Malfuzat - Volume IX — Page 99
UNDATED 99 Tanbül I [Akmal Şahib of Goleki] asked the Promised Messiahas for his direc- tive regarding tanbül [cash, given as wedding gift]. The Promised Messiahas replied: The response is the same. It is a kind of support for one's brother. It was submitted that those who contribute to tanbül, they participate with the intention that by contributing five rupees, they will receive six instead, and then they spend this money on vagrants. The Promised Messiahas said: My response concerns the original custom that there is no objection on the nature of the custom. As far as intention is concerned, how can you know the intention of others? This is a trait of contemptible people to give with an intention to receive more in return, or keep an accounting of insignificant matters. There are generous people who participate in tanbül to abide by the directive of cooperation and relationships of love, and some do not even want to retrieve their contribution but rather support the poor. In short, the response to everything is: إِنَّمَا الْأَعْمَالُ بِالنِّيَّاتِ ]Verily, deeds are (judged) by intentions[. 1,2 1. Şahih al-Bukhārī, Kitābu Bad'il-Wahī, Bāb Kaifa Kāna Bad'ul-Wahī ilā Rasūl- illāhī, Hadith 1 [Publisher] 2. Badr, vol. 6, no. 3, p. 4, dated 17 January 1907