Charity Does Not Decrease Wealth: Giving and Forgiveness Hadith

Have you ever held back from giving because you were worried about your own savings? Or kept a grudge because letting it go felt like losing? In one short hadith the Prophet ﷺ answered both worries: charity does not decrease wealth, forgiving people only adds to our honour, and humility for Allah’s sake raises us. Three promises, each one the opposite of what our fears tell us.

The hadith

Each part of the hadith names something that feels like a loss, and then tells us it is actually a gain. Let’s take them one at a time.

1. Charity does not decrease wealth

On paper, giving money away makes our balance smaller. The Prophet ﷺ tells us that is not the whole picture. In another narration he swore by it:

The hadith does not explain how the wealth is kept from decreasing, so we don’t need to guess. What we can take from it is confidence: what we give for Allah is not lost. If you want to know which charity is best and when to give it, see The Best Charity in Islam, According to the Hadith.

2. Forgiving people raises our honour

Forgiving can feel like letting someone win. The hadith says the opposite: Allah only increases the honour of the one who forgives. The best example comes from Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him). He used to support his poor relative Mistah, but after Mistah joined in spreading the false accusation against ‘Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her), Abu Bakr swore he would stop. Allah then revealed this verse (Sahih al-Bukhari 4750):

Abu Bakr answered that he did want Allah to forgive him, and he went back to supporting Mistah, saying he would never stop it again. In that one moment he gave and he forgave, even though he had been deeply hurt. Forgiving does not mean pretending nothing happened; it means choosing Allah’s forgiveness over getting even.

3. Humility for Allah raises our rank

The last part of the hadith is about how we see ourselves. Whoever humbles himself for the sake of Allah, Allah raises him. Giving and forgiving both need humility: we accept that our wealth is from Allah, and that we also need His forgiveness.

Reflection: the three parts of this hadith fit together. Giving loosens our grip on wealth, forgiving loosens our grip on our pride, and humility is what makes both possible. In each case, what we let go of for Allah’s sake is returned to us in a better form.

How to practise it

The hadith does not set an amount or a method, so these are suggestions:

• Give something small this week, especially if worry about money has been holding you back. Remind yourself of the Prophet’s ﷺ promise.
• Forgive one person. Think of someone you are still holding something against, and make the intention to let it go for Allah’s sake. You can do this in your heart even if you don’t tell them.
• Don’t cut off help because of hurt. If you used to support someone and stopped after an argument, remember Abu Bakr and Mistah.
• Make dua for forgiveness for yourself when forgiving others is hard, as the verse asks: would you not like Allah to forgive you?

Key lessons

• Charity does not decrease wealth; the Prophet ﷺ even swore by it.
• Allah increases the honour of the one who forgives.
• Whoever humbles himself for Allah, Allah raises him.
• Abu Bakr forgave and kept giving, even after being hurt.

Questions people ask

A question to sit with today: is there one thing I am holding on to, money or a grudge, that I could let go of for Allah’s sake?

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