Rare Ahadith about Charity

“This is about the words of Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Glorious, ‘Believers, give charity of good quality things that you have earned and of what We make to grow for you from the land. You must not aim at less valuable things to give for charity. . . .’(2:267) Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), has said, ‘When the Messenger of Allah, O Allah, grant compensation to Muhammad and his family worthy of their services to Your cause, wanted people to pay zakat of dates, they would bring all kinds of dates, including undesirable quality dates to pay for zakat. Of such dates was a kind called al-Ju‘rur and al-Mi‘afarah, which has very little fruit, but has a large stone inside. Certain people would bring this kind of date to give for zakat instead of a good quality date. The Messenger of Allah, O Allah, grant compensation to Muhammad and his family worthy of their services to Your cause, asked them not to bring such dates to give for zakat, and the above-mentioned verse of the Holy Quran was revealed about this case. “Believers, give charity of good quality things that you have earned and of what We make to grow for you from the land. You must not aim at less valuable things which even you do not accept, unless you overlook to give for charity.” (2:264) “Overlook” means giving in charity of very inferior quality goods like the two kinds of dates just mentioned.’”