Charity or Pilgrimage?

Question

Every month, I am giving money towards voluntary charity (sadaqah) to eliminate the spiritual malady of miserliness.

What is Sadaqah?

By Imam Ghazaali (R.A.H)

SADAQAH (giving in charity) is a deed designed to eliminate the spiritual malady of miserliness. But because the heart of the giver is not immune from show and insincerity, it has been emphasized that Sadaqah should always be given secretly. Certainly, Riyaa (show) and miserliness are both very destructive diseases and Sadaqah that is rendered secretly is a powerful remedy to them.

Source: http://www.uwt.org/site/article.asp?id=170

What is more important, giving money to eliminate the spiritual malady of miserliness or to save up for hajj? What I mean is, if I save up for hajj only, I might become weak and when I see such a large sum of money, I may not want to spend it. Which is the whole point of me giving money towards sadaqah to eliminate the spiritual malady of miserliness.

Anyway, at my current rate, I am giving an equal amount towards sadaqah monthly as I am saving monthly for hajj. At this rate, I may not have enough money for hajj until I am about 110 years old!!! I could half this to 55 years if I stop giving towards sadaqah, but then risk developing the illness above and may not be able to spend the money towards hajj...

So my question, should I stop giving towards sadaqah to reduce the time it takes me to save for hajj and risk the disease of miserliness taking over me, or should I hope to live and have enough energy to do hajj at the age of 110?

Answer 1

**Abu Musa narrated that the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) said, “Every Muslim has to give in sadaqah (charity).” The people asked, “O Allah’s Messenger (s.a.w.s.)! If someone has nothing to give, what will he do?” He said, “He should work with his hands and benefit himself and also give in charity (from what he earns).” The people further asked, “If he cannot do even that?” He replied, “Then he should help the needy who appeal for help.” Then the people asked, “If he cannot do that?” He replied, “Then he should perform all that is good and keep away from all that is evil and this will be regarded as charitable deeds.” (Bukhari Vol. 2, Hadith 524)

The Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.s.) said: “To smile in the company of your brother is charity. To command to do good deeds and to prevent others from doing evil is charity. To guide a person in a place where he can not get astray is charity. To remove troublesome things like thorns and bones from the road is charity. To pour water from your jug into the jug of your brother is charity. To guide a person with defective vision is charity for you.” (Bukhari) Mu‘aadh bin Jabal (r.a.) related from the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) “Sadaqah extinguishes sin as water extinguishes fire.” (Ahmad, Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah)**

Hajj is on of the 5 pillars. If you are able to do it, you should. So basically, as you can see from the above narrations, you can do both, even without money. Nothing is too small to give. You can even decrease the amount you give each month in order to save up for Hajj.

Answer 2

Hajj is one of the 5 pillars of Islam. Since you have the potential to perform Hajj, you should do it, and do it immediately. Nobody knows how far will your body hold on your 110th birthday. Moreover, I want to mention that if your Niyaat i.e intention is pure, you will not have any problem in accumulating money for Hajj. Everybody can contribute to Sadaqah, but not everybody has the ability to contribute to your Hajj. To do Hajj, you need your physical strength, mental strength of endurance and your economical fluidity. All of these 3 things has to come together for performing Hajj. Also remember that you will gain pure innocence after performing Hajj, which to me is important, since you have mentioned about you problems regarding hoarding of money. I hope your problem regarding money will go away after you have a pure soul. It will then be easier for you deal with your money.

Answer 3

Wikipedia says

It is one of the five pillars of Islam, and a religious duty which must be carried out by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so at least once in his or her lifetime

The orders were revealed in 3:97

In it are clear signs [such as] the standing place of Abraham. And whoever enters it shall be safe. And [due] to Allah from the people is a pilgrimage to the House - for whoever is able to find thereto a way. But whoever disbelieves - then indeed, Allah is free from need of the worlds.

Charity or Sadqah is not obligatory i.e. not a must-do order from Allah, but if you do, it will benefit you in various ways. If you are an able-bodied muslim then you should not choose charity over Hajj, perform one Hajj at least and then you can go for charity.

This is applicable only if you have to choose one between charity and Hajj, otherwise you can do both and charity can be as minimum as one penny as far as money is concerned and you don't have to be able-bodied for charity :)

You can read more as

Neglecting Hajj to spend in charity

Hajj vs Charity?

Hajj is better than charity

Repeating Hajj or Giving in Charity?

Whenever a recommended action is done the more pure the intention the more the reward that is given.

Therefore, a general answer can't be given to this question, and it all depends on the person’s mind and power to distinguish between which mustahabb action is the best for him and bears more sincerity and is far from any riya (done for the sake and pleasure of others/showing off). If this matter is observed when choosing between different mustahabb acts, you can be sure that the act chosen will have the most rewards from Allah (swt), let the action be going to Hajj or Umrah, sending others to Hajj, or giving charity.

Allah Almighty knows the best