520 – From Abu Hurayrah – may Allah be pleased with him – that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Seven persons will Allah shade in His shade on the Day when there is no shade but His…,” and he went on to relate the rest of the report. Among those seven he mentioned: “and a man who gives charity and keeps it so secret that his left hand does not know what his right hand has spent.” Agreed upon. ⦗1⦘
Vocabulary of the hadith
– “Seven”: meaning seven individuals. The wording is intentionally gender-neutral so as to include women, for the jurists have stated that the rulings of the Sharia apply to every morally responsible person.
“Seven”: specifying a number in one context does not preclude the existence of others outside that number.
– “He will shade them”: a verbal clause functioning as the predicate of the subject “seven.” Saʿid ibn Mansur relates with a sound chain: “Seven whom Allah will shade in the shade of His Throne.” “He will shade them” means He will cover and protect them.
– “So that his left hand does not know what his right hand has spent”: this is how al-Bukhari and others narrate it, whereas Muslim records it in reversed order: “so that his right hand does not know what his left hand has spent.” Qadi ʿIyad said, “All the manuscripts of Sahih Muslim that have reached us contain the reversed order, but the first version is correct, for the established Sunnah is to give charity with the right hand.”
Points derived from the hadith
- It establishes the resurrection and the reckoning in the Hereafter, matters known in the religion by necessity.
- It confirms that the sun will descend on the Day of Resurrection and draw near to the people assembled