Sakhāwwa
Definition
Sakhawa is a more spontaneous and natural form of generosity than karam — the giving that flows easily and without deliberation from a heart that has genuinely released its attachment to wealth. Al-Ghazali presents sakhawa as a more advanced spiritual station than deliberate generosity: the person who gives generously through willpower is exercising karam and building toward sakhawa; the person who gives spontaneously and joyfully, finding the act of giving genuinely pleasurable rather than sacrificial, has achieved sakhawa. This is the station that the great companions demonstrated and that al-Ghazali holds up as the destination.
As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Ghazali and the scholars of his school.
Appears in
1 book in the library
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