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Almsgiving and Charity, the giving of money, food or aid to the poor as a religious duty and an expression of compassion and justice, ties to six religions in this atlas, tied for the strongest open convergence candidate at this tier: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism.

One Entry Names Three of the Six by Itself

Dana, giving as a religious act, is a single page in this atlas that already ties directly to three of the six on its own. In Buddhism, the record states, dana stands first in every list of virtues, the first perfection and the first practice by which a layperson begins, and the merit of feeding renunciants underwrote the entire monastic economy of Asia. In Hinduism the record carries the Bhagavad Gita's own grading of the act: the pure gift given as duty at the fit place and time to a worthy person expecting no return, against the passionate gift that looks for recompense and the dark gift given contemptuously. And Sikh tradition, the same entry records, institutionalised the principle outright in vand chhakna, sharing, and in the langar, the free community kitchen. Sikhism's own top-level record makes the same point independently: its compact ethic is to remember the divine name, earn an honest living, and share what you have, and the langar attached to every gurdwara, established by Guru Nanak and made a condition of access by Guru Amar Das, feeds tens of thousands daily at the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar without asking who anyone is.

The Other Three, Each Under Its Own Name

The remaining three religions each name the duty with their own word rather than sharing Dana's. Islam names it Zakat, the third Pillar of Islam, a due owed to God and the community rather than a favour, commanded throughout the Quran and falling in two distinct obligations, zakat al-mal on accumulated wealth above a threshold and zakat al-fitr, a small fixed measure of food due before the festival ending Ramadan. Judaism's Reform movement records social justice work as the central religious obligation of the movement, argued from the prophetic writings rather than the legal ones, while its Orthodox and Hasidic communities record tzedakah as a duty of justice rather than an act of generosity, the atlas noting plainly that the word does not mean charity. Roman Catholicism records almsgiving as standing with prayer and fasting among the three works of penance the church names, given its shape by the corporal works of mercy. Six religions, one shared page naming three of them and three more each naming the duty for itself.

Where To Read More

• Almsgiving / CharityCharitable PracticesThe practice itself, tied for the strongest open convergence candidate at six religions
• DanaThe Way and the VirtuesOne page naming the tie to Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism at once
• BuddhismDharmic (Nontheistic)Dana stands first in every list of virtues; underwrote the monastic economy of Asia
• HinduismDharmic (Polytheistic)The Bhagavad Gita's own three grades of the gift, pure, passionate and dark
• SikhismDharmic (Monotheistic)Institutionalises the duty in vand chhakna and the langar; own record: share what you have
• LangarCharitable PracticesThe free community kitchen at every gurdwara, feeding tens of thousands daily
• ZakatCharitable PracticesIslam's own name for the duty, the third Pillar, in two distinct obligations
• IslamAbrahamic (Monotheistic)Zakat named directly as the third of the five defining obligations
• JudaismAbrahamic (Monotheistic)Carried through Reform's social-justice reading and Orthodox/Hasidic tzedakah
• Reform JudaismJudaismRecords social justice work as the movement's central religious obligation
• ChristianityAbrahamic (Monotheistic)Carried through Roman Catholicism's three works of penance
• Roman CatholicismChristianityRecords almsgiving among the three works of penance, shaped by the corporal works of mercy