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Does the good (Hasan) Hadith: "Indeed, Allah has people whom He has singled out for blessings for the benefit of His servants. He keeps these blessings with them as long as they spend them (for good), but if they withhold them, He takes them away from them and transfers them to others" apply to those who donate to actresses and football players, and those who spend on entertainment and pleasures for people who are not well-off?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Al-Tabarani and Ibn Abi Al-Dunya narrated a hadith from Abdullah ibn Umar that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "Indeed, Allah has a people whom He has singled out with blessings for the benefit of His servants. He keeps these blessings with them as long as they spend them, but if they withhold them, He removes them from them and transfers them to others." This hadith was graded hasan li ghairihi (good due to external corroboration) by Al-Albani.

The meaning of this hadith is not to spend on frivolities and unlawful things, nor to spend ill-gotten wealth, but rather to spend on those who are deserving. Al-Manawi explains the hadith by saying that Allah maintains blessings with a people as long as they spend them on those who are deserving, but if they withhold them, He removes them from them and transfers them to others.

The generality of this hadith is specified by other texts, such as the hadith in Muslim: "Indeed, Allah is good and accepts only what is good," and the Prophet’s prohibition, peace and blessings be upon him, against wasting money. Wasting money includes spending it on disobedience to Allah and extravagance, and it also includes what some consider permissible but is not, such as excessive construction and ornamentation of buildings, extravagance in spending, clothing, and food, poor management of properties, enduring excessive exploitation, and giving money to the foolish. This hadith is a fundamental principle for understanding good character.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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