“‘Tell me, if he were to satisfy his desire unlawfully, would he incur sin? Likewise, if he satisfies it lawfully, he will be rewarded.’”

I say: It seems—and Allah knows best—that his description of it as “charity” means that it takes the place of the charity given by the wealthy. The second hadith would thus explain the first, unlike the hadith of Abū Mūsā, which makes charity obligatory. Alternatively, it may be charity that a person gives to himself, as in the earlier hadith of Abū Dharr: “You refrain from harming people.”