Sūrat al-Baqarah
Section 54 of 59 · Surah Studies · Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
The Best People to Give To
Then, among the other legislative rulings mentioned in Sūrat al-Baqarah, Allah (swt) speaks particularly of a most deserving recipient of charity:
لِلْفُقَرَآءِ ٱلَّذِينَ أُحْصِرُوا۟ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ لَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ ضَرْبًا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ يَحْسَبُهُمُ ٱلْجَاهِلُ أَغْنِيَآءَ مِنَ ٱلتَّعَفُّفِ تَعْرِفُهُم بِسِيمَـٰهُمْ لَا يَسْـَٔلُونَ ٱلنَّاسَ إِلْحَافًا ۗ وَمَا تُنفِقُوا۟ مِنْ خَيْرٍ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ بِهِۦ عَلِيمٌ
“(Your charities should be preferably meant) for the needy who are confined in the way of Allah, unable to travel in the land.An ignorant person takes them as free of need because of their abstinence. You know them by their appearance (from begging). They do not beg people importunately, and whatever good thing you spend, Allah is All-Aware of it.” (2:273)
Verse 273, and a very important one. Who are the best people to whom one may give one's charity? The best are at times those who do not ask. Looking at them one supposes them to be comfortable, even wealthy in some cases; but they are in real need, and their sense of dignity and honour, and their trust in Allah, keeps them from asking. Such people are to be sought out. Not those who come and beg to one's face: it is better to seek out these. And subḥānAllāh, those who seek them out will have an immense reward, in shāʾ Allāh.