Begging

On the authority of Ibn Umar (radi Allahu anhu), the Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “One of you keeps begging until when he meets Allah Most High, there is not a piece of flesh left on his face.” [Sahih Bukhari]

Imam Nahlawi states in Al-Durar al-Mubaha Fi al-Hazr al-Ibaha: “It is unlawful to ask for money or other worldly advantage from someone one has no right to ask, unless there is a necessity to. This hadith refers to anyone who asks when it is not permissible to do so. According to Imam Khalil Nahlawi, a Hanafi scholar of Damascus, the degree of necessity that permits begging is when one is unable to earn a living due to illness or weakness and does not have enough food to last one day.”

Where are we today? Despite having some of the choicest resources of the world, our Muslim governments are constantly on their knees, bending backwards to secure IMF and World Bank loans that only dig their nations deeper into poverty and debt. Unless corruption is rooted out and just systems put in place, which can only happen with eeman and total reliance on Allah’s prescribed Shariah, the problems facing individuals or countries will not go away, and begging will do nothing but disgrace them further.