Ulama:
Models of Sacrifice and Charity By:
Ahmed Ali al-Kuwaity
The scholars of our nation are
stars. They are models for each
aspect of life. Some people think
that scholars are only involved in
studying and learning the religion
of Islam and concerned with Fiqh,
the sciences and philosophy. People
don’t think that our scholars are
concerned with good morals and
ethics, and to uplift the society.
Sacrifice and charity are the basis
of Islam that our scholars must take
the lead in being good examples,
even if they become exhausted in
helping the oppressed and helping
the needy and orphans. Let us relate
to you the way our scholars have
taken the lead in charity and
sacrifice.
He did not have money for himself!
Sheikh Kaasim Muhyideen, who died in
the year of 1376 A.H., was one of
the noble scholars of the city of
Najaf. This scholar used to go to
the rich merchants and businessmen
in Najaf to pledge money for the
poor and needy. Although they used
to refuse him in the morning, he
used to go to them in the afternoon
and once again ask them again. In
this way he used to collect a lot of
money to distribute to the needy.
It is
known that he didn’t use this wealth
personally and used to have a simple
diet of bread and milk due to his
own poverty. It is also known that
when he became ill, and doctors
advised him to go abroad for medical
treatment, he had to sell his
library in order to get money for
the treatment.
(Mausooatul
Atabaat Al Muqadassa Page 314-317)
He bought stale vegetables!
Sayyid Ali Al Qadhi (died in the
year 1355 A.H.) is one of the great
scholars of Islam who used to teach
lessons of ethics in the city of
Najaf. One of his students relates
that he once saw the Sayyid go into
a green grocer’s shop. The Sayyid
then started choosing some
vegetables and contrary to the
common behavior of most customers
who always look for fresh
vegetables, the Sayyid chose some
stale vegetables, paid the owner and
went out of the shop.
The student decided to follow him
and ask the reason for this. The
Sayyid when asked replied, that he
knew that the owner was a poor man
and the Sayyid was in the habit of
helping the poor owner, but because
it was not good to help someone
without a reason, since it would be
a cause of embarrassment, encourage
laziness and the habit of begging,
the Sayyid just made an excuse of
buying some vegetables so that he
would get a chance of helping the
poor man.
“As for
us it doesn’t make a difference what
type of vegetables we eat,
particularly so when I know that
nobody will buy the stale vegetables
from the owner and he will incur a
greater loss,” the Sayyid replied.
(Seema Al Saliheen Page 294)
Whoever loves his beard …!
Sheikh Jaafer Kashiful Gitaa, a
great scholar and mujtahid used to
collect money in order to help the
poor. One day as he had distributed
money amongst the poor, a poor man
from the progeny of the Prophet (S)
asked him for something to fulfil
his needs.
The Sheikh was apologetic that he
didn’t have anything to help the
poor man when the latter pulled at
the beard of the Sheikh and demanded
to be helped. The Sheikh announced
that who ever loved his beard i.e.
respected him, should help the poor
man; and so it happened that the
people filled the beard of the
Sheikh with gold and silver in
respect of him.
In this
way the Sheikh diverted the love the
people had for him in the service of
the poor masses around him. (Maadhi
An Najaf Wa Haadhiruha 122-123,
Qasas Al Ulama 201, 207)
What will Allah ask us on the Day of
Judgment?
Sheikh Abdul Karim Al Hairi was a
great scholar and founder of the
great Islamic College or Hauza in
the city of Qum. One of his
assistants called Sheikh Ali relates
that one night as he was sleeping,
he heard a knock on the door.
As he went to open the door, he saw
a poor woman who asked for help. She
said that her husband was sick, and
in addition they didn’t have any
food, and her family was cold as
they didn’t have any fuel to get
warmth.
The assistant informed her that his
master could not help her as his own
condition was not good in those
days. The woman left with great
disappointment.
Sheikh Abdul Karim Al-Hairi had
heard somebody at the door and so he
asked his assistant what was going
on. The assistant informed him about
the whole incident. Sheikh Abdul
Karim said, “What will Allah ask us
on the day of judgment?”
Then he asked his assistant whether
he knew the house of the lady.
Although it was difficult to reach
the lady’s house as the roads were
covered with snow, yet the Sheikh
Hairi was determined to reach the
lady and help her. Thus they found
themselves on the way to the lady.
On reaching the lady’s house, they
found the family in a dire state.
The Sheikh asked his assistant to
call a doctor who diagnosed the
husband and prescribed the
medicines. Again the Sheikh asked
his assistant to go and buy the
medicine from the chemist on credit
and that he would pay for it, as
well as getting some firewood and
food to give warmth to the family.
When
the sick husband took the medicine
he felt better and they had food and
warmth restored in the house. Then
only did the Sheikh find it suitable
to leave and return. In addition,
the Sheikh asked his assistant to
divide the portion of firewood which
was supplied to their house daily
and give it to the poor family. Such
were these great scholars who served
Islam by example.
Why didn’t you give out all your
wealth?
In Nahjul Balagha, the believers
have been described as people in
whose heart Allah has become so
magnified that the world has become
microscopic for them and of little
significance. One of the people who
fit this description is Mullah Sabzwari who died in 1289 A.H.
He owned land and wealth on which he
took out the Zakaat (charity) and
distributed it amongst the poor
personally. Every Thursday he had an
appointment with the needy and
distressed, so that he would fulfill
their wishes.
On the last three days of the month
of Saffar he commemorated Majlis for
Imam Husayn (a.s.) in which he
called the poor. A man would be
chosen amongst them who would recite
the majlis, a poor man not known in
the society, but the Mullah would
give such people a chance to recite,
after which food and money was
distributed to each and every poor
man.
It is
said that in his youth he inherited
a lot of properties, yet he sold
shops and houses and distributed the
wealth to the poor. He repeated the
same procedure in his old age and
were it not that the Qur’an asks
people to adopt a medium way between
miserliness and to be over
charitable such that if a man dies
his orphans do not have to beg and
curse their father, he would have
given all his wealth to Allah.
People
asked him why he didn’t give all his
wealth away and sit as a monk. It is
interesting to hear his answer in
which he said that he would love to
do so but his children did not
favour the same type of life, and
what wealth remained with him was
for only his children. (Qasas wal
Ibar lil Imam Al Shirazi Page 89)
Marja’s Secret!
One of the scholars in the U.S.A.
was conversing with the
representative of Imam Mohammed
Shirazi, may Allah have mercy on
him. The scholar stated that he
thought that the Imam was one of the
richest Marja of the world.
The representative of the Imam
queried the scholar as to why he
made this statement. The scholar
replied that it was because of so
many organizations and centres in so
many countries of the world from
America to Asia, Europe, Africa and
Australia. The representative of
Imam Shirazi replied that on the
contrary the Marja had a great debt
and faced many problems.
The scholar was puzzled and said
that how then was it possible for so
many mosques and organizations to
exist if the Marja was not so rich.
It is here that the representative
gave the scholar the Marja’s secret.
The great Marja always inspired his
friends and believers a love of
starting a project such as a mosque,
a printing press, a library,
publishing a book, etc. just so as
to renew the spirit of a Muslim to
contribute and sacrifice for his/her
religion. The great Marja’s
philosophy was to awaken the nation
and exploit the potentials of each
and every individual however small
the potentials may be as expressed
in his book (The Awakening of the
Nation).
The scholar was amazed and remarked
that it seems that the Marja had a
spirit of sacrifice and of that of
encouraging and inspiring others. It
must be noted that due to his
encouragement, management, planning
and foresight more than hundred
mosques, organizations, publication
of magazines and books in addition
to charitable trusts and
humanitarian institutes have been
established all over the world.
Start the work and Allah will help !
One great scholar related to the
representative of Imam Muhammad
Shirazi, that he once decided to
build a Madrassah although he didn’t
have any money. The Islamic
tradition states that man should
make the first move, and Allah will
shower the blessings on him. One
should always start the work first
and Allah will help to find the
necessary funds for it, and not wait
for the funds to start the work.
Thus he decided to ask some laborers
to start the work making a clear
agreement that they would be paid
when the money was available. The
agency that supplied them with the
building materials did so under the
same agreement.
Sometimes the laborers would work
till evening while the funds were
not available, yet in the evening by
Allah’s blessings they would be
paid. Shortly after, the walls of
the Madrassah reached up to a meter
in height.
One day it so happened, that a man
knocked the door of the scholar and
said that he had been passing by and
was impressed with the determination
of the scholar to build the
Madrassah. He handed over an
envelope to the scholar saying that
it was a meagre donation. Expecting
that it was a small amount, the
scholar was excited to see a huge
sum of money when he opened it.
Soon the project reached its peak
with the handsome donation, and the
donor contributed a second amount of
money to complete the project.
Help the debtors!
Sayyid Nematullahi Al Jazairi says
that I looked for a teacher who
would teach me and I heard about
Allamah Muhammad Baqer Al Majlisi
who is the author of the book
Bihaarul Anwaar in Isfahaan. I went
to him and he taught me and took
great care of me as if I was one of
his children.
We in the course of our stay with
each other had promised that whoever
out of us died first would come in
the dream of the other and relate
about the world Hereafter.
Sayyid Jazairi says that he stayed
with Allamah Majlisi for a long time
until the Allamah fell sick and
died. The funeral procession was an
event which showed how respected he
was.
Shortly after his death, Sayyid
Jazairi went to the graveyard and
sat and recited verses of the Holy
Qur’an for him and cried in his
remembrance of him and as a result
fell asleep. In his dream, he saw
Allamah Majlisi richly dressed and
apparently in good condition.
Sayyid Jazairi remembered that
Allamah had died and so asked him
what happened to him when he was put
in the grave. The Allamah replied
that as soon as he was buried he was
addressed by a voice which asked him
what he had brought of good deeds in
the world hereafter. The Allamah
mentioned various deeds that he had
performed but the voice was not
satisfied and asked repeatedly.
The Allamah was terrified, and as he
pondered he remembered an act of
charity. He related that once as he
was walking in the streets of
Isfahan, he saw a poor old man being
harassed by many pedestrians. The
Allamah felt pity on the poor man
and decided to gather courage to
confront the crowd.
When he asked the crowd of people
about the reason for their
harassment, they replied that the
poor man owed them all some amounts
of money. The Allamah asked them to
stop the harassment and to follow
him to his house so that he would
pay them the amount which the poor
man owed them.
When
the Allamah had related this event,
a door to heaven was opened for him
and so many blessings were showered
for him. (Jamiul Qasas Lil Redha
Kadhimi Page 99)
Use of Turban!
It is related that Muqaddas Ardabili
who was a very great scholar in the
tenth A.H., was a man of great piety
and good morals. Ardabili used to
donate so much food to the needy
during famines that he often was
left with very little food for
himself.
People
often used to gift him with
expensive shawls with which turbans
were worn. When he wore these
expensive turbans and came across
poor people, he would remove his
turban and cut a meter or two of the
expensive shawl like cloth and give
it to the poor. In this way he
repeated this act several times and
when he would come home he would
often be left with a mere piece of
cloth. It has been said that it was
for this reason that he wore very
big turbans. (Mustadrak Al Wasail
Page 392-393, Aqaid Al Shia Page 298)
Envelopes!
It has been related that a great
scholar called Allama Shaheed Sayyid
Abdu Sahib Al-Hakim, once received a
big sum of money as charity, the
amount totalling up to twenty
thousand dinars. The Allamah at once
set to put various sums of money
into envelopes and wrote the names
of numerous people on the envelope.
He would put hundred dinars in some
and two hundred in others, until he
completed dividing the money.
The man who relates this incident
says that the Allamah then told him
to accompany him and as they came up
to the house of a person the
narrator was told to knock the door,
while the Allamah stood a distance
away. As soon as the door was opened
the narrator threw the envelope and
they hurried away with the Allamah.
In this
way all the money was distributed in
one night while the Allamah didn’t
keep anything for himself.
(Kitaab
Al Najafiat Page 175)
I will not consume the Kababs!
Sheikh Fadhil Al Muwahhidi, relates
that he had the opportunity of
accompanying the great Marja of
Islam, called Sayyid Al Burujardi
who died in the year 1370 A.H., to
the hot springs situated in the city
of Mahallat, which are known to be
the cure of bones and muscles, as
the great Marja was complaining of
pain in the legs.
Sheikh Fadhil says that they
remained in that city for a short
time, and when the people came to
know that their Marja was residing
in their city as a guest, they
warmly welcomed him and it became
obvious that most of the people were
very poor.
The Marja on appraising the
situation asked Sheikh Fadhil to buy
cattle and have them slaughtered so
as to distribute the meat to the
poor. Sheikh Fadhil carried out the
order and as the meat was
distributed, a bit of the meat was
set aside and delicious Kabaabs or
broiled meat were cooked and put in
front of the Marja.
The
Marja only drank some milk with
bread and cucumbers, and ignored the
kabaabs completely. When he was
asked the reason for his action he
said that how could he consume the
kabaabs when the poor people were
not offered the same. As a result
all the kabaabs were distributed
amongst the poor.
(Mardare
Ilm Dar Miaane Ali, Page 212)
Charity even in the state of grief!
It has been related by Allamah
Sayyid Muhammad Al Husayni Al
Milaani, that Sayyid Abdullah Al
Shiraazi once told him that a young
scholar in the city of Najaf once
came to the great Marja Sayyid Abil
Hassan Al Isfahani, and asked him to
give him some money as a help to get
married.
The great Marja promised to help him
the next day. Now it so happened
that within that day the great
Marja’s son was assassinated while
praying behind his father in the
congregational prayer. This incident
is famous and well known in Najaf.
The following day during the burial
ceremony, the great Marja was seen
to be looking around as if searching
for someone. His followers thought
that he was mentally disturbed since
it was an odd behaviour potrayed by
the Marja as it was a time of
poignant sadness for the Sayyid at
the sad demise of his son.
As he
kept looking around they saw him
calling somebody, and found a young
man approaching the Marja and they
then saw the Marja give a bag of
gold coins to the young man as he
had promised to do so, and did not
forget this even though he was
surrounded with grief. (Qasas Wal
Khawatir Page 157)
The Expensive Cloak!
One of the followers of Sheikh
Murtaza Ansaari gifted him an
expensive winter cloak whose color
quality and material was indeed
extra ordinary. The Sheikh wore the
cloak on the first day to the
mosque, but it was observed by the
man who had given him the cloak that
the next day the Sheikh wore his old
ordinary cloak.
When
the disciple asked him the reason
for not wearing the cloak which he
had gifted to the Sheikh, the Sheikh
replied that he didn’t feel
comfortable wearing the cloak, while
so many people around him were poor,
so he had sold the cloak and bought
about twelve ordinary winter cloaks
and given them to the poor people.
(Al Mubaligh Al Risaali Page 32)
He sold his own house to publish a
book!
Sheikh Jawaad Al Balaghi An-Najafi
was an author of great prowess, who
discussed and debated with people of
various faiths: the Jews,
Christians, Marxists and even
atheists who believed that the world
has come about through coincidence.
A man of such great talents used to
live in great poverty, in a poor
house, his bed made of palm leaves.
It is related that the extent of his
poverty was so great that when he
wanted to publish his writings, he
had no money, and thus had to sell
his own house.
This
shows how our scholars sacrificed
their basic necessities just so as
to spread the religion of Allah.
(Aalame Barzakh Page 210)
Closeness to Prophet (S)
Mullah Muhammad Taqi Al Barghani
who
is commonly known as the ‘Third
Martyr’ related that his father saw
in his dream the Holy Prophet
Muhammad (S) surrounded by so many
Scholars of Islam.
However, he saw the son of the
scholar called Fahad Al Hilli
sitting very close to the Prophet
(S). Mullah Barghani says that he
was surprised to see this when there
were other scholars who were greater
in calibre, knowledge and their
service to Islam who were not
sitting so close to the Holy Prophet
(S).
Mullah
Barghani’s father asked the Prophet
(S) the reason for this, and the
Prophet replied that it was because
all the scholars surrounding him
used to give charity when they
possessed something, but if they
didn’t have any property they didn’t
give anything to the person who was
begging or in need. However the son
of Fahad Al Hilli used to give in
charity despite not possessing
anything extra, and used to
sacrifice his personal belongings in
order to fulfil other people’s
needs. This gave him a higher degree
of proximity to the Prophet.
(Mardaane
Ilm Dar Amal Page 228)
Under the Mattress!
Al-Hajj Muhammad Hassan Shaukat who
lived in Isfahan relates that he
heard from one of the relatives of
Sheikh Baid Abaadi that the former
used to be a servant of Sheikh Baid
Abaadi.
He used to be sent on a daily basis
to a friend of the Sheikh who used
to sell perfumes and was called Al
Haj Sayyid Musa to get some money,
some few Riyals. Sheikh Abaadi used
to distribute this money amongst the
needy. The Sheikh used to keep the
money under a mattress under his
feet, and when ever he was
approached by the poor and
destitute, he would extend his hand
under the mattress and come out with
a few coins.
The nephew of the Sheikh relates
that he used to often visit his
uncle when in need and he found out
that what the Sheikh gave him was
less than what he gave to others.
When he enquired his uncle, he was
told by his uncle that the latter
didn’t decide what to give to
various people, rather he only
extended his hand under the mattress
and gave out what came in his fist.
Many
people kept the coins given to them,
since it was believed that the coins
were blessed. (Qasas
Al Ajeeba Li Dastghib Page 405)
THE MAN WHO SOLD
HIS HOUSE IN ORDER TO GET HIS
RELIGIOUS WRITINGS TO BE PRINTED
Marhum Ayatullah al-Sheikh Jawad al-Balaghi
an-Najafi is known for his
publications in which he has debated
with Atheists, Jews and Protestants.
Despite all these talents in the
field of knowledge he lived in
extreme poverty. His house in Najaf
showed signs of his poverty. It is
indeed astonishing to know that when
he wanted his educational work to be
published, he found himself in no
position to do so due to his abject
poverty, and despite this he sold
his house and got his desire. Wasn't
it possible for the Sheikh to lead a
life of comfort? Of course, but he
gave preference to the world
Hereafter which is eternal.(Aalame
Barzakh Page 210)
Other Lessons from the Lives of
Ulema
