The very word evokes the alms box, filled by niggardly ancients who salve their consciences by financing new shoes and vegetables for the poor. No one can pigconhole charity that way any more.

The Holy Qur’an, Taubah 9:60, enumerates the receivers of zakat: “Alms are for the poor and the needy, and those employed to administer the (funds); for those whose hearts have been (recently ...

Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God. Give alms from your possessions, and do not let your eye ...