It wasn’t much long ago, when wealth was believed to bring happiness along with itself, leading to a materialistic and mechanical society in the later periods. As the people ran after money and wealth, they left the true happiness behind.     

Eventually, the bubble of delusion popped, after few researches and surveys took place, concluding Money, after all, doesn’t buy happiness. The World Wealth Report of 2015, where the United States of America, reportedly, owned around 42% i.e. 63.5 trillion dollars of the total world’s wealth. However, it could never surpass to the highest rank as the happiest country in the lists prepared by United nations from 2012.

And the most obvious reason is the self-centeredness of the people. When people earn just to spend for themselves, for their own luxury and/or necessity they become exhausted quite soon. They stop finding joy in their work and hence the “unhappiness”. This could be further evidenced by the results of a joint research conducted by University of British Columbia and Harvard Business School, in early 2008- summarized below.   

They experimented on more than 630 Americans, where the results showed they were measurably happier when they spent money on others - even if they thought spending the money on themselves would make them happier.

They asked their 600 volunteers first to rate their general happiness, report their annual income and detail their monthly spending including bills, gifts for themselves, gifts for others and donations to charity. Regardless of how much income each person made, those who spent money on others reported greater happiness, while those who spent more on themselves did not.

The team of researchers also surveyed 16 employees at a company in Boston before and after they received an annual profit-sharing bonus amounting between $3,000 and $8,000. It was found that employees who devoted more of their bonus to pro-social spending experienced greater happiness after receiving the bonus, and the manner in which they spent that bonus was a more important predictor of their happiness than the size of the bonus itself.

The report mentioned- the participants who were randomly assigned to spend money on  others experienced greater happiness than those assigned to spend money on themselves. In the process, the volunteers were given $5 or $20 and half got instructions on how to spend it. Those who spent the money on someone else reported feeling happier about it.

The ultimate conclusion of this survey was- even spending as little as 5 dollars on someone else could significantly boost your happiness.

If we suppose, through the survey results, that charity just brings happiness; we’d be partially incorrect. Charity doesn’t just provide happiness, it also blesses the income that we earn, and shields us from uncertain adversities or troubles. This could be further explained through the story below:

Once upon a time, a Bani Israeli had a dream, where he saw he would be provided with a lot of wealth in one part of his life, and would suffer from miseries and poverty on the other. And was told in the dream that both of these are his destiny, but he can decide which one do he wants first.

This woke him up from sleep, and immersed him in thoughts. Eventually, after he discussed that with his wife, she suggested him to ask for the wealth and prosperity at first, as he would have to go through both the phases, anyway, since that’s his destiny. Therefore, the next day when he dreamt again, he asked accordingly.

As a result, from the very next day, he started to gain wealth from everywhere. He was being showered by blessings. Well, his wife was certainly a smart and wise woman. And so, instead of spending it all for themselves, she made her husband donate it to the poor and the misfortunes, including their relatives and neighbors. After a while, the whole scenario of the society altered, due to the huge amounts of charity they made.

Eventually, the period of prosperity ended. And the time of the second phase of his life arrived, when he would have to suffer from poverty and misfortune.

But surprisingly, there wasn’t even a hint of misfortune. He was, surely, waiting to suffer, but he wasn’t afflicted with any problem at all. He was leading a perfectly fine life, and neither did his wealth decrease.

Right around the time he dreamt again, where a voice told him, “The charity you made to the poor from the wealth given to you, certainly pleased Allah. Hence, he decided to give you a lot more wealth, so that you can spend more for the welfare of others.”

Hence, the story proves, that charity doesn’t just leads to happiness it also leads to prosperity and protects one from danger or misfortune.

Both the research and the story suggests, that you should always contribute a particular amount of your income to the charity. This is ought to bring you happiness, peace and health. At the same time, it would also increase your wealth. And, this system is experimented widely enough, to ensure that the results would leave you awestruck, leading you to become a regular donor.