A charity

I sat with my friend in a well-known porridge hotel in Venice (Italy), the city of lights and water. As we enjoyed our porridge, a man entered and sat at an empty table beside us. He called the waiter and placed his order saying, Two cups of porridge, one here, one on the wall.’ We heard this strange order with interest and observed that he was served with one cup of porridge but he paid for two. As soon as he left, the waiter pasted a piece of paper on the wall saying A Cup of porridge’. While we were still there, two other men entered and ordered three cups of porridge, two on the table and one on the wall. They had the two cups of porridge but paid for three and left. This time also, the waiter did the same; he pasted a piece of paper on the wall saying, ‘A Cup of Porridge’. It was something unique and perplexing for us. We finished our porridge, paid the bill and left. After a few days, we had a chance to go to this porridge shop again. While we were enjoying our porridge, a poorly dressed man entered. As he seated himself, he looked at the wall and said, 'One cup of porridge from the wall'. The waiter served porridge to this man with the customary respect and dignity. The man had his porridge and left without paying. We were amazed to watch all this, as the waiter took off a piece of paper from the wall and threw it in the dust bin. Now it was no surprise for us – the matter was very clear. The great respect for the needy shown by the inhabitants of this town made our eyes well up in tears. Ponder upon the need of what this man wanted... He enters the porridge shop without having to lower his self-esteem… He has no need to ask for a free cup of porridge… without asking or knowing about the one who is giving this cup of porridge to him. He only looked at the wall, placed an order for himself, enjoyed his porridge and left. Probably the most beautiful wall you may ever see will be our wall of good deeds on the Day of Judgement. This is what is Charity when you give from one hand & other hand does not know about it.

The Prophet ﷺ advised: “Children of Adam! Giving beyond your needs is better for you, holding back is worse for you. But you won't be blamed for securing what you need. Be the first to give to those who depend on you”;

“Give without restriction, so that God does not restrict his favors towards you; do not accumulate, so that God does not deprive you of the benefits of him; also give the little you can ";

"The best charity is that made by the right hand, and which the left hand ignores".

Islam therefore teaches to donate with discretion, to respect the dignity of the recipient and safeguard secrecy, so that charity does not turn into advertising, or worse, into a demonstration of supremacy and pride:

"Oh, you who believe, do not ruin your charitable deeds with reproach and harm like the one who does not believe in God or the Last Day and contributes his money so people will see him. He is like a rock with dirt on it that was rained upon heavily and became hard and bare. Such people can do nothing with what they earned. God does not guide disbelieving people” (Quran 2:264).

 May the Almighty help us all to spend for the poor and the needy