stated in the Quran as follows:

"Alms are for the poor and the needy; and those employed to administer the funds; for those whose hearts have been recently reconciled to the truth; for those in bondage and in debt; in the cause of Allah; and for the wayfarer" (9:60)

Everyone knows that giving is a good deed and with it will bring many rewards and blessings.

In fact, there are many verses in the Quran that tells us to give especially to those who need it.

Spending in this way is even called "a beautiful loan" in some places in the Quran.

Keep in mind though that we should give first to our dependents as they are under our responsibilities.

In this month of Ramadhan, the rewards and blessings will be increased immensely for any of our good deeds including giving to those who are in need!

The Prophet himself even said the best kind of charity is one that is given in Ramadhan, as related by Al-Tirmidhi by Anas.

Therefore we should grab this opportunity given to us and try to benefit as much as we can from it.

In addition to that, through giving, we are actually cleansing ourselves from our sins and wrongdoings.

However, to really benefit from the charity that we give, there are a few things that we have to keep in mind.

First is how we want to give, whether we like to give in secret or whether we want to give openly.

The Quran states the following:

"If you give alms openly, it is well, and if you hide it and give to the poor it is better for you.” (2:271)

Therefore, giving in secret is probably better as it helps us to avoid any feelings of showing off and insincerity.

If instead we give to seek fame, then our good deed will become worthless.

However, sometimes giving openly is also better as it might encourage others to do the same.

Nevertheless, whether we decide to give in secretly or openly, the crucial point is our intentions or our "niat".

We should give not because of other things except to draw closer to Allah.

As taught by a friend, when we want to give, we should set our niat "I give because of Allah" or "Kerana Allah".

Another point to remember is to avoid taunting or hurting the person you're giving to.

Taunting in this sense means to remind that person of the favour you did to them and taking advantage of the person.

Meanwhile, hurting here means letting others know of the deed you have done for that person and making them feel ashamed of themselves.

If we have done so, whatever we have given them will become worthless and will deprive ourselves from the rewards and blessings we expected.

Giving is not only for the wealthy or those who own extra money.

All of us are able to give but just in different ways.

This can be illustrated from the Prophet's saying below:

"The Prophet said: `Charity is the necessity for every Muslim'. He was asked: `What if a person has nothing?' The Prophet replied: `He: uld work with his own hands for his benefit and then give something out of such earnings in charity'. The Companions asked: `What if he is not able to work?' The Prophet said: 'He should help the poor and the needy persons. ' The Companions further asked: `What if he cannot do even that?' The Prophet said: 'He should urge others to do good'. The Companions said `What if he lacks to even do that?' The Prophet replied: `They should stop themselves from doing evil. That is also charity.' (Narrated by Muslim)

As we can see, charity is not just in financial terms, but also lies in our actions.

Even the simple act of smiling is considered as charity!

That's something to think about!

Remember that the upper hand is always better than the lower hand i.e. giving is always better than receiving.

With that, make use of these last few days of Ramadhan.

We might not know whether we will be able to meet the next one.

Selamat Berpuasa & Selamat Hari Raya to all.

We'd like to apologise if we might have offended anyone from our writings - Maaf Zahir & Batin.

Let's all pray that we will be able to meet in the next Ramadhan. Amin.  -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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