A couple of days back I was searching for something and I saw this word “Tithing.” Frankly speaking I was not aware of this word so I Googled it and found that Tithing means giving 10% of your income as a charity in the name of God. The word “tithe” literally means tenth in Hebrew (the Jewish language). Since the custom of tithing is biblical, many Christians and Jews practice it as part of their faith.
It seems that it is an ancient practice, it is as old as we are as a species. From a primitive man who offered sacrifices to his gods to evolving civilizations of Egyptians, Babylonians, and Arabians, Greeks, Roman and Chinese, tithing probably was a way of life. Is it a coincidence that not only Abrahamic religions have been practicing it but also the pagans? Was it intuition or actually God Himself through his messengers taught this to human beings?
Some of the most prominent millionaires of the twentieth century attribute their extraordinary success to the practice of tithing or charity. It is said that John D. Rockefeller began tithing as a young man in the year 1855. His total income for that year was $95.00 from which he tithed $9.50 to his church. Between 1855 and 1934, he gave away $531 million dollars. His standard reply to critics of his generosity was ‘God gave me my money
Bill Gates of Microsoft has been a consistent philanthropist for decades, he has given $50 billion to charity over a 30 year period. Jeff Bezos of Amazon, supposed to be the richest man in the world donated $10 billion to charity in the year 2020 only. Warren Buffet the world’s fourth richest man, donated a total of $3.6 billion in the year 2019.
There is a famous food chain by the name of Al-Baik in Saudia Arabia that is enormously successful, where people line up for hours to get their food. People wondered what exactly was the reason? Are there no other chicken food chains or is Al-Baik the only food chain that has the best ingredients and tastiest chicken? The reason behind this enormous success of Al-Baik turned out in their generous act of ‘charity’.
Yes, you heard it right – ‘Charity’. This one selfless act sworn by the owner of Al-Baik when he started the business led to his legendary success. Al-Baik’s owner swore to give ‘One riyal’ (around $0.27) charity on each sale and had been doing the charity since he founded the business. When he passed away his children decided to follow the footsteps of their father, but instead of their father’s one riyal charity the sons have now decided to give away two riyals of charity on each sale.
There are countless stories about the financial, prosperous success that comes from giving the GIFT of Tithing. The point is that these people are consistent donors and their wealth has increased consistently.
Our Lord says: “Righteousness is not turning your faces towards the east or the west. Rather righteous are those who believe in God, the Day of judgement, the angels, the Books and the Prophets; who give charity out of the cherished wealth to relatives, orphans, the poor, “needy” travellers, beggars and for freeing captives, who establish prayer, pay alms-tax, and keep the pledge they make, and who are patient in times of sufferings, adversity and in ‘the heat of’ battle. It is they who are mindful of God.” 2:177*
At another place God Says: “Whoever comes with a good deed will be rewarded TENFOLD! But whoever comes with a bad deed will be punished for only one. None will be wronged.” 6:160*
And yet at another place our Lord Says: “The example of those who spend their wealth in the cause of God is that of a grain that sprouts into seven ears, each bearing one hundred grains. And God multiplies ‘the reward even more’ to whoever He wills. For God is All-Bountiful and All-Knowing. 2:261*
Is this again a coincidence that God Almighty is talking of “Tenfold,” and again talking of “each bearing one hundred grains”… a multiple of 10 times 10! And what about the Ten Commandments?
All this points to one thing that true prosperity has a spiritual basis, the more you spend in the name of God the more you get.
Unfortunately Many people plan for getting wealthy and rich while focusing only on “getting” and forget about “giving.” These plans are baseless without the spiritual foundation, without following the law of 10% for prosperity.
The reason behind not focusing on ‘giving,’ is also stated by God Himself as He Says: “ The Devil threatens you with ‘the prospect of poverty and bids you to the shameful deed ‘of stinginess’, while God promises you forgiveness and great bounties from Him. And God is All-Bountiful, All-Knowing. 2:268*
What happens is that people fear, the fear is “I don’t have enough now. How can I possibly…?” or they have doubts about what will happen if some unexpected expenses show up instead?
What they forget is that they need to give to receive, they forget that when God is in the equation, wealth including well-being and wholeness is assured. When we are Tithing we are actually saying, “Thank you, God” for the generous bounty that we have received.
*The verses that I have quoted are from Al Quran Surah Al Baqarah (The Cow), i.e, Chapter 2 and Surah Al-An’am (The Cattle), Chapter 6. In Islam while paying Alms-tax (Zakah) is an obligation for every muslim who has wealth that is in excess of his needs, charity (Sadaqa) is considered the door to success not only in this world but also in the hereafter.
Charity opens doors to success as promised by our Lord. Pure intentions and will to please our Lord, by all means, is one of the basic compulsions in Islam along with being a ‘Sunnah of our Prophet Muhammed PBUH.
Hence if you want prosperity start following the “law of 10% for prosperity,” you will, God Willing, have a prosperous life, it doesn’t matter which religion you belong to.
Dr. S. F. Jeelani