The Fundraising for Tabūk: Generosity and the Mockers

Shaykh Yasir Qadhi explains:

The Battle of Tabūk had no real fighting, it is a chain of a dozen small incidents from which benefit is drawn, and it opens with the call for charity: stories of the Companions' generosity, and of the hypocrites' scorn.

❧Racing in good deeds

The famous contest returns: ʿUmar, thinking "today I will beat Abū Bakr," brought half his wealth, telling the Prophet ﷺ he had left the like for his family; but Abū Bakr brought everything, leaving his family "Allāh and His Messenger", and ʿUmar conceded he could never win. Money then was scarce, with no monthly salary to replenish it, so giving half was immense and giving all was Abū Bakr's alone. This shows the Companions competing in good deeds, سَابِقُوا, سَارِعُوا, "race, hasten" to forgiveness and to Paradise, a mentality largely lost, though we compete fiercely for the dunyā. And it shows care for one's family: the Prophet ﷺ asked each what he had left them, for we are not asked to give beyond our means.

❧Wealth in the right hands

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf gave 200 uqiyah, he who had entered Medina with nothing but the clothes on his back and, by honest trade, become wealthy in nine years: proof that riches are a blessing in the hands of the generous. And ʿUthmān's Syrian caravan came in just as the call went out; he sold it whole in the market and carried the gold in his robe to pour before the Prophet ﷺ, who turned the coins over and said, "Nothing ʿUthmān does after today will harm him."

❧The mockers, and the honor-charity

The hypocrites gave nothing and mocked those who gave, by word, or by nudge and wink, sneering that a large gift was showing off and a small one was worthless. When a poor Anṣārī labored all night hauling water for two handfuls of dates and gave one, two of them jeered, "Does Allāh need these dates?" and "You need this more than anyone!" So Allāh revealed الَّذِينَ يَلْمِزُونَ الْمُطَّوِّعِينَ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ فِي الصَّدَقَاتِ… سَخِرَ اللَّهُ مِنْهُمْ (9:79), those who deride the believers' charity, "Allāh derides them, and theirs is a painful punishment." And ʿUlbah ibn Zayd, having nothing at all, gave as charity his very honor, "I will defend you against those who wrong you", and the Prophet ﷺ said, "I have accepted your charity."