Charity towards man, in its widest sense, is laid down in the Holy Qur’ān as the second great pillar on which the structure of Islām stands. This is made plain in the very beginning of the Holy Book: “(Those) who believe in the Unseen and keep up prayer and spend out of what We have given them; and who believe in that which has been revealed to thee and that which was revealed before thee, and of the Hereafter they are sure. These are on a right course from their Lord, and these it is that are successful” (2:3-5). The main principles of Islām, as laid down here, are five: three theoretical and two practical. The three theoretical essentials are belief in God, in Divine revelation and in the Hereafter; and the two practical are keeping up prayer and spending out of what God has given to man. The first of these, which has already been discussed in the last chapter, i.e., prayer, is the means of the realization of the Divine in man, while the second, or spending out of whatever has been given to man, stands for charity in a broad sense, i.e., for all acts of benevolence and doing good to humanity in general. For what God has given to man is not only the wealth which he possesses but all the faculties and powers with which he has been gifted.
That benevolence, or the doing of good to man, one of the two mainstays of religion, is a constant theme of the Holy Qur’ān, and one more verse may be quoted in this regard. Speaking of the Jewish and Christian claims to salvation, on the basis of certain dogmas, the Holy Book says: “And they say: None shall enter the Garden except he who is a Jew, or the Christians. These are their vain desires. Say: Bring your proof if you are truthful. Nay, whoever submits himself entirely to Allāh and he is the doer of good (to others), he has his reward from his Lord, and there is no fear for such nor shall they grieve” (2:111, 112). In this verse submission to Allāh takes the place of keeping up prayer, and the doing of good to humanity, that of spending out of