Sponsoring an orphan for life: Can an orphan sponsorship monthly or yearly?

28 April، 2024

sponsorship an orphan is one of the noblest humanitarian acts in Islam and a manifestation of commendable benevolence that has gained a significant status from the Hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him) that places the guardian of an orphan in paradise. He said, “The one who cares for an orphan and myself will be like this in Paradise,” showing his fingers very close together.

This article explores the feasibility and mechanisms of lifelong orphan sponsorship in theory and practice according to Sharia and ethical standards. Let’s together explore these methods and mechanisms set by our gracious religion.

Definition of Orphan Sponsorship

It means caring for children who have lost their provider, especially those who become orphans before reaching maturity. This care includes looking after their living conditions, psychological well-being, and proper guidance, which holds great reward and high status in religion.

Reward and Merit of Orphan Sponsorship

The opening Hadith of our article is but evidence of the high esteem and greatness of orphan sponsorship and its virtue, which returns to the sponsor with goodness and blessings in this world before its reward in the hereafter.

Types of Orphan Sponsorship: How can I sponsor an orphan?

Orphan sponsorship can be achieved in several ways, including:

Financial Sponsorship: Provides the orphan with life’s necessities and meets his material needs such as food, clothing, education, and housing to raise him on Islamic ethical foundations, allowing him to grow in an environment that enhances his righteousness and enables him to face life’s challenges.

Family Sponsorship: Involving the sponsorship of the orphan’s entire family if the orphan has siblings, thus ensuring their basic needs and emotional support to keep the family united and growing in a cohesive environment without separation.

Incorporating the Orphan into the Family: By integrating the orphan into the sponsor’s family, treating him as one of their own children, and ensuring his upbringing until he reaches maturity, at which point this sponsorship typically concludes.

Information about the Cost of Orphan Sponsorship

Can an orphan be sponsored just once or for a month?

Monthly sponsorship of an orphan, while helpful, is not considered sufficient unless it continues until the orphan is able to sustain himself, either by reaching maturity or by having another guardian take over, in accordance with the saying of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him): “He who supports an orphan among Muslims, including their food and drink, until they no longer need support, is guaranteed Paradise without doubt.”

This emphasizes the importance of ongoing, not temporary, care, noting that the reward is achieved by sincere intention and continuity in giving, as in the case of sponsoring education, which is considered a continuous charity that does not cease.

Cost of Annual Orphan Sponsorship

The methods of orphan sponsorship vary from one country to another, but they agree on the necessity to meet his basic needs—food, clothing, education, and financial care—responding to Islamic teachings that regard this act as a means to closeness to Allah.

How can you sponsor an orphan annually?

Annual sponsorship of an orphan requires a detailed assessment of the child’s age and essential needs. To achieve this, you can cooperate with trusted charitable organizations or associations that ensure the orphan’s rights and enable the sponsor to provide the best support.

Cost of Monthly Orphan Sponsorship Monthly

sponsorship requires a reasonable financial amount, allowing the sponsor to commit continuously without feeling the financial burden of large annual commitments. This method ensures the orphan’s needs are met month after month, aligning with the sponsor’s financial capabilities.

How to Sponsor an Orphan Monthly

For monthly sponsorship, it is preferred to either transfer a specific monetary amount to the orphan living with his mother or a caregiving relative or to pay the amount to a qualified charitable organization that ensures the financial support reaches the orphan in a manner suitable to his actual circumstances and needs.

How to Contribute to Orphan Sponsorship Online?

Online sponsorship has become the most suitable in our current era due to the prevalence of wars and conflicts in regions like Palestine, Yemen, and also Syria, where this group of children finds themselves without a provider under the most difficult circumstances.

Online sponsorship provides innovative solutions for continuous care and support for these orphans, contributing to securing their future, especially with initiatives like “Masarat,” which focuses on sponsoring education for children in Northern Syria.

Masarat for Education and Vocational Training for Orphans and Displaced Persons in Northern Syria

Amid the challenges thousands of students face daily in continuing their education due to refugee conditions and lack of necessary facilities, the idea of a free educational initiative began, providing its services to the educational sector and facilitating access to all groups, especially those in need, such as orphans, people with disabilities, and widowed women.

Masarat provides education through systems it has developed to suit the current conditions of students and meet their need for education without discrimination, ensuring equality for all groups: 1- An interactive educational system between students and teachers 2- A non-interactive educational system through a learning management platform 3- A knowledge endowment specific to the initiative, which is a YouTube channel.

Your donation today allows the Masarat initiative to expand the number of beneficiaries, which significantly achieves tangible results on the ground by educating more than 31,000 children to date.

Your donation now to the Masarat initiative has a long-lasting impact.

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “Every day that dawns over servants, two angels come down from heaven and one of them says, ‘O Allah! Compensate every person who spends in Your cause,’ and the other says, ‘O Allah! Destroy every miser.'”

Spending in the way of Allah brings great good, and spending to care for and educate orphans in Northern Syria has a multiplied effect.

FAQs About Monthly and Annual Orphan Sponsorship

How can I help orphans and donation platforms for them?

This can be done by assisting charitable organizations that provide them with food, housing, and education, or supporting organizations that seek to raise awareness about orphans and their rights.

Is it permissible to donate online to an orphan?

In Islam, caring for and sponsoring orphans holds a great position reflecting the value of good deeds and adjusting the rewards for Muslims, based on prophetic hadiths and Quranic verses that emphasize this aspect.

Donating online offers Muslims, the opportunity to earn rewards without being confined to a specific place or time, opening broad horizons for charity and enhancing the spirit of mutual support and cooperation within the Islamic community.

Is it permissible to pay zakat by sponsoring an orphan?

If the orphan is among those eligible for zakat, among the eight categories mentioned by Allah in His book “the poor and the needy…”, it is permissible to pay zakat money for his sponsorship provided that the sponsor is not obliged to spend on him but does so voluntarily.

Is the financial sponsorship of an orphan considered sponsorship?

The real meaning of sponsoring an orphan is to care for him in all his needs—food, drink, clothing, housing, education, and upbringing—until he can sustain himself, and financial sponsorship is part of this duty.

Can orphan sponsorship be funded from bank interest or usury?

It is not permissible in Sharia to spend usury money in any way, nor is it permissible to receive usurious money from banks. If money is deposited in a bank, it should be done without interest or benefits.

Is it permissible to sponsor an orphan with the intention of another living person?

Legally, sponsoring an orphan and directing the reward of this act to another person, whether alive or dead, is considered permissible and beneficial, as scholars have affirmed that any good deed performed by a Muslim and whose reward is dedicated to others is a permissible and beneficial act.

Does sponsoring a foundling or abandoned child equate to sponsoring an orphan?

A foundling may not necessarily be considered an orphan, as an orphan is one who has lost his father, while a foundling may have a living father; however, it is commendable to be kind to the foundling and care for him, as his need for care may exceed that of an orphan. Islam greatly rewards kindness to the needy, as stated in the Quran: “Indeed, we do not let the reward of those who do good work go waste.”

Is it better to sponsor the same orphan or to change?

It is better to sponsor the same orphan without changing, as the purpose of sponsorship is to meet the orphan’s needs, care for his affairs, and provide for him materially and emotionally, which starts from the loss of his father when he is under age and does not cease with maturity but continues until he can manage his affairs and become independent.