“So Give his due to the near of kin, and to the needy, and to the wayfarer. That is better for those who desire to please Allah. It is they who will prosper.”
(Al Qur’ān – 30:38)
It is significant that here man is not being asked to give charity to near of kin, the needy and the wayfarer; instead he is being asked to give them what is their due, to render them the right that he owes them. While giving charity the thought that he is doing a favour to someone should not even cross his mind. Nor should he entertain the illusion that his wealth has made him a superior being who is lavishing benefactions on the lowly and the contemptible. Instead, he should be fully cognisant of the fact that if God, the True Owner of all wealth, has granted him a little more wealth than others then these others who have been granted less have a right over his additional wealth. This additional wealth has, in fact, been entrusted to him so that his Lord might test him and see whether he is cognisant of the rights of others or not.
Anyone who reflects on this Divine directive, and on the spirit underlying it, cannot fail to note that the course of man’s moral and spiritual growth prescribed here assumes the existence of a free society and a free economy.
Prosperity will be attained only by those who are cognisant of the rights of others and fulfil them, doing so solely in order to please God.