(60) Chapter: Excellence of Generosity and Spending in a Good cause with Reliance on Allah

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "While a man was walking through a barren land, he heard a voice coming out of a cloud saying: 'Irrigate the garden of so-and- so.' Thereupon the cloud drifted in a certain direction and discharged its water over a rocky plain. The streamlets flowed into a channel. This man followed the channel until it reached a garden and he saw the owner of the garden standing in its center, working with his spade spreading the water (changing the course of the water). He asked him: "O slave of Allah, what is your name?" He told his name, which was the same that he heard from the cloud. The owner of the garden then asked him: "O slave of Allah, why did you ask my name?" He replied: "I heard a voice from a cloud which poured down this water saying: 'Irrigate the garden of so-and-so.' I would like to know what do you do with it." He said: "Now that you asked me, I will tell you. I estimate the produce of the garden and distribute one-third of it in charity, I spend one-third on myself and my family and invest one-third back into the garden." [Muslim]. Commentary: This Hadith, besides the virtue of alms and charity, touches upon the theme of clairvoyance and miracles. It is something supernormal that a man should hear a voice from the cloud. Yet such supernatural phenomenon signify only the Omnipotence of Allah. Nobody is presumed to claim that he can demonstrate at will something unusual by virtue of his clairvoyant and miraculous power. There are indeed some people who lay such a claim and thereby swindle away the money of gullible souls and lead them astray.