Share Your Resources with
Other Human Beings
Individuals are permanently indebted to society. Human decency demands that a part of one’s earnings be regularly given to the needy and the deprived, on a regular basis.
The Quran explains in detail which people will be ushered into Paradise in their next life. One of their qualities has been described thus: “They give a due share of their wealth to those who ask [for help] and to the destitute.” (70:24-25)
In the present world everyone has many associations with other human beings. On the one hand, he is linked with the vaster world of nature and, on the other hand, with human society. Whatever a person does, there is an amalgam of all these elements in his life. No one has the power to be independent of his environment and achieve things of value in total isolation.
A human being receives innumerable benefits from the world of nature (sun, air, water and much more). These too have a claim upon him, and that is that he should expresses his gratefulness to the Creator of the universe, sincerely, from his heart. This feeling of gratitude should be so strong that the remembrance of the Creator should become a permanent part of his life, day and night. Those who fulfil these obligations which they owe to God are the sole creatures who deserve to live in this world as a matter of right.
Individuals are permanently indebted to society. Whatever wealth a person earns, be it more or less, there is a part played in every situation by the society of which he is a member. Whatever a person earns is never just gained by dint of one’s own personal striving: it is rather the common gift of the entire society.
Human decency demands that this fact should be acknowledged. A practical form of this acknowledgement is the gift of a part of one’s earnings to the needy and the deprived, on a regular basis. That is, help should be given to those who ask and also to those who do not ask but are evidently in need and deserving of being given material support. It is only after fulfilling others’ rights that a person may spend his wealth on himself.
