, fire, and the like.

– “a subsistence level of living” (qiwāman min ʿaysh — with a kasrah on the qāf and a fatḥah on the wāw): whatever meets a person’s need and suffices his want.

– “fāqah” (fāʾ with a fatḥah, followed by an alif, qāf, then a feminine tāʾ): destitution and poverty.

– “ḥattā yaqūma … la-qad aṣābat fulānan fāqah … etc.”: this is the reported statement. For the sake of emphasis, the verb yaqūma (“stand”) has been used instead of yaqūlu (“say”), so the speech functions as a descriptive state—three men stand and testify—and, because of its importance, the wording is cast in the form of an oath.

– “al-ḥijā” (ḥāʾ with a kasrah, jīm with a fatḥah, followed by an alif maqṣūrah): people of sound reason and religious understanding.

– “suḥt” (sīn with a ḍammah, ḥāʾ with a sukūn, then tāʾ): unlawful earnings, so called because they strip away blessing.

– “he consumes it—as suḥt” : the phrase “as suḥt” qualifies the thing consumed, and the pronoun refers to the food that is eaten.

Lessons derived from the ḥadīth:

1 – The ḥadīth shows that begging is forbidden and is only lawful in three situations:

First: A man who has undertaken a financial liability (ḥamālah) on behalf of another—such as blood-money owed by someone else, or funds he has used to reconcile two warring parties, and the like. He is allowed to ask people for help even if he is wealthy, for he is not obliged to pay that amount from his own money.

Second: A man whose property has been struck by a calamity, whether a heaven-sent or earthly disaster, that destroyed his produce and crops—through hail, flooding, locusts, or any other blight that has ravaged his wealth. He may lawfully ask from the wealth of others, even if he is rich, because mutual assistance among Muslims is required in such circumstances.

Third: Someone who claims that dire poverty and pressing need have overtaken him after he had once been affluent; if