Aslam

The Prophet said : To beg of men is a disgraceful thing. He did not make anything so disgracing as begging. Even an unlawful thing becomes lawful in case of dire necessity. It is just like the drinking wine by a man whose throat has been choked by food and then nothing but wine is found there. The Prophet said :
He who begs inspite of having wealth, increases burning charcoal of Hell for himself. He also said : He who begs inspite of his possessing necessary thing will come on the Resurrection Day with his face bare of flesh with only bones. In another narration, his begging will make his face filled up with scratches.
Once the Prophet took oath of allegiance from a people on condition that they would hear and obey him. At that time he said to them : Don't seek anything from people. The Prophet used to say : He who begs of me, I shall give him and he who does not beg, God will give him. He is dear to us who does not beg of us.
He also said : Be free from begging of men. The lesser you beg, the better. The companions asked : Shall we beg of you ? He said : Beg of me a little.

Once Hazrat Omar heard that after every Magrib prayer one man used to beg. He told one of his people : Give him food. He gave him food. Again Hazrat Omar heard that he was begging.
At this he told.that man : Have I not told him to give good ? He said : I gave him food Hazrat Omar then saw that under his hand he had got a bag full of bread. He told him : You are not a beggar but a merchant. He then took his bag of bread and spread it out to the camels of Zakat, gave him lashes and said : Don't do it again.
This shows that begging is unlawful.

In case of necessity, begging becomes lawful but necessity admits of four stages — dire necessity, special necessity, little necessity and want of necessity. The case of dire necessity is in the case of a man when he is extremely hungry and reaches the point of death for want of food or at least when he fears it, when

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he falls ill, when he does not get cloth to cover his shame. In these and similar cases, begging becomes lawful. The second stage is a bare necessity and not pressing necessity. A sick man has got the ' ■ necessity of medicine. He can beg of it. A man can walk on foot, but his asking for hire of a camel is lawful. The third stage is of little necessity. It is just like the asking of a shirt rriom a person in order to cover his body for which he has no means. It is just like the begging of a man for curry when he has got bread. In case of no necessity, begging is unlawful.