WHAT DOES ZAKAT MEAN? Zakat, literally, holds numerous meanings: to profit, to purify, to increase, to be worthy, nice, mercy, truth, blessing, to extol and to exonerate are just to mention a few. All of these abundant meanings can be sighted in the Qur’an and hadith (sayings of the...
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF ZAKAT ON SOCIETY? (Part 2) Looking from a transactional perspective, it becomes evident that those who knowingly indulge in usury face the threat being doomed to a fate similar to that of Satan’s, vis-a-vis, expulsion from the mercy of God. Insisting...
ZAKAT (THE PRESCRIBED PURIFYING ALMS) The second important duty of servanthood is zakat. God’s Messenger, who depicts prayer as Islam’s pillar or support, describes zakat as its bridge for zakat not only brings the social strata closer to each other and fills in the gaps between...
ZAKAT LIBERATES FROM MATERIAL SLAVERY Zakat unfetters from the shackles of excessive love for material things. Islam, in fact, insists that a person be free from all sinister fetters and turn his heart purely in the direction of God, so to speak. For man, becoming a slave for...
ZAKAT PREVENTS HOARDING WEALTH Stockpiling, through stowing accumulated wealth, is virtually an economic menace to the greater part of society; thus, Islam’s negative view of it is no surprise. The unethical process of stocking away certain goods by certain people causes an abnormal plummeting in prices;...
ZAKAT IS PURITY Zakat is a process which yields a thorough purification. The provider, as well as the recipient, rid themselves of potential “dirt.” It forestalls a potential insurgency by the poor by eliminating any possible cause for social dissent and thus provides greater security for wealth...
ZAKAT IS A MEANS FOR MERCY Zakat is a major instrument in attracting the mercy of God, as those who achieve His eternal compassion are, justifiably, those who observe divine commands. Nurturing compassion for others through taking care of their needs is, no doubt, a means...
ZAKAT BRINGS ONE CLOSER TO GOD The minimum amount of zakat and its specific places of disbursement have unequivocally been delineated in the Qur’an. The person, through zakat, enters a perennially blissful path, attaining proximity to God, an aspect eloquently illustrated in the following Hadith Qudsi (the wording is the Prophet’s,...
DID ZAKAT EXIST IN RELIGIONS PRIOR TO ISLAM? Past prophets have also been under obligation to take humankind by the hand and show all the roads leading to physical and spiritual ascension; thus, they too have shown the precious path of zakat as part of a primordial effort...
WHAT ARE THE EVIDENCE FOR THE OBLIGATION OF ZAKAT? Zakat, with its specific nisab (required minimum wealth) and conditions, was decreed compulsory after the decree of fasting, in the second year of the Hijra, during the Medinan Period. Scores of verses pronounce, unambiguously, the obligation of zakat. Among...
WHEN WAS ZAKAT DECREED OBLIGATORY? It is a known fact that because the main area of religious focus during the Meccan period was the elucidation of the fundamental articles of faith, the jurisdictional decrees of Islam were predominantly made obligatory in the Medina Period. As an...
POSSESSIONS ARE SUBJECT TO ZAKAT: Part 1 WHICH POSSESSIONS ARE SUBJECT TO ZAKAT? The issue of trying to determine how much zakat needs to be spared from a certain item, and leveling what proportion, are all predicated upon the Qur’an and Sunna. Despite the Qur’an’s ardent emphasis on zakat, it has...
POSSESSIONS ARE SUBJECT TO ZAKAT: Part 2 The zakat on jewelry Even though other schools hold diverse views, the Hanafi scholars insist that zakat is imperative for jewelry equal to nisab. Thus, a woman possessing jewelry worth at least 85 grams of gold is compelled with the payment of zakat. Despite...
POSSESSIONS ARE SUBJECT TO ZAKAT: Part 3 HOW IS ZAKAT GIVEN ON UNMOVABLE ASSETS? The system of zakat, promulgated by Islam, not just for moveable assets but to cover all areas of possible investment, is an absolute social solution. By unmovable assets, we mean all types of real estate that...
POSSESSIONS ARE SUBJECT TO ZAKAT: Part 4 HOW IS ZAKAT GIVEN ON MOTOR VEHICLES? Included in a person’s basic necessities, in addition to a house, household items, clothes, and food are vehicles of transport. From this point of view, it initially becomes evident that no zakat is required on motor vehicles....
HOW IS ZAKAT PAID?: Part 1 CAN ZAKAT BE PAID BY WAY OF ESTIMATION? Islam permanently constructs its verdicts on robust foundations, thus guessing or estimating the amount of due zakat, a method prevalently resorted to in agriculture, is not desirable, simply because more often than not, the ultimate result...
HOW IS ZAKAT PAID?: Part 2 IS IT BETTER TO GIVE ZAKAT SECRETLY OR OPENLY? The comparative virtue of secretly and openly giving zakat or sadaqa differ according to place and time. Although it may be better, on occasions, to give openly, at other times, opting to pay secretly may provide a wiser...
HOW IS ZAKAT PAID?: Part 3 PAYMENT BEFORE THE DEADLINE The payment of zakat during Ramadan does not prevent it from being offered before this deadline. Also, there is no harm in offering zakat which is due between two Ramadans during the previous (first of these two) Ramadan. It is well...
RECIPIENTS OF ZAKAT: Part 1 WHO ARE THE RECIPIENTS OF ZAKAT? he Qur’an has explicitly delineated the recipients of zakat with the verse, “Alms are only for the poor and the needy, and those who collect them and for those whose hearts are to be reconciled, and for the ransom of...
RECIPIENTS OF ZAKAT: Part 2 MUALLAFA AL-QULUB (THOSE WHOSE HEARTS ARE TO BE RECONCILED WITH ISLAM) Another group deserving zakat is those whose hearts are in the grip of reconciliation with Islam. Depending on the intention of the various approaches, this group can be classified as follows: Those who, although Muslim,...
RECIPIENTS OF ZAKAT: Part 3 DEBTORS In normal circumstances, zakat should be given to a person in debt, irrespective of the person’s prior wealth. Although in one way, debtors can actually be classified among the poor and destitute, the main difference is that their unfortunate state is presumably only...
RECIPIENTS OF ZAKAT: Part 4 IS PERSONAL TRANSFER (TAMLIK ) A REQUIREMENT? Following this discussion of the Qur’an’s unequivocal exposition of the eight groups of recipients for zakat, the issue of tamlik (the process of handing over the zakat to the recipient in person) must be examined. The Hanafi School, especially, has laid...
RECIPIENTS OF ZAKAT: Part 5 WHO CANNOT BE GIVEN ZAKAT? Zakat is a financial deed whose benefactors and recipients have unequivocally been specified. In addition to declaring all the eight eligible categories, the essential references of Islam— Qur’an and Sunna—have also identified the groups which are not entitled to zakat. In...
WHAT IS NAWAIB (SUPPLEMENTARY ALMS FOR EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES)? Though comprising several meanings such as substitution, disaster, catastrophe and misfortune, nawaib is the name given to the gains acquired in addition to zakat during extraordinary circumstances such as the dispatch of troops, maintaining national security and so on. As the designated nisab (the...