How to Muslim
Sadaqah is anything good you give for God's sake. There is no minimum, no threshold and no set date, it does not have to be money, and unlike Zakat you can give it to anyone at all.
The example of those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah is like a seed [of grain] which grows seven spikes; in each spike is a hundred grains. And Allah multiplies [His reward] for whom He wills.
Sadaqah shares a root with the Arabic word sidq, truthfulness. Giving something away when nobody is making you is treated as evidence that what you say you believe is true.
You can give it to anyone. A neighbour, a stranger, a charity, someone who is not Muslim. There is no list of categories the way there is with Zakat.
Both are giving. Only one is owed:
One practical difference worth knowing: Zakat cannot be spent on building a mosque, a school or a hospital. Sadaqah can, which is why appeals for those projects ask for Sadaqah specifically.
Read the Zakat guide →You will also hear that charity wards off calamity. That one rests on a much weaker narration, so we have left it off rather than dress it up.
If you have nothing to give, you are not shut out of this. The Prophet (peace be upon him) listed these as charity in their own right:
Charity that carries on paying out after you die. The Prophet (peace be upon him) named three things that do not stop:
Most people only think of the first one. Teaching someone something useful and raising a child who prays for you are the other two, and neither costs money.
A man came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and said his mother had died suddenly, and that he thought she would have given in charity if she had been able to speak. He asked whether it would reach her if he gave on her behalf. He was told yes.
This is one of the few things you can still do for a parent after they are gone, and it is worth knowing early rather than finding out later.
A Muslim crowdfunding platform. Thousands of campaigns at any one time, from emergency appeals to someone's local project, and you can see exactly what you are funding before you give.
Visit LaunchGood →Emergency relief in crisis zones, plus clean water, healthcare, food distribution and orphan sponsorship. US-registered.
Donate via Human Appeal →A dawah and education charity. Worth knowing if you are a revert yourself: they run mentoring and resources specifically for new Muslims.
Visit iERA →One of the largest Muslim aid agencies, working in over 40 countries on disaster response and longer-term development.
Donate via Islamic Relief →An endowment (waqf) body. Money given here is invested rather than spent, and the returns fund community work year after year, which makes it Sadaqah Jariyah by design.
Visit Awqaf Australia →Free medical care and cataract surgery, schools, clean water and emergency food packages across Asia and Africa.
Visit Al-Mustafa Trust →Islamic education and re-entry support for Muslims in US prisons, a group almost nobody else is funding.
Support Tayba Foundation →The Quran describes the person who spends "only to be seen by the people" and compares what they gave to dust on a smooth stone, washed off by the first downpour and leaving nothing behind (2:264).
"If you disclose your charitable expenditures, they are good; but if you conceal them and give them to the poor, it is better for you" (2:271). Public giving is not wrong, and sometimes it starts something. Private giving just protects the dignity of whoever is receiving.
Among the seven people shaded on the Day of Judgement is the one who gave so quietly that his left hand did not know what his right hand had given. (Sahih al-Bukhari 1423)
"Do not invalidate your charities with reminders or injury" (2:264). Mentioning what you gave, to the person or to anyone else, undoes it. This is stated about as directly as the Quran states anything.
"Never will you attain the good until you spend from that which you love" (3:92). When that verse came down, Abu Talha owned a garden opposite the Prophet's mosque that he loved more than anything he had, and he gave it away that day.
The flip side is in 2:267: do not offload what you would not accept yourself. Clearing out the clothes you would never wear again is fine, but it is not this.
New to all of this? Start from the beginning.
Where to take this further.
A curated hub of Sunni videos, books, and dawah resources.
islamic-library.org · FreeResearch-driven answers to the doubts and questions Muslims actually have.
yaqeeninstitute.org · Free