Sadaqah

Sadaqah (Arabic: ṣadaqa, plural ṣadaqāt) is voluntary charity in Islam. It covers any gift made to benefit others, whether money, goods, labor or an act of kindness, in any amount and at any time, given for the sake of God and without expecting repayment. It is distinct from zakat, the fixed annual levy on qualifying wealth that is one of the five pillars of Islam.

The word derives from the Arabic root associated with truthfulness and sincerity, which Muslim scholars read as a sign that charity confirms the sincerity of a person's faith. In the Qur'an, the plural ṣadaqāt is sometimes used for obligatory alms as well, so classical texts distinguish the obligatory kind (zakat) from the voluntary kind (ṣadaqat al-taṭawwuʿ).

The Qur'an repeatedly urges spending in charity, praises those who give secretly and openly, and warns against cancelling a gift by reminding the recipient of it or causing hurt. The Sunnah, the recorded practice of the Prophet Muhammad, extends the idea: reports describe a smile, removing an obstacle from a road or a kind word as forms of sadaqah. These sources form part of Sharia, and jurists treat sadaqah as recommended rather than compulsory, with no minimum amount and no fixed recipients.

• General sadaqah: a one-off gift to a person in need, a mosque, a school or a relief appeal.
• Sadaqah jariyah (ongoing charity): a gift whose benefit continues, such as a well, a hospital, or an endowment. The classic legal vehicle for ongoing charity is the waqf, an asset dedicated permanently to a charitable purpose.
• Zakat al-fitr (sometimes called ṣadaqat al-fiṭr): a small, obligatory payment per person made at the end of Ramadan. Despite the name, most schools treat it as obligatory rather than voluntary.
• Interest-free lending: the qard hasan, a benevolent loan repaid without any increase, is often discussed alongside sadaqah because the lender forgoes any return.

Zakat is compulsory for Muslims whose wealth exceeds a threshold called the nisab, is generally set at 2.5 percent of qualifying wealth held for a lunar year, and may be paid only to eight categories of recipient listed in the Qur'an. Sadaqah has none of those limits: any amount can be given, at any time, to almost any good cause, including people who are not Muslim. In some countries zakat is collected by the state; sadaqah almost never is.

Sadaqah touches the practice of Islamic finance in several ways. Income that an institution cannot keep because it arose from a non-compliant transaction, such as a late-payment charge or incidental interest, is usually donated to charity under a process called income purification. These donations are made as charity on behalf of the institution rather than as a gift that earns it any benefit, and they are typically overseen by the Sharia supervisory board.

Late-payment arrangements in murabaha financing often take the form of an undertaking by the customer to pay a set amount to charity if a payment is missed, so that the financier receives no gain from the delay. The concept of tabarru (donation) in takaful insurance draws on the same idea of a gratuitous contribution for mutual benefit.

In many Muslim-majority societies, sadaqah supports a large share of informal welfare, from food distribution and school fees to emergency medical costs. Charities and digital platforms now collect it through mobile wallets, card payments and remittance channels, which has raised compliance questions for banks about screening charitable flows for terrorist-financing risk without obstructing legitimate giving. Researchers in development finance have examined how sadaqah, zakat and waqf funds could be combined with microfinance to extend services to underbanked communities.

Jewish law has a closely related concept, tzedakah, whose name also derives from a root meaning righteousness. Both traditions treat charity as a religious duty, value giving that preserves the dignity of the recipient, and have produced institutions for interest-free lending, such as the Jewish gemach.