High Moral Qualities of the Holy Prophet Muhammad^sa

Safeguarding the Interests of the Poor

When Islam began to be generally accepted over the greater part of Arabia, the Holy Prophet^sa often received large quantities of goods and money which he immediately distributed amongst those who were in need. On one occasion his daughter Fatima^ra came to him and, showing him her hands which had become calloused by the labour involved in crushing grain with stones, requested that a slave might be allotted to her to lighten her labour. The Prophet^sa replied: “I shall tell you something which will prove to be of far greater worth than a slave. When you go to bed at night you should utter the praise of God thirty-three times, and affirm His perfection an equal number of times and affirm His greatness thirty-four times. is will help you a great deal more than could the possession of a slave.”^[1]

While distributing money on one occasion a coin fell from his hands and rolled out of sight. Having finished with the distribution he went to the mosque and led the prayers. It was his practice to remain sitting for a short while after the conclusion of the prayers, occupied in the remembrance of God and thereafter to let people approach him and put questions to him or proffer requests. On this occasion, as soon as the prayers were concluded, he got up and proceeded quickly to his house. He looked for the missing coin and, having recovered it, came back and bestowed it upon a needy person, explaining that the coin had fallen from his hands during the distribution of money and the matter had gone out of his mind but he suddenly recollected it while leading the prayers and he was made uneasy by the thought that if he were to die before he could recover the coin and give it away to some person in need, he would be held responsible for it before God; that was the reason why he had left the mosque in such a hurry to recover the coin.^[2]

In his anxiety to fully safeguard the interests of the poor and the needy he went so far as to lay down that no charity should ever be bestowed upon his descendants, fearing lest Muslims out of their love for and devotion towards himself should in course of time make his descendants the principal objects of their charity and thus deprive the poor and needy of their due share. On one occasion somebody brought to him a quantity of dates and offered them as charity. His grandson Imam Hasan^ra, who was then only two and a half years of age, happened to be sitting with the Prophet^sa. He picked up one of the dates and put it into his mouth. The Prophet^sa immediately put his finger into the child’s mouth and forced the date out of it saying: “We have no right in this. This belongs to the poor among God’s creatures.”^[3,4]