Spending in Charity Is a Sense of Responsibility

Occasion: A Fajr khatira delivered on 22 January 2026 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

Sūrat al-Munāfiqūn calls for a contemplative look in order to study the character of the hypocrite, and our Lord, glorified and exalted is He, gives us in this surah the full indicators so that we may understand the pattern of the hypocrites, their type, their conduct and their reactions. But let us look at one verse near the end of the surah, because it touches the lives of all of us, in the words of Allah, blessed and exalted: ﴿وَأَنفِقُوا مِن مَّا رَزَقْنَاكُم مِّن قَبْلِ أَن يَأْتِيَ أَحَدَكُمُ الْمَوْتُ فَيَقُولَ رَبِّ لَوْلَا أَخَّرْتَنِي إِلَىٰ أَجَلٍ قَرِيبٍ فَأَصَّدَّقَ وَأَكُن مِّنَ الصَّالِحِينَ﴾ ("And spend from what We have provided you before death comes to one of you and he says, 'My Lord, if only You would delay me for a short term so I would give charity and be among the righteous.'").^[1]

Spending Is Wider Than Numbers

The truth is that people talk about spending as if it were numbers: I give a little, or I give a lot, or whatever it may be. But widening the circle of giving, or of spending in general, shows that it embraces every kind of giving: a phone call is giving, provision and spending; so is giving of one's time, and checking on so-and-so, to take one example; and so is caring for the children, the wife's wellbeing, the relatives, and looking after the affairs of the people living around you.

The matter of spending is a sense of responsibility toward others. And this feeling in itself, when it takes hold of a person, leaves him with no regret on the Day of Resurrection.

Regret Is the Pivotal Point

And here is the essential, pivotal point of the matter: the feeling of regret. ﴿رَبِّ لَوْلَا أَخَّرْتَنِي إِلَىٰ أَجَلٍ قَرِيبٍ فَأَصَّدَّقَ﴾ ("My Lord, if only You would delay me for a short term so I would give charity"); here he regrets every single moment that passed over him without his being able, psychologically, to spend. And it is as though the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted is He, is teaching us how to move out of the state of the hypocrite into the state of the believer. The believer is a person of responsibility for this world; you are responsible for the universe and what is in it, Allah the Exalted has made you a steward in it, and accordingly your asking after the far and the near, your caring for the first and the last, and your concern for people's wellbeing are part of the human makeup for which Allah, mighty and majestic, created you.

And there are people who find the burdens of others heavy and barely do what is required of them, or do it with resentment, like someone forced to look after the needs of his own dependants; none of them realizes that he is giving charity to his son with the morsel he eats, and giving charity to his wife through her care, her housing, her protection and her safekeeping, and so on.

Leave No Opportunity to Give

The gist, so as not to go on at length: leave no opportunity to give anything, in a phone call, in asking after people, in sending a sum of money, in doing anything at all, whatever the giving may be, offer it. Think of people as much as you think of yourself and your own interest, and do not think only of their circumstances and managing them, but think how you can help them and how you can support them.

By Allah, other than whom there is no god, for any one of us to go to sleep at the end of the day having fulfilled some of what he owes toward people is more honored with Allah the Exalted than to have fasted and prayed at night, even if the prayer were to exceed a thousand rak'ahs. For our Lord, glorified and exalted is He, as we mentioned at the beginning of Sūrat al-Mujādila, made looking after the affairs of people one of the duties of the believers, so do not neglect the most important function you have.

I ask Allah for us and for you safety, wellbeing and His good pleasure.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Munāfiqūn, verse 10 (the penultimate verse, since the surah ends with verse 11). The speaker described it as the last verse, so the wording was adjusted in the body text.