Question: What is the best sadaqah?
ANSWER
This changes based on the conditions of the donor and the receiver. For example, the best sadaqah is to satisfy one’s hunger if one is hungry. If one has an indebted friend, then the best sadaqah is to free him from debts. It is stated in hadith-i sharifs:
(The best sadaqah is to give water.) [Nasai]

(The best sadaqah is to feed a hungry living being.) [Bayhaqi]

(The best sadaqah is to reconcile two people.) [Tabarani]

(The best sadaqah is to hold your tongue.) [Daylami]

(The best sadaqah is that which is given in secret.) [Tabarani]

(The best sadaqah is to spread ‘ilm.) [Tabarani]

(The best sadaqah is to learn ‘ilm and to teach it to another person.) [Ibn Majah]

(The best sadaqah is that which is given to a relative who bears a grudge against one.) [Tabarani]

(The best sadaqah is that which is given when one is healthy, very greedy for wealth, and in the hope of richness and in fear of poverty.) [Muslim]

(The best sadaqah is that which is given in Ramadan.) [Tirmidhi]

Question: What is the order of priority in giving sadaqah?
ANSWER
It depends on one’s conditions. For example, an indebted person must pay his debts first. However, if it is an installment loan paid in monthly amounts and if one is able to pay installments when they are due, then one can give sadaqah even before finishing the installments. If one has zakat debts to make up, one’s sadaqah will not be accepted. Hadrat Imam-i Rabbani states:
Giving a gold coin to a poor person with the intention of zakat brings much more thawab than giving one hundred thousand gold coins with the intention of sadaqah because giving zakat means doing a fard act. As for sadaqah, it is a voluntary act of worship. Voluntary acts of worship are of no importance compared with obligatory acts of worship. It is not even a drop of water compared with sea. Shaitan deceives people and discourages them from making up their missed salats and giving zakat. Instead, he makes voluntary acts of worship more attractive. (Vol. 3, Letter 17)

Sadaqah is not given to others before supporting one’s dependants. When giving sadaqah, one should give priority to one’s pious relatives after one’s family. It is stated in hadith-i sharifs:

(While a sadaqah given to a poor person is only one sadaqah, a sadaqah given to a relative is two sadaqah: one is sadaqah, and the other is sila-i rahm.) [Nasai]

(The thawab for sadaqah given to a close relative and a neighbor is twice as much.) [Tabarani]

When a lady asked the Messenger of Allah “If I give my poor husband a gift, is it counted as sadaqah?” he answered, “There is two thawab: one is the thawab of sadaqah, and the other is the thawab of sila-i rahm.” [Bukhari]