ADVICES OF MOULANA ASHRAF ALI THANWI RAHMATULLAHI ALAYHI CONCERNING MONETARY CHARITY

By the will of Allāh ta‛ālā, Hadrat Wālā’s academic charity is displayed by night and day. As for monetary and non-monetary charities, these too continue on a large scale by the grace of Allāh ta‛ālā. It is Hadrat Wālā’s practice from the very beginning to give one quarter of his income in the form of optional charities. This is apart from the obligatory charities. As far as I know, rarely would you come across someone who gives such a large percentage of his income as charity on a continuous basis.

A poet says: This could only be done by you. After all, this is what true men do.

I came to know of this practice of Hadrat Wālā as follows: After I left my job as a Deputy Collector and was appointed as a Deputy Inspector, I was not given a boarding and lodging allowance for the governmental journeys which I had to undertake. The question which came up was where should I stay because it is not permissible in the Sharī‛ah to impose on a person on the basis of a governmental influence.

Hadrat Wālā informed me that if a traveller does not have any place to stay, it is permissible for him to stay over in a masjid. He advised me thus: “You must stay over in the masājid and when you leave, make it a point of giving some money for the masjid expenses. In this way, you will benefit the masjid and you will not experience any burden at having stayed there.”

He added: “You must set aside a certain percentage – whatever is easy on you – from your salary for optional charities of this nature so that your self does not impose on you to withhold your money. Instead, you must constantly wait for such occasions because when you have accumulated an amount for charitable purposes, then instead of the self (nafs) imposing on you to withhold it, you will want to free yourself of that amount.

You yourself will worry about and search for good causes to spend it. The self (nafs) will certainly try to impose on you to withhold the first time you decide what amount you are going to set aside every month, but after this one occasion, you will be saved from its imposition. When you then give for a good cause, you will give it with an open heart.

However, when you are specifying the amount which you intend setting aside, do not say anything verbally or else it will become a vow and it will then become obligatory on you to spend in good causes. You must merely think in your heart: ‘I am setting aside a certain amount from my salary for spending in good causes. I am doing this solely to make matters easy for me and to systemize my affairs. I am not making it obligatory on myself.’”

Hadrat Wālā then said: “From the very beginning I too set aside one quarter of my income for charitable causes. This has made matters very easy for me.”

Source: Asrafus Sawaanih