The life of this world is but play and pastime...

The life of this world is but play and pastime, but if you believe, and fear Allah, and avoid evil, He will grant you your wages, and will not ask you your wealth. If He were to ask you of it (i.e. your wealth), and press you, YOU WOULD BE MISERLY, and He will bring out all your ill-wills. Behold! You are those who are called upon to spend in the Path of Allah, YET AMONG YOU ARE SOME WHO ARE MISERS .

And whoever is miserly, he is only miserly to himself.[^3] A lot of the wealthy Sahabah were misers and ill-willing. This was why Allah generalized about them in the first statement. Even if we were to reject the sweeping declaration of our Creator, we must still, at the least, accept that among the wealthy Sahabah were many who were misers.

It was against this background that Allah sent down the Verse of al-Najwa : يا أيها الذين آمنوا إذا ناجيتم الرسول فقدموا بين يدي نجواكم صدقة ذلك خير لكم وأطهر فإن لم تجدوا فإن الله غفور رحيم O you who believe! When you consult with the Messenger in private, spend something in charity before your private consultation . That will be better and purer for you.

But, if you find not (the means for it), then verily, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.[^4] There are two factors for consideration in the blessed verse. Firstly, it covered only those of the Sahabah who used to have private consultations with the Messenger of Allah. Without any doubt, those were primarily the people of Madinah and Abu Bakr, ‘Umar and ‘Uthman were chiefs among them.

Secondly, the command, apparently, was directed to those of the Sahabah in Madinah who had the means to spend in charity. Some of them were so destitute that they could not afford to give out anything. Allah exempted such extremely poor Sahabah. There is again absolutely no doubt that Abu Bakr ‘Umar and ‘Uthman were able to afford sadaqah from their wealth. Interestingly, once the Verse of al-Najwa was revealed, the wealthy and middle-income Sahabah displayed disturbing levels of miserliness.

They were required to give only 1 dirham - approximately US $3 (three US dollars) - or above in charity. But, they all – with only one exception - refrained from giving anything! They instead withheld entirely from privately consulting with the Prophet in order to escape spending anything in sadaqah ! This was why it was only Amir al-Muminin who enforced the verse. Others deliberately declined. They had reasons and needs, as well as very ample opportunities, to privately speak with the Messenger.