The authentic hadith about charity and sadaqah, each in Arabic with a plain English rendering, the narrator, the collection and number, and the grading. They show that charity is far wider than money, and they end with the weak sayings often shared.
مَا نَقَصَتْ صَدَقَةٌ مِنْ مَالٍ وَمَا زَادَ اللَّهُ عَبْدًا بِعَفْوٍ إِلاَّ عِزًّا وَمَا تَوَاضَعَ أَحَدٌ لِلَّهِ إِلاَّ رَفَعَهُ اللَّهُ
Charity never decreases wealth. Allah only adds honour to a servant who forgives. And no one humbles himself for Allah except that Allah raises him.
Narrated by Abu Hurayrah · Sahih Muslim 2588 · Sahih
اتَّقُوا النَّارَ وَلَوْ بِشِقِّ تَمْرَةٍ
Protect yourselves from the Fire, even with half a date.
Narrated by Adi ibn Hatim · Sahih al-Bukhari 1417; Sahih Muslim 1016 · Sahih (agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
إِذَا مَاتَ الإِنْسَانُ انْقَطَعَ عَنْهُ عَمَلُهُ إِلاَّ مِنْ ثَلاَثَةٍ إِلاَّ مِنْ صَدَقَةٍ جَارِيَةٍ أَوْ عِلْمٍ يُنْتَفَعُ بِهِ أَوْ وَلَدٍ صَالِحٍ يَدْعُو لَهُ
When a person dies, his deeds come to an end except for three: ongoing charity, knowledge that people benefit from, or a righteous child who prays for him.
Ongoing charity (sadaqah jariyah) is something that keeps helping people after you: a well, a mosque, a copy of the Quran. See sadaqah jariyah for ideas.
Narrated by Abu Hurayrah · Sahih Muslim 1631 · Sahih
كُلُّ مَعْرُوفٍ صَدَقَةٌ
Every good deed is charity.
Narrated by Jabir ibn Abdullah · Sahih al-Bukhari 6021; Sahih Muslim 1005 · Sahih (agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
تَبَسُّمُكَ فِي وَجْهِ أَخِيكَ لَكَ صَدَقَةٌ وَأَمْرُكَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَنَهْيُكَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ صَدَقَةٌ وَإِرْشَادُكَ الرَّجُلَ فِي أَرْضِ الضَّلاَلِ لَكَ صَدَقَةٌ وَبَصَرُكَ لِلرَّجُلِ الرَّدِيءِ الْبَصَرِ لَكَ صَدَقَةٌ وَإِمَاطَتُكَ الْحَجَرَ وَالشَّوْكَةَ وَالْعَظْمَ عَنِ الطَّرِيقِ لَكَ صَدَقَةٌ وَإِفْرَاغُكَ مِنْ دَلْوِكَ فِي دَلْوِ أَخِيكَ لَكَ صَدَقَةٌ
Your smile in the face of your brother is charity for you. Your enjoining good and forbidding evil is charity. Your guiding a man who is lost is charity for you. Your seeing for a man with poor sight is charity for you. Your removing a stone, a thorn or a bone from the road is charity for you. And your pouring water from your bucket into your brother's bucket is charity for you.
Narrated by Abu Dharr · Jami' at-Tirmidhi 1956 · Graded sahih by al-Albani
كُلُّ سُلاَمَى مِنَ النَّاسِ عَلَيْهِ صَدَقَةٌ كُلَّ يَوْمٍ تَطْلُعُ فِيهِ الشَّمْسُ، يَعْدِلُ بَيْنَ الاِثْنَيْنِ صَدَقَةٌ، وَيُعِينُ الرَّجُلَ عَلَى دَابَّتِهِ، فَيَحْمِلُ عَلَيْهَا، أَوْ يَرْفَعُ عَلَيْهَا مَتَاعَهُ صَدَقَةٌ، وَالْكَلِمَةُ الطَّيِّبَةُ صَدَقَةٌ، وَكُلُّ خَطْوَةٍ يَخْطُوهَا إِلَى الصَّلاَةِ صَدَقَةٌ، وَيُمِيطُ الأَذَى عَنِ الطَّرِيقِ صَدَقَةٌ
Every joint of a person owes a charity on every day the sun rises. Judging fairly between two people is charity. Helping a man with his animal, lifting him onto it or lifting his luggage onto it, is charity. A good word is charity. Every step you take to the prayer is charity. And removing something harmful from the road is charity.
Narrated by Abu Hurayrah · Sahih al-Bukhari 2989; Sahih Muslim 1009 · Sahih (agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
مَنْ تَصَدَّقَ بِعَدْلِ تَمْرَةٍ مِنْ كَسْبٍ طَيِّبٍ ـ وَلاَ يَقْبَلُ اللَّهُ إِلاَّ الطَّيِّبَ ـ وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ يَتَقَبَّلُهَا بِيَمِينِهِ، ثُمَّ يُرَبِّيهَا لِصَاحِبِهِ كَمَا يُرَبِّي أَحَدُكُمْ فَلُوَّهُ حَتَّى تَكُونَ مِثْلَ الْجَبَلِ
Whoever gives in charity the equal of a date from honest earnings, and Allah accepts only what is good, Allah takes it in His right hand and then raises it for its giver, as one of you raises his foal, until it becomes like a mountain.
Narrated by Abu Hurayrah · Sahih al-Bukhari 1410; Sahih Muslim 1014 · Sahih (agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
الْيَدُ الْعُلْيَا خَيْرٌ مِنَ الْيَدِ السُّفْلَى، فَالْيَدُ الْعُلْيَا هِيَ الْمُنْفِقَةُ، وَالسُّفْلَى هِيَ السَّائِلَةُ
The upper hand is better than the lower hand. The upper hand is the one that gives, and the lower is the one that asks.
Narrated by Abdullah ibn Umar · Sahih al-Bukhari 1429; Sahih Muslim 1033 · Sahih (agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
أَنْ تَصَدَّقَ وَأَنْتَ صَحِيحٌ شَحِيحٌ، تَخْشَى الْفَقْرَ وَتَأْمُلُ الْغِنَى، وَلاَ تُمْهِلُ حَتَّى إِذَا بَلَغَتِ الْحُلْقُومَ قُلْتَ لِفُلاَنٍ كَذَا، وَلِفُلاَنٍ كَذَا، وَقَدْ كَانَ لِفُلاَنٍ
(A man asked which charity has the greatest reward. He said:) That you give while you are healthy and hold on to your money, fearing poverty and hoping to be rich. Do not wait until your soul reaches your throat and then say: this much is for so-and-so and this much for so-and-so, when it already belongs to so-and-so.
Narrated by Abu Hurayrah · Sahih al-Bukhari 1419; Sahih Muslim 1032 · Sahih (agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
مَا مِنْ يَوْمٍ يُصْبِحُ الْعِبَادُ فِيهِ إِلاَّ مَلَكَانِ يَنْزِلاَنِ فَيَقُولُ أَحَدُهُمَا اللَّهُمَّ أَعْطِ مُنْفِقًا خَلَفًا، وَيَقُولُ الآخَرُ اللَّهُمَّ أَعْطِ مُمْسِكًا تَلَفًا
There is no day on which people wake up but two angels come down. One of them says: O Allah, give the one who spends something in its place. And the other says: O Allah, give the one who holds back ruin.
Narrated by Abu Hurayrah · Sahih al-Bukhari 1442; Sahih Muslim 1010 · Sahih (agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
قَالَ اللَّهُ أَنْفِقْ يَا ابْنَ آدَمَ أُنْفِقْ عَلَيْكَ
Allah said: Spend, O son of Adam, and I will spend on you.
Narrated by Abu Hurayrah · Sahih al-Bukhari 5352; Sahih Muslim 993 · Sahih (agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
سَبْعَةٌ يُظِلُّهُمُ اللَّهُ فِي ظِلِّهِ يَوْمَ لاَ ظِلَّ إِلاَّ ظِلُّهُ ... وَرَجُلٌ تَصَدَّقَ أَخْفَى حَتَّى لاَ تَعْلَمَ شِمَالُهُ مَا تُنْفِقُ يَمِينُهُ
Seven people Allah will shade in His shade on the Day when there is no shade but His ... among them, a man who gives charity and hides it, so that his left hand does not know what his right hand spends.
Narrated by Abu Hurayrah · Sahih al-Bukhari 660; Sahih Muslim 1031 · Sahih (agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
إِنَّ الصَّدَقَةَ عَلَى الْمِسْكِينِ صَدَقَةٌ وَعَلَى ذِي الرَّحِمِ اثْنَتَانِ صَدَقَةٌ وَصِلَةٌ
Charity to a poor person is charity, and to a relative it is two things: charity and keeping the ties of kinship.
Narrated by Salman ibn Amir · Sunan an-Nasa'i 2582; Sunan Ibn Majah 1844 · Graded sahih by al-Albani
وَالصَّدَقَةُ تُطْفِئُ الْخَطِيئَةَ كَمَا يُطْفِئُ الْمَاءُ النَّارَ
Charity puts out sin as water puts out fire.
Part of a longer hadith in which the Prophet ﷺ told Mu'adh about the doors of good.
Narrated by Mu'adh ibn Jabal · Jami' at-Tirmidhi 2616 · Graded sahih by al-Albani
These are often posted as hadith, but the hadith critics did not accept them as the Prophet's ﷺ words, or they are not found in the hadith books at all. Do not pass them on as hadith.
"Hasten to give charity, for calamity does not get past it."
Where: At-Tabarani, al-Awsat, and al-Bayhaqi. Grade: weak; al-Albani and others graded its chains weak. That charity brings good and protection is true from the sound hadith above; this particular wording is not established.
إِنَّ الصَّدَقَةَ لَتُطْفِئُ غَضَبَ الرَّبِّ وَتَدْفَعُ مِيتَةَ السُّوءِ
"Charity puts out the anger of the Lord and wards off an evil death."
Where: Jami' at-Tirmidhi 664. Grade: graded weak (da'if) by al-Albani; at-Tirmidhi called it hasan gharib.
Arabic: the standard wording from the fawazahmed0 hadith-api dataset of the six books and the Muwatta, cut to the Prophet's ﷺ words. English: our own plain rendering. Words in brackets are the setting, not the hadith. Muslim numbers follow Abd al-Baqi, as on sunnah.com. Pending review by the scholars on our team.
Guide
Short answer: the best known hadith about charity are "Charity never decreases wealth" (Sahih Muslim 2588), "Protect yourselves from the Fire, even with half a date" (Sahih al-Bukhari 1417, Sahih Muslim 1016), and "Every good deed is charity" (Sahih al-Bukhari 6021). Together they teach that charity is rewarded beyond its size, that a small gift counts, and that sadaqah is not only money: a smile, a good word or moving a thorn off the road are charity too.
Zakat is the obligatory charity: a fixed share of savings above the nisab, paid once a lunar year to the people named in the Quran (9:60). Sadaqah is everything you give beyond that, of any amount, to anyone, at any time. These hadith are mostly about sadaqah. To work out what you owe in zakat, use the zakat calculator.
The rulings on this page are pending review by the scholars on our team.
The hadith of the three things that continue after death is the basis of sadaqah jariyah. Building a well, funding a copy of the Quran or teaching someone to read it all keep earning reward. See also hadith about seeking knowledge, the second of the three.
salah (prayer), seeking knowledge, lying and truthfulness, tahajjud (the night prayer), kindness and mercy, patience (sabr), cleanliness and purity, intention (niyyah), marriage (nikah), parents and mothers, neighbours. Or see all hadith topics.
Questions
"Charity never decreases wealth" (Sahih Muslim 2588). Also very well known: "Protect yourselves from the Fire, even with half a date" (Sahih al-Bukhari 1417) and the hadith that a smile is charity (Jami' at-Tirmidhi 1956).
Yes. "Your smile in the face of your brother is charity for you" (Jami' at-Tirmidhi 1956, graded sahih by al-Albani). Sahih Muslim 2626 also tells us not to belittle meeting your brother with a cheerful face.
That is the Prophet's ﷺ promise in Sahih Muslim 2588. Scholars explain it two ways: Allah puts barakah in what remains and replaces what was given, and the reward far outweighs the amount.
The wording "hasten to give charity, for calamity does not get past it" is weak. That charity brings protection and good is supported by the sound hadith on this page.
Zakat is the fixed, obligatory charity on wealth above the nisab, paid yearly to set groups of people. Sadaqah is any voluntary charity, of any size and at any time.