Surah Al-Mujadila, Ayah 13

The Order to give Charity before One speaks to the Prophet in private

Allah commanded His believing servants, when any of them wanted to speak with Allah's Messenger ﷺ in secret, to give away charity beforehand so that his charity cleanses and purifies him and makes him worthy of having a private counsel with the Prophet . This is why Allah the Exalted said,

ذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ وَأَطْهَرُ

(That will be better and purer for you.) then He said,

فَإِن لَّمْ تَجِدُواْ

(But if you find not.) meaning, if he is unable to do so due to poverty,

فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

(then verily, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.) He only commanded those who are financially able to give this type of charity. Allah the Exalted said,

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا نَاجَيْتُمُ الرَّ‌سُولَ (0 those who believe, when you consult the Messenger of Allah, ...58:12) The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was preoccupied day and night with educating the people and improving their quality of life. In his general assemblies, all the members of the audience benefited from his teachings. However, there were people who wanted private meetings with the Holy Prophet ﷺ and he would grant them that. Obviously, it was not possible to grant everyone's request as it required time and effort, and that was difficult. The hypocrites made matters worse when they asked for private audiences with the Holy Prophet ﷺ in order to hurt the sincere Muslims. Besides, the hypocrites held protracted conferences with him. Some of the illiterate Muslims also held private audiences with him for a longer time than normal or necessary. This made things difficult for him. Allah provided a way to stop their irksome behaviour by this verse which lightened the burden of the Holy Prophet ﷺ . Initially, the verse provided that anyone who wishes to hold a private conference with him must advance a freewill charity, the amount or measure of which is not specified in the Qur'an. However, when this verse was revealed Sayyidna ` Ali رضی اللہ تعالیٰ عنہ was the first Companion to act upon it: He offered one Dinar in charity and requested a private audience with the Prophet ﷺ .

It was the intention of Almighty God that only those who wished to meet the Prophet for some really serious purpose, should be allowed to come into his presence, while those who only wasted time in useless talk should be kept away. So, it became the rule that when one intended to meet the Prophet Muhammad, he should first give alms in the name of God, and if one could not afford to do so, he should perform some other righteous deed. These injuctions were originally intended to apply to the Prophet, but even after the Prophet the same conduct will be required toward the leaders of the community, according to their status.