Spend Money on Relatives,
Orphans and the Needy

One aspect of the realization of faith is that the believer spends his money to help his relatives, orphans, travellers and the needy.

The Quran thus defines the qualities of the believers: “They give away their wealth to their relatives and to orphans and the very poor, and to travellers and those who ask [for charity], and to set slaves free.” (2:177)

This verse shows in what ways the realization of faith finds expression in the family and in society.

The Quran tells us that the believer starts helping needy relatives since he is closely connected with them. But when there are many kinds of complaints there can be no expectation that the relatives will be grateful to him. That is why Islam strenuously encourages assistance for needy relatives.

Similarly, a believer loves to help orphans and the needy. His sensitive heart becomes a guarantee that he will not regard the weak as lowly but that he should rather rush to help them.

The same is true of the traveller. A traveller might be well off in his hometown. But when he is far away from his home on a journey, he can in many ways need help. Here the believer’s faith motivates him to help the traveller in whatever way is necessary. Similarly, if there are people who are beset by some problem because of social traditions such as slavery and they don’t have enough money to buy their freedom, it is one of the virtues of the believer that he will spend money to free them.