Giving Sadaqah Online VS Performing an act of Sadaqah yourself

[m_1990]

Assalam o Alaikum Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I hope you all are well. I am from Pakistan but I live in Australia and my question is around paying Sadaqah. According to my knowledge, giving Sadaqah is one of the various ways to please Allah and Sadaqah is normally given to poor who do not have basic necessities of life for themselves or their families.

Finding such type of people in need is almost impossible in Australia. Therefore, I normally give Sadaqah online to Edhi or Chhipa or similar charity organisations in Pakistan so that they can help poor people in need. However, I do not feel that close to Allah Suban Wa Tala as I do when I do Qurbani myself or at least see it in front of my eyes in Pakistan. Doing Qurbani yourself or seeing it in front of your eyes is also next to impossible in Australia.

Can any of the brothers and sisters share their knowledge about whether giving Sadaqah money online is same as giving it with your hands to a poor / doing Qurbani yourself? I'd like to feel myself closer to Allah Suban Wa tala when giving Sadaqah. Paying it online feels more like a formality.

Jazak Allah Khair.

Muhammad.

 

[Ümit]

you are absolutely right. I feel the same way over here in Europe. Here in Germany there are a lot of people begging for money in the cities or they are searching in trashcans for bottles or containers with container-deposit.
Usually I do not feel good by giving them sadaqah...because most of them buy alcohol or drugs with it. there are also a lot of punks here begging for money on the streets, dressed up all funny, looking totally OK, drinking and smoking. and if you dont give anything, they start to curse at you.
Besides, I think begging is wrong anyway.

That aside, it is always better to give sadaqah at first hand than to do it online. Sure that also counts, but still...you can never be certain what they do with your money...so you have to trust them.

on the other hand with qurbani, you must give a certain part of the qurbani to the needed. I tried to give it to the food bank here in Germany, so that they distribute and give it to the people who need it, but with meat, donating to the food bank is not so easy.
so, with qurbani, I do that usually online. I donate my mosque the money for qurbani...and they sacrifice animals in a poor country with the collected money. I find that better than doing qurbani myself.

I must say that this is about to change because of education purposes. I have a 2 year old daughter, and after a few years, she has to see and learn the importance of qurbani. because of that one purpose, I have to do qurbani myself, so that she can see and learn that we do qurbani every year, and that we give the meat to the poor.

so summarized:
doing sadaqah or qurbani yourself is usually better than online. you can be certain that the money or food goes to the needed. it also feels much better, but this shouldn't be a criteria. you should not give sadaqah because it makes you feel good.
If you do not know anyone poor around you, and you cannot donate to the food bank...then perhaps it is better to donate the money online to a fund or mosque where you can trust that the money is being spend for the poor.

 

[IslamicRelief]

While zakat is an obligatory charity due from every Muslim on a yearly basis, sadaqah is an entirely voluntary charity which can be performed at any time of year, and any amount can be given. Unlike zakat, which has a number of stipulations regarding the type of assistance it can provide, sadaqah can be used for any project or programme which is of benefit to people.
A number of sayings of the Prophet, peace be upon him, emphasise the benefits of giving sadaqah, including that “sadaqah extinguishes sin as water extinguishes fire”, as well as the duty of every Muslim to give whatever he or she can: “sadaqah is due on every joint of a person, every day the sun rises.”
An important concept within that of sadaqah (charity), is the idea of sadaqah jaariyah – an ‘ongoing charity’. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said that “when a man dies, his deeds come to an end except three: an ongoing charity, beneficial knowledge and a child who prays for him”. Therefore, many Muslims are eager to give charity which will continue to have benefit to people after their death, and continue to earn them reward.

you can donate to islamic relief, one of the best NGo in the world.

[h=3]Donate Sadaqah[/h]R120 can provide safe drinking water to 3 families
R225 can feed 5 families for one month
R310 can provide a family with a lifesaving emergency kit
R6,400 can help equip a treatment centre for one month with medicines and supplies