what has been given to man. Thus, theoretically, Islām means a belief in God, in Divine revelation and in the Hereafter, and practically it means the realization of the Divine in man by prayer, or entire submission to God, and the service of humanity. The numerous ordinances relating to various aspects of life, whether contained in the Holy Qur’ān or in the practice and sayings (Sunnah) of the Holy Prophet, are only offshoots of these two practical essentials of religion.
The relation in which prayer stands to charity is made clear by the order in which the two are mentioned. When prayer and charity are spoken of together, and this combination is of frequent occurrence in the Holy Qur’ān, prayer always takes precedence over charity, because prayer prepares a man for the service of humanity. In the verse which speaks of the five basic principles of Islām, mention of belief in the Unseen is immediately followed by an injunction to keep up prayer, and this again by another to do acts of benevolence. This is to show the natural order. Belief in the Unseen is the starting point of man’s spiritual progress. But this would lead to no good if the next step, the seeking of communion with the Unseen through prayer, does not follow. And this again is meaningless if it does not lead to acts of benevolence. Prayer, therefore, is the first step because it leads to the second, that is, charity. This is elsewhere made plain: “Woe to the praying ones, who are unmindful of their prayer! who do (good) to be seen and refrain from acts of kindness” (107:4-7).
The most frequently recurring words for charity are infāq1 which means spending benevolently, iḥsān which means the doing of good, zakāt which means growth or purification, and ṣadaqah which is derived from the root ṣidq, meaning truth, and comes to signify a charitable deed. The very words used to denote charitable deeds are an indication of the broadness of its conception. The Holy Qur’ān not only lays stress on such great deeds of charity as the emancipation of slaves2, the feeding of the poor,3 taking care of orphans4 and doing good to
1 The words fī sabīl Allāh (meaning, in the way of Allāh) are sometimes added to the derivatives of infāq in the Holy Qur’ān, but the significance is the same, even when the word is used without this addition.