THE RELIGION OF HUMANITY: Islam’s Ethical and Spiritual Outlook

where people seek to gain without working, a criminal and corrupt atmosphere will arise. THE SOCIAL VALUE OF FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION In the race of life, it often happens that some move ahead while others are left behind; some receive more wealth than necessary, while others get less. In such situations, Islam teaches that people should financially help one another. In accordance with human needs, they should be supportive of each other. Several references in the Quran address this. For example, it says, “let the man of means spend in accordance with his means” (65:7), and “The righteous and virtuous are those who allocate a portion of their wealth for the petitioner and the deprived” (51:19). This shows that the person favoured by God is one who, when granted financial abundance, spends from his wealth for the benefit of others. He does not consider his earnings to be only for those who ask out of necessity, but also acknowledges the right of those who are deprived for any reason—those who do not ask or are unable to ask. He takes it upon himself to identify such individuals and personally reaches out to support them. There are numerous narrations in the books of Hadith encouraging the act of spending from one’s wealth for those