What is Charity?

A common understanding of charity is what many people of faith would call ‘almsgiving’

- a strong tradition in both Christianity and Islam - as well as Buddhism and other

faiths. We get motivation from our faith, whatsoever discipline we belong to. We learn

through our respective religions that charity is not an optional extra but an essential

component of faith.

Let us first see what is charity? Charity means willingness to help others. Helping those

who are really in need is a rare and good quality indeed. People are often reluctant to

help other. They care only for themselves or their nearest and dearest. They are selfish

people who do not know what charity is. There are others who spend huge sums of

money on charitable institutions but pay no attention to their poor relatives or near

ones. They want to impress others by donating large sums, but have no heart for those

who really suffer. This is selfishness. They act on selfish motives. A truly charitable

person should help those who are actually in need. He should be willing to help a needy

man whether he is a relative or not. To possess such an unselfish loving heart, one

should first learn to love his kith and kin. But it should also be noted that such a love

should not confine itself to family circle. The right way to cultivate the charitable habit is

to start loving one’s kith and kin and gradually extend that love to those are out of the

family. Such a person can love and sympathise with all those who deserve it. Only that

sort of mentality can be called really charitable.