We just finished Ramadan where Allahﷻ gave us the opportunity to start over again, make our lives Shari’ah compliant and achieve closeness to Allahﷻ. In life, all human beings have only two Dharooriaat. Dharoori is something the absence of which will lead to death. The two Dharooriaat are not food or water or even air. They are Hidaya while we live and Maghfirah after we die. If a person has guidance and is forgiven when he dies, no matter what their situation in the Dunya was, they will go to Jannah. But if a person was misguided and died in that state, on Kufr or Shirk then they will go to Jahannam. The key is ask ourselves where we are. Ramadan came to put this into perspective where, by following the order of Allahﷻ, we held ourselves back from things which are otherwise Halaal during the specified hours. This reinforces the meaning of being a Muslim – someone who submits to Allahﷻ. Ramadan forces us to understand that when it comes to choosing between what is good for the body and what is good for the soul, we must give precedence to the soul. We remind ourselves that on top of the most beautiful face, the strongest body, the cutest child, the most dignified scholar, the most magnificent king, and queen, one day will be dumped thousands of pounds of earth. Talk about helplessness. Death is not the cessation of life. It is the cessation of ability, of power and authority, or the capability to help ourselves. It is the name of total helplessness and vulnerability that is impossible to imagine in this life. At that time, the only thing that will help us is what we send ahead. We need to change the way we think about charity and recognize it for what it is.

I want you to think of two words, spend and save. Which is a better word? Two other words, sacrifice and invest. Which is a better word? We have always been told to ‘sacrifice’ for the sake of Allahﷻ. Qurbani deejiye. I submit to you that this is a false narrative. There is no such thing as ‘sacrifice’ when it comes to Allahﷻ. Let me show you why. For something to be considered a ‘sacrifice’, it must satisfy two conditions. It must be something that belongs to you, and you must not get any return for giving it away. I can’t take what is in your wallet and donate it and call it my ‘sacrifice’. Similarly, I can’t sell you something of mine, take the payment and say that I ‘sacrificed’ it for you. I can only say that I sacrificed something if it belongs to me and if I get nothing in return for it. A sacrifice is therefore a net loss.

Let us see what happens when we spend in the cause of Allahﷻ. Let us see if the conditions of ‘sacrifice’ are satisfied. Firstly, everything we have, without exception, belongs to Allahﷻ and we hold it in trust for as long as He wishes. Our very life itself, our wealth, health, knowledge, time, ability, strength, influence, authority, everything of any description, belongs to Allahﷻ and not to us. The proof of this is that when Allahﷻ wants to take it back He can and there is nothing we can do to prevent or even delay that by so much as a second. All we can do is to behave with restraint and have patience and remind ourselves that it was not ours in the first place. That is why the poet said about the martyr: Jaan dee, dee hui usi ki thee. Haq tho yeh hai kay haq ada na hua. Allahﷻ warned us to spend before it is too late.

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ أَنفِقُوا۟ مِمَّا رَزَقْنَـٰكُم مِّن قَبْلِ أَن يَأْتِىَ يَوْمٌ لَّا بَيْعٌ فِيهِ وَلَا خُلَّةٌ وَلَا شَفَـٰعَةٌ وَٱلْكَـٰفِرُونَ هُمُ ٱلظَّـٰلِمُونَ

Baqara 2: 254    O you who believe! Spend from that with which We have provided for you, before a Day comes when there will be no bargaining, nor friendship, nor intercession. And it is the disbelievers who are the Zalimun

Despite that when we spend it in the cause of Allahﷻ...