Alahazrat’s Generosity, Kindness and Contentment
He gave away his clothes or things without hesitation and particularly when the poor or needy asked him, he never refused. Friends and relatives gifted him expensive clothes and Alahazrat would give them away the same day or within a few days. In winter, it was his practice to distribute quilts to the poor. Once his younger brother had an expensive quilt made for him and a poor man came asking for a quilt. All the quilts made for distribution that year were given away; yet, Alahazrat did not deny the man and immediately handed the expensive quilt gifted by his brother. When he sent Mawlānā Żafaruddīn for a debate in Mewāt to end the harassment of the Wahābīs, he presented a woollen jubbah that was bought in the blessed city of Madīnah. This magnanimity was not limited to disciples and friends. Alahazrat never turned away a beggar; allowances were earmarked for widows and destitutes; he would even wire money for people requesting help from distant places.
Once a man came seeking help and Alahazrat told him: “I have less than a quarter[1] left with me now, which I have saved to mail a few pending letters; if you so wish I will give it to you. This very morning, I had received 250 rupees, but all of it is spent now;[2] if you had come a little sooner, I would have given you something.” The poor man was in a dire need and he lowered his eyes in dejection; at this, Alahazrat handed him the quarter without another word. Alahazrat gave away everything and hardly saved anything. In spite of being affluent and belonging to the gentry, he was never left with an amount upon which zakāt would become obligatory upon him; it is therefore that he once said: “I have never paid a single paisa of zakāt in my life.”
He did not ask anyone for anything; and if he wanted something, he kept it to himself and beseeched Allāh táālā to fulfil his needs. He had an unflinching faith in the sunnah and strong belief in ĥadīth reports, which he trusted more than any other source. Once his gums were swollen so much that he could not talk. The doctor who examined him was convinced that it was plague – but Alahazrat was certain that the doctor was mistaken. Because, in the ĥadīth, a prayer [duáā] is mentioned, and if one recites it upon seeing a person in affliction, the reciter of the prayer will never suffer the same malady.[3] Long before, when Alahazrat had seen a victim of plague, he had recited this very prayer – and he was thus certain that it was not plague and he was confident that he would surely be cured. Just as he expected, he recovered in the following week.
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[1] 3½ anna. Four anna is a quarter and 16 anna=1 rupee.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paisa
[2] The price of gold in 1925 was 19 rupees for 10 grams. Thus INR 250 could buy 131g of gold. In December 2012, 131g of gold costs about INR 385,000 ($6900). Mawlānā Żafaruddīn says that Alahazrat mentioned the money he had received and that it was distributed, as a clarification to those who were present early in the day when the money had come – lest it be misconstrued by anyone that he was denying the man.
[3] Al-ĥamdu lillāhi’lladhī áāfānī min’mabtalāka bihī wa fađđalanī álā kathīrin min’mman khalaqa tafđīlā. See Imām Nawawī’s Al-Adhkār #885, citing Tirmidhī, #3432.
