Allah said in Surat Al 'Imran, v.180: {"And don't let those who covetously withhold what Allah has bestowed upon them of His bounty think that this is good for them…"}

We are all alike in certain ways. All of us have been given blessings by Allah, albeit of varying degrees. All of us love to have more than what we have. All of us – no matter what you say – feel at least a tinge of hesitation when parting ways with a bit of what we do have. And all of us understand perfectly the virtue of parting ways with a bit of what we do have for the sake of Allah, whether it's to the poor or what have you. These are qualities universal to us all, regardless of whether we act on them all or not.

What, then, is an easy way to condition ourselves to remove that hesitation and make it easier to act upon the knowledge of the virtue of giving? The best way is to do the following: as you go about your day, begin to count – mentally, verbally, or in writing – every blessing you come across that you have been blessed with. No matter how seemingly small and insignificant, take note of it… your life, breathing, sight, and everything related to your physical body; your home, car, clothes, food, and everything related to your possessions; your job, family, friends, masjid, and everything related to your social structure; your freedom of movement, moments of joy, love of your spouse, Islam, clean air, cool water, that you have an overall sense of security, that you experience kindness from others, and so on – there are countless blessings you experience on a daily basis, such that you would be unable to list them all. I recently read a magazine article describing how in parts of India & Africa, a mother has to make a six-hour journey on foot each morning in order to bring back a canister of water for her family to drink, bathe, and cook with, simply because no other water is available. But I, sitting in my prison cell, can take two steps in less than a second, press a metal button on my sink, and cold, clean water comes out until I decide that I've had enough. At first glance, it would seem like a curse to others, since it is in a prison. But after a reflection for a minute in light of these mothers not even dreaming of the ease with which I can have clean water, it becomes just one of the blessings that I encounter on a daily basis in my life here. So, if I have this in prison, imagine how much more you could list on the outside!

So, you list these blessings. The longer the list gets, the more you will see what's been under your nose all along that you never thought much of. Then, realize that you deserve none of this. It's all a bounty from Allah, that He provided you with out of His Mercy. You don't have a right to any of it. So, when you go through that list again and see example after example of what you have been given undeservedly, out of Mercy and Generosity, your mind & heart begin to transform. It is human nature to do unto others as is done unto you. When you are treated badly throughout your life, you will have a natural tendency to deal harshly with others, simply because this is how you've been taught to deal with others. Likewise, if you are shown generosity and mercy and kindness throughout all your life, you will in turn be this way with others because this is what you know. The problem with us is that we are shown generosity, mercy and kindness constantly by Allah – second by second – but we often don't know it, or don't know to what extent.

This, then, is the most subtle barrier to being generous ourselves to others: heedlessness of Allah's Generosity toward us. The more you unearth these blessings of His, and the more you realize that you truly don't deserve them, this will automatically result in a desire to compensate for all that you have been given by in turn giving to others. This is the easiest way to come to love generosity and giving.

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Tariq Mehanna
Plymouth Correctional Facility
Isolation Unit - Cell #108