Zakah, or the Obligatory Alms, is the most important pillar of Islam after Salah or prayer. However, the importance of the topic is not very well understood by many people. Generally, it is a duty of millionaires or rich people with abundant wealth. Some think that only limited items of wealth are subject to Zakah. Some others consider that Zakah is any trifle amount of charity that a rich man gives away on an individual basis to the beggars.
Therefore, the following is an attempt to highlight the subject of Zakah briefly and in its proper perspective. It is mainly derived from the Holy Qur’ān.
WHAT IS ZAKAH?
There is no equivalent for the Qur’ānic term Zakah in English, or for that matter in any other language. It is not merely alms, charity, nor tax. Zakah, as defined by Hammudah Abdalati, is a duty enjoined by God and undertaken by Muslims in the interest of society as a whole. The Qur’ānic word Zakah not only includes charity, alms, tithe, kindness, official tax, voluntary contributions, etc., but it also combines with all these God-mindedness and spiritual as well as moral motives. (Islam in Focus, p. 95)
Islam uses this very word, writes Sayyid Abul A’la Mawdudi, for the act of setting aside a portion of your wealth for the needy and poor. (Let Us Be Muslims, p. 197)
Technically, the term means “the annual amount in kind or coin which a Muslim with means must distribute among the rightful beneficiaries”. (Islam in Focus, p. 95)
ZAKAH IN HOLY QUR’ĀN
The word “al-Zakah” appears in the Qur’ān in 29 places, as mentioned by Muhammad Fuad Abdul Baqi in his famous book Al Muajam al Mufahras li Alfadh al Qur’ān al Kareem. Of these, it is mentioned in conjunction with “al Salah” in the same verse in 26 places. Read, for example, in Surah al Baqarah: Perform the Prayer, and give the Alms, and bow with those who bow (2: 43)
This clearly reveals the significance of this subject in Islam. We should not differentiate between Salah and Zakah, in the sense that a Muslim can never look down at Zakah in terms of its importance. There is a hadith reported by al Bukhari saying that “Zakah is a duty of each Muslim” as quoted by Dr. Yusuf al Qaradhawi in his well known work Fiqh al Zakah (p. 509)
KINDS OF WEALTH SUBJECT TO ZAKAH
The Zakah is obligatory on all kinds of wealth a Muslim has in possession. Look what the Qur’ān says in this respect:
“O believers! Spend out of the good things, which you have earned, and out of that which We bring forth for you from the earth. And intend not to spend the bad thereof “(Al-Baqarah 267)
“Eat of their fruits when it comes to fruition and give their due on the harvest day.”
(Al-An’am 141)
“And those who hoard up treasures of gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah-unto them give the good tidings of a painful punishment, on the day when that (hoarded wealth) shall be heated in the fire of Hell and their foreheads and their sides and their backs will be branded therewith: Here is what you had hoarded up for yourselves. Taste, then, your hoarded treasures” (Al-Tawbah 34-35)
Take of their wealth the Alms, so that you may cleanse them thereby and purify and develop them (Al-Tawbah 103)
In fact, a person who denies Zakah can no longer be considered a Muslim: “And woe unto the idolaters who give not the Alms and who deny the life to come (Fussilat 6-7)
When certain Muslims refused to pay Zakah to the Islamic state during Caliph Abu Bakr’s reign, he announced emphatically: “By God! If these people withhold the Alms they used to give during the time of the Prophet, Allah’s blessings and peace be to him, even if it be a piece of rope by which a camel is tied, I shall raise my sword against them.” (Abu Dawud). And all companions of the Prophet unanimously accepted his ruling.
A SINCERE ACT OF WORSHIP
One should spend his Zakah out of love for Allah and with a sincere mind wishing for the pleasure of Allah. “Never shall you attain piety unless you spend (in the way of Allah) out of what you love.” (Al-’Imran 92)
“Whatever good you spend, it is for your own good. And spend not but only for seeking Allah’s countenance. Thus whatever good you spend shall be recompensed in full and you will not be wronged” (Al-Baqarah 272)
RIGHT OF THE POOR AND THE NEEDY
The Qur’ān tells us: “And in their wealth there is a right for beggars and the have-nots.”
(Al-Dhariyat 19)
REAL BENEFICIARIES OF ZAKAH
Basically the Qur’ān has categorised them into eight:
“The Alms are only for the poor and needy, and those who administer them, and those whose hearts are to be reconciled, and for freeing the necks from bondage, and for the overburdened debtors, and in the way of Allah, and for the traveller: so ordains Allah; and Allah is All-knowing, and All-wise.” (Al-Tawbah 60)
ANY OTHER CHARITY OTHER THAN ZAKAH?
The Qur’ān urges a Muslim to spend his money in addition to Zakah to uplift the weaker section of the society.
“It is not true piety that you turn your faces to the East and the West. But truly pious is he who believes in Allah, and the Last Day, and the angels, and the Book, and the prophets; and gives his wealth, for love of Him, to kinsmen, and to orphans, and the needy, and the wayfarer, and the beggars, and to set human beings free from bondage; and performs the Prayer and gives the Alms. And they who keep their promises whenever they promise, and are patient in misfortune and hardship and time of peril. It is they who have proved themselves true, and they are the God-conscious.” (Al-Baqarah 177)
“They ask you what they should spend. Say: Whatever you can spare.” (Al-Baqarah 219)
Before concluding our discussion, let us read together this verse from the Qur’ān: “There you are! You are called upon to spend in the way of Allah, yet some among you are niggardly. Whoso is niggardly is niggardly only to his own soul. Allah is the All-sufficient; you are the needy ones. If you turn away (from spending in the way of Allah), He will substitute another people instead of you, then they will not be the like of you.”(Muhammad 38)
[The writer is associated with Faculty of Islamic Economics and Finance (FIEF), Al Jamia Al Islamiya, Santapuram, Kerala, India]