Can you please explain why the Prophet (sws) forbade Sadqah for his family members. What I want to know is whether this rule applies today. If it does, then who are the people who fall in this category?
It seems that this was merely a precautionary measure adopted by the Prophet (sws) lest people should start giving preference to his family in case they had to choose between a person who deserved charity from among his own family and someone else.
Perhaps the Prophet (sws) also had before him the evil that had crept into the family of the Prophet Moses (sws). Moses’ family/tribe was called the Levites. It had been divinely ordained that the Levites would receive the tithe (1/10 th share of the harvest)1. This had made them corrupt. The Prophet (sws) thinking that the same fate might befall his family, forbade Sadqah for them.
This of course was a directive of those times. It has no link with the survivors of the Prophet’s family found today.
1.I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the Tent of Meeting. From now on the Israelites must not go near the Tent of Meeting, or they will bear the consequences of their sin and will die …. They will receive no inheritance among the Israelites. Instead, I give to the Levites as their inheritance the tithes the Israelites present as an offering to the Lord. (Numbers, 18:21-4)