Does paying a monthly sum to an orphan constitute sponsoring him?

1-4-2013 | IslamWeb

Question:

Does paying a monthly sum to some orphan children constitute sponsoring them?

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

Sponsoring orphans has a great status in Islam. It is enough, to demonstrate its virtue, to mention the Hadeeth that was narrated in Saheeh Al-Bukhari on the authority of Sahl ibn Sa‘d in which the Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: "I and the one who looks after an orphan will be like this in Paradise" showing his middle and index fingers. Is there a status which is better than that?

If the monthly sum given to an orphan fulfills his needs including expenditures, clothes, residence and education expenses in case he needs them; then, this is considered complete sponsoring. The doer of this act attains the reward with which Allaah The Exalted Promised the one who sponsors an orphan, Allaah The Almighty Willing. If the sum does not fulfill all his needs, the virtue is great as well. This is one of the great types of charity and kindness and one of the good deeds that were urged by Islam in many texts of revelation in the Quran and the Sunnah. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {Worship Allaah and associate nothing with Him, and to parents do good, and to relatives, orphans, the needy, the near neighbor, the neighbor farther away, the companion at your side, the traveler, and those whom your right hands possess. Indeed, Allaah does not like those who are self-deluding and boastful.}[Quran 4:36]

Allaah Knows best.