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Fatwa CenterReward of giving charity exceeds reward of giving a gift
Question
What is the difference between Gift and Charity? And which one is better? When guest come to our house n we feed them this thing comes under gift or charity?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
The difference between a gift and charity is that by charity one intends to seek the reward in the Hereafter, and the gift is intended to be generous to the recipient or to recompense him or to seek his affection. The gift is like a donation and the scholars divided the donation into three categories: A donation for the sake of Allaah, which is the charity, the donation for being kind and loving, which is between the relatives and friends, and the third one is the donation by which one expects something in return, which is like the sale. Therefore, the best of them is the charity by which one intends the reward in the Hereafter.
As regards the issue of hospitality, there are some details about it; Ibn Al-Qayyim 
said: “The guest has a right upon his host, and this is of three degrees: binding obligation, recommended act, and an act of charity”, this is for the Hadeeth reported by Al-Bukhari and Muslim which reads: “Anybody who believes in Allaah and the Last Day, should serve his neighbor generously, and anybody who believes in Allaah and the Last Day should serve his guest generously by giving him his reward." It was asked. "What is his reward, O Allaah's Apostle?" He said, "(To be entertained generously) for a day and a night with high quality of food and the guest has the right to be entertained for three days (with ordinary food) and if he stays longer, what he will be provided with will be regarded as Sadaqah (a charitable gift).”
However, some scholars distinguish between urban and non-urban areas, so the hospitality is more confirmed in non-urban areas than in urban areas and this is for many reasons as per the Fiqh Encyclopedia: “Firstly, this (having guests) is something that happens frequently to the city dwellers, so if the city dwellers abide themselves by hospitality, they would never be free of it, whereas the village dwellers get this very rarely, so they do not face any hardship in this regard. Secondly, in the city, the traveler finds accommodation and food, so he does not face any hardship because of the lack of hospitality, and the same ruling applies to the big villages that have hotels and restaurants where people can buy food, and where people go frequently…….. ”
Moreover, Al-Buhooti said in Kashshaaf Al-Qinaa’: “Hospitality is not an obligation in cities as there are markets and mosques in them, so a person does not need hospitality of other people, unlike the villages where buying and selling are rare, so it becomes an obligation upon its people to be hospitable to the passerby.”
In any case, feeding a visitor and being generous to him even in towns, is included in the general virtue of offering food and being kind to the people and if one intends charity with what he gives as food to the visitor, and not only to be generous to gain his affection and friendship, then this is better. I’aanat At-Taalibeen, which is one of the books of the Shaafi’i School, reads: “All of these (acts) are Sunnah, i.e. the donation, charity and gift, and his (the author's) statement: the best of them is charity, is because it is in general given to the needy. The author of Ar-Rawdh and its commentary said: “All of them are recommended, though charity is better…..” [End quote]
Allaah Knows best.
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