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

Anas (May Allah be pleased with him) reported:
Whenever the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was asked a thing by one who is about to accept Islam but he would give it. A man came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and he gave him a herd of sheep scattered between two mountains. When he returned to his people, he said to them: "O my people! Embrace Islam because Muhammad gives like one who has no fear of poverty." Some people would embrace Islam only for worldly gains, but soon Islam becomes dearer to them than the world with all what it contains.

[Muslim].

Commentary: In this Hadith, there is a provision of giving economic aid to converts to win over their hearts so that their loyalty to Islam is firmly established. The result of this sensible policy was that if somebody had embraced Islam for the sake of gaining material gains, this sentiment, in due course of time, would be stripped off from his heart, and finally he would turn into a sincere Muslim. In view of its rationale, Allah has termed the policy of reconciling hearts, to Islam as a Zakat expenditure. In other words, an allocated sum of the Zakat fund can be expended on this head as well. Some scholars argue that it is now no more permissible to spend on this head. But to be accurate, expending out of the Zakat fund on this head is valid for all times. If a measure is adequately taken on an institutional basis to make the hearts of converts incline to Islam, we can witness its benefits even today.