some desert Arabs crowded round him, pressing their requests until they drove him back against an acacia tree and its branches caught his cloak. He turned to them and said:
“By Him in whose hand is my soul, were I to possess livestock equal in number to these trees, I would distribute it among you, and you would never find me stingy, cowardly, or untruthful.”
Yet the ruling changes with the aims intended and the qualities involved, for deeds are judged only by intentions, and each person receives only what he has intended.
Accordingly, the Qur’an and the Sunnah denounce miserliness and cowardice and commend courage and generosity when they are for Allah’s sake—not when they serve other ends. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
“The worst traits in a man are frantic greed and abject cowardice.”
He once asked, “Who is your leader, O Banū Salamah?” They answered, “Al-Jadd ibn Qays, though we regard him as miserly.” He replied, “And what ailment is more debilitating than miserliness?”
In another narration he said, “A true leader is never miserly; rather, your leader is the fair-skinned, curly-haired al-Barāʾ ibn Maʿrūr.”
Similarly, the authentic reports relate that Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh said to Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq—may Allah be pleased with them both—“Either you give me something or you withhold from me!” Abū Bakr responded, “You say, ‘or you withhold from me’? And what illness is more grievous than miserliness?” Thus he ranked miserliness among the gravest maladies.
Muslim also records that Salmān ibn Rabīʿah said: ʿUmar reported, “The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, once distributed some property. I said, ‘Messenger of Allah, by Allah, others are more deserving of it than these.’ He answered, ‘They have forced me to choose between their asking with harsh words and their calling me stingy—and I am not stingy.’”
He meant: they approach me with an improper request; if I give, the matter ends, but if I withhold, they declare, ‘He is a miser.’ Thus they leave me no way out of two disliked options.