Imām Ibn Qudāmah -rahimahullāh-
Said:
The Ādab of Accepting Gifts.
Know verily, Whenever the poor person is given a gift without asking for it, then he is recommended to consider three things regarding the gift; the nature of the gift, the motive of its giver, and his own purpose of accepting the gift.
1. The nature of the gift: the gift should be completely free from all shubhāt and Haram. But, whenever there are some unclear matters regarding the gift, then he should refrain from taking the gift in order to safeguard his Deen.
2. As for the motive of its giver, it may be in order to strengthen relationship, then that can be accepted as long as the gift is not in form of a bribe and it will not be followed up with reproach.
And it may be that the giver seek for reward, which is either Zakat or charity, then it is upon the poor person to check whether he is entitled for such gift or not. But if it is unclear to him regarding his entitlement for the gift, then it is beloved for him to decline from taking it.
And If it is charity given to him due to his Deen and the level of his piety, then he should double-check his hidden affairs whether he is one who commits sins in hidden. Because if the giver is aware of his flaws in hidden, he wouldn’t have given him the gift as charity. Then in this case, he should refrain from taking it because the gift is not meant for his likes, rather it’s meant for the pious ones.
And also, the giver may seek reputation, showoff and pride through the gift, then the poor person is highly recommended to go against such corrupt objective of its giver by totally rejecting it; since if he collected the gift, he has indeed assisted in the corruption.
3. As for his own purpose of accepting the gift, then he should check whether he’s in need or not. If he is not in need, then he should not take it. But if he is in need and the gift is free from shubhāt and the vices we mentioned, then it is preferable for him to accept the gift in this scenario.
This is in accordance to the Hadīth that was reported from ‘Umar Radiyallāhu anhu that the prophet Salallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam said:
“ما جاءك من هذا المال وأنت غير مشرف ولا سائل فخذه، وما لا فلا تتبعه نفسك”
If you are given something from this wealth, with neither having greed for it nor asking for it, then take it, and if not, then don’t run towards it.
Transmitted by Imām Al-Bukhārī#7163 and Imām Muslim#1045.
And another Hadīth:
من جاءه من أخيه معروف من غير إشراف ولا مسألة، فليقبله ولا يرده، فإنما هو رزق ساقه الله إليه.
If anyone of you is given something by his brother without asking or desiring for it, he should take it and he shouldn’t reject it, for it is subsistence sent to him by Allāh.
Transmitted by Imām Ahmad(4/220), and Ibn Hibbān(754). Shaykh Al-Albānī declared it as Sahih in “As-sahīhah”(1005).
Allāhu A’alam
Bārakāllāhu fīkum.
4th Muharram, 1441H.
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