In short: The Prophet ﷺ said: your smiling in the face of your brother is charity; commanding good and forbidding evil is charity; guiding someone who is lost is charity; helping someone with poor sight is charity; removing a stone, thorn or bone from the road is charity; and pouring water from your bucket into your brother’s is charity (Jami‘ at-Tirmidhi 1956, graded hasan).
The six kinds of charity in the hadith
- Smiling at your brother.
- Commanding good and forbidding evil.
- Guiding someone who is lost.
- Seeing for someone with poor sight.
- Removing harm from the road: a stone, a thorn, a bone. A man was forgiven for moving a thorny branch.
- Pouring from your bucket into your brother’s.
Even more charity, every morning
Every SubhanAllah, Alhamdulillah and La ilaha illallah is charity, and two rak’ahs of Duha cover the charity due on all 360 joints (Sahih Muslim 720). Learn what sadaqah means.