English Translation

Narrated Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him): The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "A man heard a voice from a cloud in an open land saying: Water the garden of such-and-such a man. (After this voice) the cloud moved to one side and poured its water on a stony piece of land. One of the channels there became completely full. So the man followed the flowing water, and suddenly he saw a man standing in his garden directing the water this way and that with his spade. He said to the owner of the garden: O servant of Allah, what is your name? He said such-and-such a name, the very name he had heard from the cloud. Then the garden's owner said to him: O servant of Allah, why did you ask my name? He said: I heard a voice from the cloud; someone was saying, Water the garden of such-and-such a man, and he named your name. So what act of gratitude do you show for Allah's favour in this garden? The owner of the garden said: Since you have said this, I shall now tell you. I look at what income this garden produces: one third of it I give in charity, one third my wife and children eat, and one third I invest back into the garden." (From the hadith it is learned that spending a third of one's wealth in the way of Allah is best, and it is also learned that the angels pour rain in accordance with Allah's command — in one and the same place it rains more in one spot and less in another.) In another narration it is: "One third I spend on the poor, the beggars, and the travellers."