Lesson 5 of 6 · What feeds it
Three. Give and it will come back
Give sadaqah and Allah will multiply it. Charity never decreases wealth.
There is real material in the tradition about generosity, and none of it is the transactional version, which is give money in order to receive more money. That is a different idea and it has a different name, and it is a bad idea to hand to somebody in debt.
The report itself is worth quoting whole, because whole it is plainly not about a rate of return. Charity does not decrease wealth; no one forgives another except that Allah increases his honour; and no one humbles himself for the sake of Allah except that Allah raises his status. Two of the three clauses have nothing to do with money at all.
Nobody here is going to suggest you give away money you do not have. In fiqh, settling what you owe generally takes priority over voluntary giving, and the specific priority rules are a scholar's question rather than ours.
If you have been giving while unable to pay your own creditors, that is worth putting to a scholar directly. Not as a confession. As a question.
Qur’an and Sunnah
Read whole it is plainly not about a rate of return, because two of its three clauses have nothing to do with money at all.
Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying:Charity does not decrease wealth, no one forgives another except that Allah increases his honor, and no one humbles himself for the sake of Allah except that Allah raises his status
Sahih Muslim 2588graded sound, sahihaynthe Arabic and its grading