Let
Us Be Muslim Part-IV
(ZAKAH)
By
Sayyid Abul A'la Maududi
Contents
1
Fundamental Importance
of Zaka
2 Meaning of
Zakah
3 Zakah,
a Social Institution
4
General
Principles of Spendin
5 Specific
Injunctions of Zakah
Chapter
1
Fundamental
Importance Of Zakah
Meaning
of Zakah
Zakah, a Test
Early Practice
Categorical Imperative
The Sign of Faith
Foundation of the Ummah
Conditions for God’s Help
Warning to Muslims
Fate of Zakah Defaulters
Brothers
in Islam! After the Prayer, Zakah or the
Alms-giving is the most important pillar of Islam.
The Qur’an makes the importance of Zakah
abundantly clear, although in popular imagination
the Fasting is ranked after the Prayer, because it
is usually so listed. On these two great pillars
rests the edifice of Islam. If they are demolished
Islam can hardly survive.
Primarily
the word Zakah means purity and cleanliness. Islam
uses this very word for the act of setting aside a
portion of your wealth for the needy and poor.
This is very significant. For it means that it is
by ‘giving’ to others that your wealth is
purified. And, along with it, your own self (nafs)
too. If another does not give to the poor and
needy what is their due, his wealth remains
impure. And that person’s inner self, too, is
impure. His heart is too narrow; it is filled with
ingratitude. He is too selfish. He almost worships
wealth. While God has been kind and generous to
give him wealth in excess of his requirements, it
pains him to render what is His due. How can we
expect such a person ever to do some good with the
sole motive of pleasing God, or make any sacrifice
for the sake of Islam and his faith?
By
enjoining upon us to pay Zakah, Allah has put
every one of us to the test. Only if you willingly
take out what you must for the sake of God from
that wealth which exceeds your requirements, and
help with it the poor and needy, you are worthy in
the sight of Allah and deserve to be counted among
the faithful. If you do not sacrifice even this
little you are totally unfit to be valued by Allah
and accepted as a truly faithful servant. You are
then like a rotten limb which is better cut off to
stop it decomposing the whole body. After the
death of the Prophet, blessings and peace be on
him, some tribes refused to give Zakah; Abu
Bakr declared war on them, as if they had disowned
Islam and turned Kafirs, even though they
performed the Prayer and professed faith in Allah
and the Messenger. For, they were like a rotten
limb. Islam is an integral whole of which the
Almsgiving is an essential part; without the
Almsgiving, even Salah, Sawm and Iman lose their
credibility.
Study
the Qur’an and you will find that from the
earliest times the Prayer and the Almsgiving were
laid down upon the followers of all the
prophets. Speaking about the Prophet Ibrahim, his
progeny and followers, it is said:
And
We made them leaders [of men] who would guide by
Our command, and We instructed them to do good
deeds, and to perform the Prayer, and to give the
Alms, and Us alone did they serve (al-Anbiya’
21: 73).
About
the Prophet Isma’il is said:
He
used to enjoin upon his people the performing of
the Prayer and the Almsgiving and he found favour
with his Lord (Maryam 19: 55).
The
Prophet Musa once prayed thus for his
people:
My Lord! Bestow upon us good, in this world, as
also in the world to come.
Do
you know that Allah said in reply?
With My punishment do I smite whom I will; but My
mercy embraces everything, and I shall ordain it
for those who are God-conscious and give the Alms
and who believe in Our messages (al-A‘raf
7156).
Since
the Prophet Musa’s followers were obsessed with
worldly gains then, as so many among us are today,
even prophet as distinguished as Musa was plainly
told that the mercy he had asked for would be
granted to only those who observed the Almsgiving;
those who did not would be deprived of it, and
punished.
Similarly,
even after the Prophet Musa died, the Israelites
were repeatedly admonished about their niggardly
and stingy behaviour. Time and again covenants
were taken from them to worship none save Allah
and to be steadfast in Salah and Zakah (al-Baqarah
2: 85) till ultimately clear warning was
given:
And
said God: I surely shall be with you! If you
perform the Prayer, give the Alms, and believe in
My Messengers and Support them, and lend to God a
good loan, surely I will efface your bad deeds
(al-Ma’idah 5: 12).
Before
the Prophet Muhammad, blessings and peace be on
him, the last prophet was ‘Isa. He, too, was
ordained by Allah to perform the Prayer and give
the Alms:
He
has blessed me, wherever I may be; and He has
enjoined upon me the Prayer and the Alms so long
as I live (Maryam 19: 31).
Thus
from the earliest times Islam has always been
founded on these two acts of worship: the Prayer
and the Almsgiving. People who believed in God
were never exempted from them.
What
important position do these two acts of worship
occupy in the Shari’ah of the Prophet Muhammed,
blessings and peace be on him? Open the Qur’an
and see what you read in the very beginning.
This
is the Book of God, there is no doubt in it. It is
a guide for the God-conscious who believe in the
Unseen and perform the Prayer and spend of that We
have provided them… It is they who follow
the guidance from their Lord, and it is they who
are successful (al-Baqarah 2:L 2---3).
That
is to say, those who have no faith and do not
adhere to the Prayer and the Almsgiving will
neither receive guidance nor achieve success in
life. A little later, in the same Surah, we again
read:
Perform the Prayer, and give the Alms, and bow
with those who bow (al-Baqarah 2: 43).
Look at some of the many more similar Ayahs which
stress performing the Prayer and the Almsgiving.
It
is not true piety that you turn your faces to the
East and the West. But truly pious is he who
believes in God, and the Last Day, and the angles,
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 2: 177).
Further
we Read:
Indeed, your true friend is only God, and His
Messenger, and the believers who perform the
Prayer and give the Alms and bow them down. For,
whoso makes God his Friend, and His Messenger, and
the believers, it is they, the party of God, who
shall triumph! (al-Ma’idah 5: 55---6).
The
Sign of Faith
Great are the truths expounded here. First,
that only those can be taken as true
believers who perform the Prayers and give the
Alms. Those who disregard these two fundamental
teachings are not true in their profession of
faith. Second, that Allah, the
Messenger and the believers form one separate
entity---they are like one party---and it is the
duty of a true believer to join this party,
superseding and severing all other ties of
loyalty. If a Muslim is loyal to a person, or his
ally, who is outside this party, whether father,
brother, son, neighbour,
countryman or anyone else, and maintains with him
a relationship of love and mutual support, he
should not expect Allah to love and help him.
Finally, that believers can gain
ascendancy on earth only when they become one---in
their love and loyalty, friendship and
fidelity---with Allah, His Messenger and
other believers.
Foundation
of the Ummah
Let
us read the Qur’an further where Allah commands
Muslims to wage war against those who rebel
against God and take gods beside Him:
Yet if they turn [to God] from disbelief and
polytheism, and perform the Prayer and give the
Alms, they become your brothers in faith (al-Tawbah
9:11).
What should make Muslims accept those rebels
against God as their brothers in faith, as members
of the Ummah? Merely turning aside from rebellion
and polytheism is not enough. They should also
perform the Prayer, as well as give the Alms, as a
sign of true repentance and conversion. Only then
war against them is to be ceased and they become
brothers in faith.
A little further, again we read:
And
the believers, the men and the women, are friends
one of the other: they enjoin the doing of
right and forbid the doing of wrong, and they
perform the Prayer, and they give the Alms and
they obey God and His Messenger. It is they upon
whom God will have mercy (al-Tawbah 9:
71).
Listen
carefully: only those can become Muslims,
brothers united with one another, who declare
their faith, and then perform the Prayer and give
the Alms. These three elements---Imam, Salah and
Zakah---constitute the basis to bring the
community of believers into existence. Only in
such a community should loyalty, friendship and
mutual support supersede all other loyalties and
ties. Those who refuse to accept or who put aside
these three principles in fact fall outside this
community, though they may be Muslim in name. To
give them love and loyalty is to violate the law
of Allah and disrupt the party of Allah. How then
can those who accept such behaviour expect to be
in the ascendancy?
Conditions
for God’s Help
Still
further we read;
And God will most certainly help him who helps
Him. Surely God is All-strong, All-mighty. Those
who, if we give them power in the land, perform
the Prayer and give the Alms and enjoin the right
and forbid the wrong. Unto God belongs the outcome
of all affairs (al-Hajj 22: 40---1).
Here,
Muslims have been served with the same notice as
was served on the Israelites. They were told: ‘I
shall be with you so long as you perform the
Prayer, give the Alms and support My Messengers in
their mission. The moment you give up this work I
shall withdraw My support from you’. Similarly,
to the Muslims Allah says: ‘If after
gaining power on earth you perform the Prayer,
give the Alms, make the good to grow and eliminate
the evil, only then I will be your helper---and
who can subdue him whom I support. But if you turn
away from the Almsgiving and, after acquiring
power on earth, promote evil instead of good, curb
good instead of evil, make your own word prevail
instead of Mine, and consider collecting taxes and
building palatial houses as the sole purpose of
your rule on earth, then, listen: My support will
not be with you; Satan alone will be your
supporter’.
Warning
to Muslims
Shall
we not heed this warning?
The
Israelites took their warning as an empty threat,
and they paid the consequences. They are still
scattered across the earth and, although their
coffers are brimming with wealth, their money is
of no use to them. By adopting the evil
system of interest instead of Zakah, and by
turning away from Salah, they have invoked
Allah’s curse.
We
Muslims have been given the very warnings by God
as He had given to the Israelites. And what has
our conduct been? We, too, have
neglected Salah and Zakah. We forsook our
duty to sue our power in spreading good and
eliminating evil. And the consequences have
been no different. We have been dislodged from
power. We have become the victims of tyrants
throughout the world. We are weak and live in
servitude wherever we are found. Yet despite such
clear warnings, and such manifest consequences,
some Muslims propose the creation of economies
based on interest and other man-made ideologies
like capitalism and socialism. If ever they
did implement their proposals, the disgrace and
ignominy would overtake Muslims and they would
suffer as the Israelites have suffered.
What
immense blessings does Zakah have? That, brothers,
I shall explain later, but let me emphasize how
the very fact of our being Muslims depends on
paying Zakah. Many Muslims think, and some
of their Ulema, too, assure them, that they remain
true Muslims even though they may not perform the
Prayer and give the Alms. But the Qur’an clearly
rejects such an idea. It states beyond doubt
that the affirmation of the Kalimah Tayyibah has
no weight unless accompanied by the performance of
the Prayer and the giving of the Alms. Abu
Bakr, the first Caliph, as I have stated above,
had no hesitation in taking up arms against
Muslims who believed in God and the Messenger and
performed Salah, but refused to give Zakah. Some
of the Prhophet’s companions, initially, had
some confusion whether war could be waged against
them, but not Abu Bakr, who categorically stated:
By
God! If these people withhold the Alms they used
to give during the time of the Prophet, Allah’s
blessings and peace be on him, even if it be a
piece of rope by which a camel is tied, I shall
raise my sword against them (Abu Da’ud).
His
arguments convinced all the Companions and
they unitedly accepted that Jihad must be waged
against those who refuse to give the Alms. In the
Qur’an, too, it is stated that refusal to give
the Alms is the mark of idolators who deny the
Hereafter:
And
woe unto the idolators who give not the Alms and
who deny the life to come (Fussilat 41:
6---7).
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Chapter
2
Meaning of Zakah
Becoming
God’s Friends
Wisdom and Understanding ----Moral
Strength---Obedience and
Dutifulness---Sacrificing Wealth
Requirements for Admittance to
God’s Friendship
Large-heartedness---Magnanimity---Selflessness-Purity
of Heart---Giving in Adversity---Giving in
–
Affluence---Giving
for Allah Alone---Stressing Benevolence---Amassing
Wealth---Making Excuses---Spending Reluctantly and
Resentfully---Considering Spending a
Fine—Niggardliness
The
Real Test
Brothers
in Islam! It is abundantly clear that Zakah,
the Almsgiving, is no less important than
performing Salah, the Prayer. Indeed those
who refuse to pay Zakah fall outside the pale of
Islam; against them even Jihad may be waged as did
the Companions. But why is Zakah so crucially
important? What is its true meaning? To
these questions I shall address myself now.
Let
us first look at another important question:
How can one come near to God and be His friend?
What makes one worthy of being included in His
party? Only some among you may be so naïve
as to befriend a person without considering
whether he is really fit to be a friend or not.
Those who do so are likely to be deceived in their
friendship and face disappointments because of it.
But if you are wise and prudent, you always
choose your friends carefully after ascertaining
whether they are true and loyal friends or not.
Allah
is the Wisest and most Prudent of all. Will
He ever make anybody His friend, or include him in
His party, or accord him a place of honour in His
sight, without first testing and trying Him?
Obviously not. Of all the millions of people on
earth, by no means everyone is fit to deserve a
place in God’s party, be made his vicegerent, or
accorded a place near Him in the eternal life. He
must see if the person concerned meets the
necessary criteria. Not because Allah is unaware,
but because, through this process of testing and
trial, anyone who is true in his faith is shaped
and uplifted to become worthy of God’s highest
rewards and honours.
What,
then, are these criteria and the tests?
Wisdom
and Understanding
First
of all Allah tests your wisdom and understanding.
You should possess the proper understanding. You
should be able to conclude from all the evidence
around you that none but Allah alone is your
Creator and Lord; no one but He can sustain you,
hear your prayers and help you. You should be able
recognize the revelation and message which has
come from him. You should also be able to
distinguish between a true prophet and a false
claiment to prophethood and between their morals,
dealing, teachings and achievements. You should
also be able to discern true guidance from the
false.
Only
if you pass this test, will Allah include you in
His party. If not, you will be left to your own
devices.
Moral
Strength
Then comes the second examination: here your moral
strength is tested.
To
show that you have the necessary moral strength
you must demonstrate that, after having recognized
and accepted truth and righteousness, you have the
will to live by them and renounce the ways of
falsehood and evil. You must further prove that
you are no more slaves to your own physical
desires, nor do you blindly follow the practices
and customs of your ancestors and families, the
values and norms of your cultures and societies.
Neither should you knowingly accept anything
contrary to God’s guidance, nor reject anything
it tells you.
If
you fail this examination you are refused
admission into Allah’s party, for He picks only
those whose definition is:
So
whosoever rejects false gods and believes in God
has indeed taken hold of the most firm handle
which shall never break (al- Baqarah 2:
256).
Obedience
and Dutifulness
Once
you pass this examination you appear in a third
examination. This time your obedience and sense of
duty are put to the test. Here, you are told:
Whenever We call you, you must come. Give up the
warmth and comfort of your sleep, but come and
present yourself before Us. Interrupt your
work, but come you must to Our work. On our
command remain hungry and thirsty from morning
till evening and abstain from gratifying your
physical desires. Give up your pleasures, forgo
your profits, sacrifice your interests, but
discharge your duty. Whether hot or cold, easy of
difficult, in all circumstances, rush when
summoned to duty, disregarding every difficulty,
surmounting every obstacle.
God’s
summons must be answered, no matter whatever the
odds, whatever the temptations, however long and
hard the road. If you fail this examination you
are not worthy of God’s trust. If you pass it,
however, you will have shown that you can be
expected to obey all laws which have been given
you by God in all circumstances, whether they
appear to your advantage or disadvantage.
Sacrificing
Wealth
Even
now, you cannot be reckoned entirely worthy of
employment in the service of God. One more test
remains: that you are not narrow-hearted and
niggardly. That you are not like those who make
big claims of love and friendship but when
required to part with their wealth for the sake of
the so-called friend, they fall Back and begin to
make excuses. That you are not like those Hindus
who worship a cow, but when it tries to eat some
of their food, they hit it and push it away.
While
anyone with a little common sense would not
befriend such a selfish and mean money-worshipper,
a large-hearted person would not like even to sit
Next to such a despicable creature. So how can the
Most-generous God, the Most High and Exalted, who
showers His treasures incessantly and lavishly on
His creatures, admit you to His friendship? Are
you not then guilty of refusing to spend the very
money in the cause of God, which He gave you in
the first place? And how can that God who is
All-wise trust such a person for His party whose
friendship is confined to mere verbal jugglery?
If
you fail this fourth examination you are told
unequivocally: ‘Go away. There is no room for
you in Allah’s party. You cannot discharge that
great responsibility which is entrusted to a
vicegerent, of God. For in this party only those
are included who sacrifice their love of life,
wealth, Children, family, country, everything for
the love of God’.
Never
shall you attain piety unless you spend [in the
way of God] out of what you love (Al ‘Imran
3: 92).
Requirements
for Admittance of God’s Friendship
To
be admitted into the party of Allah, you must,
therefore, possess some fundamental qualities,
with respect to your wealth.
Large-heartedness
First:
The niggardly and stingy have no place in God’s
party; only the large-hearted who give willingly
and abundantly in His way deserve to be admitted.
And
whoso is saved from the avarice of his inner self,
it is they who are successful (al-Hashr 59:
9).
Magnanimity
Second:
You must be magnanimous,
by a greatness of heart that rises above every
feeling pertaining to yourselves, above resentment
against any injury or insult. If somebody causes
you harm or grief, you must still not, for the
sake of Allah, refuse him food and clothing nor
should you hesitate to help him when he is in
trouble:
Let
not those of you who possess bounty and plenty
among you swear not to give to the kinsmen and the
poor, and those who have emigrated in the way of
God. Let them pardon and forgive and show
indulgence. Yearn you not that God should forgive
you? God is All-forgiving, the Mercy-giving (al-Nur
24: 22).
Selflessness
Third:
You must be selfless, seeking no reward, placing
no burden.
They
give good, for love of Him, to the needy and the
orphan and the prisoner, [saying]: we feed
you only for the sake of God. We desire no reward
from you, nor thanks (al-Dahr 76:
8---9).
Purity
of Heart
Fourth:
You must have such purity of heart that you give
away, in the cause of Allah, only your most
treasured possessions, realizing full well
that they are God’s and not your:
O
believers! Spend out of the good things you
have earned, and of that We bring forth for you
from the earth. And intend not to spend the bad
thereof (al-Baqarah 2: 267).
Giving
in Adversity
Fifth:
Even when in poverty and adversity, you should not
hesitate to deny yourselves your basic needs to
find money to spend in Allah’s cause and in
helping His creatures.
Vie
with one another, hastening to forgiveness from
your Lord, and towards a Paradise as wide as are
the heavens and earth, prepared for the
God-conscious who spend both in prosperity and in
adversity (Al ‘Imran 3:
133).
Giving
in Affluence
Sixth:
In affluence and
prosperity, too, you must not forget God.
While living in luxury and comfort you must
remember Him and spend your wealth in His way.
O
believers! Let not your possessions neither
your children divert you from God’s remembrance;
whoso does so, it they who are the losers (al-Munafiqun
63: 9).
Giving
For Allah Alone
Seventh:
Your faith must be strong that whatever is spent
in the cause of Allah is never wasted, that God
will give you better and abundant rewards for it,
both in this world and in the a Hereafter. You
should, therefore, spend your money for one motive
alone: to earn the pleasure of Allah. Whether
people know about your generosity or not, whether
someone has thanked you or not, should not matter
at all.
Whatever
good you spend, it is for your own good. And spend
not but only for seeking God’s countenance. Thus
whatever good you spend shall be recompensed in
full and you will not be wronged (al-Baqarah
2: 272).
These
seven qualities are essential if you aspire to
belong to Allah’s party; without them you cannot
claim to be His friends. They constitute not only
a test of your morals but a more severe and
revealing test of your Iman. When called upon to
give your wealth for the sole purpose of earning
God’s pleasure, if you avoid spending, regard
such spending as a fine imposed on you, make
excuses to wriggle out of it, or, when you spend,
try to lessen your pain by stressing your
benevolence upon the recipients, then indeed your
faith in God and in the Hereafter is not true. The
same is true if you think that whatever you spend
in the cause of God is wasted; if luxury, comfort,
enjoyment and fame are all dearer to you than God
and His pleasure; if you think that all that
matters is confined to the present life which only
is real; if you believe that money should be spend
only for self-glorification. The Qur’an clearly
states that all these things in a person make his
spending unacceptable in the sight of Allah. He
claims to possess Iman, but in fact he is a
hypocrite. Note what the Qur’an says:
Stressing
Benevolence
O
believers! Void not your charitable deeds by
stressing your own benevolence and by hurting [the
recipients], like the one who spends his wealth
only to show off to people and believes not in God
and the Last Day (al-Baqarah 2: 264).
Amassing
Wealth
They
who hoard up treasures of gold and silver and
spend them not in the way of God, unto them give
the good tidings of a painful punishment (al-Tawbah
9: 34).
Making
Excuses
Those
who believe in God and the Last Day ask no leave
of you, lest they may strive with their wealth and
their lives. God knows the God-conscious.
Only those ask leave of you who believe not in God
and the Last Day, and whose hearts are filled with
doubt, so that in their doubt they waver (al-Tawbah
9: 44---5).
Spending
Reluctantly and Resentfully
And
nothing prevents that their spendings be accepted
from them, but that they believe not in God and
His Messenger, and perform not the Prayer save
reluctantly and spend not without resenting
(al-Tawbah 9: 54).
The
hypocrites, the men and the women, are as one
another. They enjoin the doing of wrong and forbid
the doing of right, and they keep their hands shut
[from spending in the way of God]. They have
forgotten God, so He has forgotten them. The
hypocrites, it is they who are iniquitous (al-Tawbah
9: 67).
Considering
Spending a Fine
Some
of the Bedouins [hypocrites] take what they spend
[in the way of God] for a fine (al-Tawbah 9:
98).
Niggardliness
There
you are! You are called upon to spend in the
way of God yet some among you are niggardly. Whoso
is niggardly is niggardly only to his own soul.
God is the All-sufficient; you are the needy ones.
If you turn away [from spending in the way of
God], He will substitute another people instead of
you, then they will not be the likes of you
(Muhammad 47: 38).
The
Real Test
This,
brothers, is the real meaning and import of Zakah
which sustains the edifice of Islam. Do not
consider it a tax like the tax levied by
governments. It is the basis and essence of Islam
and its very life-blood. It tests your faith and
strengthens it. Just as one progresses from one
examination to another until he graduates on
passing his final examination to another until he
graduates on passing his final examination, so are
there several examinations to test your
willingness to sacrifice your wealth. Even then
this is not the final test. A much harder test is
that of sacrificing life, to which I shall come
later. That is the final component of the
party of Allah.
Some
people today say that Muslims have been told
enough how to spend money and to squander wealth
and that, in their present state of poverty, they
ought to be taught how to earn and amass money.
These people are unable to understand that giving
in the way of Allah, which arouses their
displeasure, is the very spirit of Islam. What has
plunged Muslims into their present ignominy is the
lack of this spirit, not an abundance of it. This
spirit was not the cause of their decline, but
they declined because this spirit had evaporated.
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Chapter
3
Zakah,
a Social Institution
Allah’s
Unique Beneficence
Man’s Selfishness
What Selfishness Leads To
Individual and Collective Welfare
What is the Solution?
Brothers
in Islam! Infaq fi Sabili ‘llah
(spending in the way of God) is the phrase
frequently used in the Qur’an to denote Zakah,
and other acts of charity (sadaqat). Very
often Allah invites us to ‘give Him a loan’,
that is whatever we spend in His cause He will
treat as a loan which He will return with huge
growth in our original investment.
What
does this mean? Does it mean, for example,
that the Lord of all the worlds is (God forbid)
your dependent? That He needs to borrow from us?
That He needs to beg from us? How can such a
thing be! Is it not by His largesse alone
that our lives are sustained? Does not our
food and everything else we possess, rich and poor
alike, all come from Him as a gift? Beggars,
millionaires and multimillionaires: we are
all His dependants. So how can He need to ask us
for a loan?
The
answer lies not in terms of God’s needs, for He
had none, but in His love and unbounded generosity
towards you. When He ‘ask’ for a loan what He
purports to say is this: This expenditure is
made in My cause and I accept it as My obligation
to repay it. The needy of your communities have no
way of repaying you, so I will do it on their
behalf. When you help your poor relatives, the
obligation to repay is not on them but on Me; I
will recompense you for this favour. Whatever you
give to orphans, widows, the disabled and the
homeless, will be entered against My account. If
your borrowers are unable to pay you Back, do not
threaten them with prison, do not make them sell
off their possessions, do not make their wives and
children homeless by evicting them, your debt is
not owed by them but by Me. If they return the
capital I will pay interest on it, and if they
cannot do even this, I will pay you both capital
and interest. Indeed every time you spend
something for your social welfare, for the good
and betterment of your fellow beings. I shall
consider it as a ‘favour’ to Me---even though
you yourselves will benefit. Every single penny of
it I shall return to your along with huge,
unimaginable profits.
Imagine
how generously the Most-merciful, the King of
kings treats you. Although all that you possess is
a gift from Him and belongs to Him alone, and
although whatever you spend, you spend on your own
families, relatives, communities, or on your
collective well-being, and not on Him, He
nevertheless says: You have given it to Me;
I will return it to you.
Allah
is indeed great: the Lord of the worlds
alone could exhibit such sublime generosity; no
human being can ever conceive of approaching it.
Man’s
Selfishness
Why
has Allah chosen to speak in such a manner? Why
does He arouse in us the spirit of charity and
generosity through such logic? The more you
reflect on this the more you will become convinced
of the power and purity of Islamic teaching.
Your hearts will grow in the faith that such
matchless sublimity could emanate from none but
God.
Man
by his very nature is capable of doing wrong and
acting without reason. His perceptions are
limited; he is narrow-minded; he finds it
difficult to embrace lofty ideals. He is selfish,
and his vision of human interest, too, does not
embrace any wider context. By nature he is imbued
with impatience and love of what is immediately at
hand. ‘Man is created out of haste’ (Al-Ambiyaa’
21: 37). If he does not see any immediate
results and benefits in something, he thinks that
it has no value, nor does he consider it worth
doing. He is unable to see his actions in a wider
or long term context or to judge the benefits
which may accrue to Him from them.
This
inherent weakness of looking to selfish interests
and that, too, in a very narrow perspective, leads
him to be constantly on the look-out for quick,
specific and personal gain from what he does. He
says, for example: I am the owner and sole
beneficiary of whatever I have earned or whatever
I have inherited, and nobody has a share in it. It
should, therefore, be spent on fulfilling my needs
and desires, on providing me comfort, physical
pleasures and luxuries. If spent otherwise, it
should at least bring me fame and honour:
some title, some high office, some devotion, some
admiration and applause. There is no point in
parting with my money if it does not achieve these
things.
Why
should I take on the responsibility of helping an
orphan? His father should have made provision for
him. And why should I bother about the problems a
widow may have? Her husband ought to have thought
earlier about what would happen to her if he died.
What has it got to do with me if a travellers is
in trouble? He should never have left home without
having made all the necessary arrangements. People
in trouble should help themselves; Allah has
given them hands and feet the same as me. And if I
do give anyone some money, I must give it as a
loan, on which I shall expect to receive interest.
Otherwise my money is not working for me. I could
have better used it to build a new house or buy a
new car or for investment purposes. If the
borrower is going to benefit why should not I as
well?
What
Selfishness Leads To
A
rich man with such a selfish attitude is like a
snake guarding treasure. If he spends anythings,
he will only spend or lend for personal
aggrandizement or to make more money. He will, in
fact, fleece a poor man by taking Back from him
more than he has given him. If he gives anything
to a destitute person, he will stress upon him his
favours and will insult and humiliate him to
destroy his self-respect. If he has to take part
in some social work, his first concern will
be to examine how much will his personal benefit
from it be. And if he can see no personal gain,
his support will not be forthcoming.
What
are the consequences of this selfish disposition?
It is fatal not only for community life, but
ultimately for that person himself. When
selfishness prevails, wealth concentrates in a few
hands and the poor become poorer. The rich, on the
strength of the money they already have, continue
to draw more money into their coffers, while the
poor find life harder and harder.
A
poverty-stricken society breeds various eveils.
General health declines and people become less
resistant to illness. Productivity dwindles.
Unemployment rises. Ignorance increases. Morals
deteriorate. People turn to crime to fulfil their
basic needs. And, ultimately, they loot and
plunder. Widespread unrest and rioting break out.
The rich are murders and their houses burnt and
ransacked. Wholesale destruction follows and
society collapses.
Individuals
and Collective Welfare
You
can now see how the well-being of every individual
is iNextricably linked with that of the society at
large. If you help your neighbours with the wealth
you possess, then that wealth will circulate and
come Back to you bringing many more benefits. But
if you keep it selfishly to yourselves or spend it
only for your own personal benefit, it will
ultimately dwindle and lose its value.
For
example, if you bring up an orphan and give
him an education which enables him to become an
earning member of the community, you will have
contributed to the overall wealth of the
community, and, as members of it yourselves, you
will also share in the increased prosperity your
action has generated, even though you may not be
able to put it on your balance sheet. But if you
say, ‘Why should we help him, his father should
have left something for him; then he will never be
able to contribute anything to the wealth of the
community; In fact, he may well become a
professional criminal and burgle your own houses.
By refusing to help make this person a useful
member of society, you would have harmed not only
him but yourselves too.
If
you look around, you will see that people who
spend money selflessly for the good of the
community tend to flourish: the wealth that
is created returns with countless extra benefits
to the pockets from which it came. And people who
keep their money to themselves through selfishness
and avarice, apparently increasing their wealth by
lending at interest, or by indulging in
exploitation, are in reality, in the long term,
ensuring their own destruction. This is the law
which Allah has described thus:
God
deprive interest of all blessing, but charitable
deeds he blesses to increase with interest (al-Baqarah
2: 276).
And
whatever you give on interest, so that it may
increase through people’s wealth, increases not
with God; whereas what you give in Alms,
seeking God’s countenance, it is they who shall
receive recompense manifold (al-Rum 30:
39).
Man’s
selfishness and ignorance all too often prevent
him grasping this reality and acting on it. Being
a slave of material things, he sees only the money
which jingles in his pocket and the savings which
continue to grow in his pocket and the savings
which continue to grow in his bank account.
Spending money makes sense to him only if he can
see an immediate and direct return from it. He
attaches no value to the benefits which will
accrue to him by helping the society in which he
lives. He is unable to comprehend how the wealth
given away for the sake of God alone grows
manifold. He is unable to unravel the knot of his
ignorance.
That
is how we have arrived at the position we find
ourselves in today. On the one hand is the world
of capitalists which continues to grow through
interest and exorbitant profiteering, which brings
in its wake far more problems than can be solved
by the apparent continuing growth in wealth. And
on the other hand, groups have emerged, their
hearts aflame with jealousy, who are bent upon not
only emptying the coffers of capitalists but, with
it, also destroying the whole basis of human
culture and civilization.
What
is the Solution?
The
only solution to this problem is that given by
that All-wise God who has guided us through the
Qur’an. Faith in Allah and faith in the Last Day
constitute the keys to changing this situation. If
you have faith in Allah and believe that He is the
real Lord of all the treasures on earth and in the
heavens, that sovereignty over human affairs rests
in Him only, and that He will reward or punish you
all in the Hereafter according to your deeds, down
to the minutest atom, you did on earth---if you
believe all these things, putting your trust in
God rather than your own inclinations, will and
strength to spend your wealth will inevitably
follow. You will spend as and when directed by
God, disregarding the question of profit and loss
which you will leave entirely to Him. Whatever you
spend in this way will be in fact a present
to God Himself and God will surely know it and
acknowledge it ---whether men recognize it or
not---either in the Hereafter or both in this
world and the Next.
Go
to Top
Chapter
4
General
Principles Of Spending
Remembrance
of God
Spending in the Way of Allah
Essential Prerequisite to Guidance
Spend Only to Please Allah
Do Not Stress Your Benevolence
Give Only Good Things’
Guard Against Misuse
Do Not Harass Debtors
Take Due Care of Family
Give to the Deserving
Brothers
in Islam! There is one significant characteristic
of the God-given Law (Shari’ah). First,
certain general instructions and teachings are
laid down in respect of any particular virtue or
good deed. These help people mould and shape their
lives and attitudes. These general teachings are
then translated into specific injunctions, which
are easy to observe.
Remembrance
of God
For
example, take the remembrance of Allah. It is an
act of virtue, in fact the greatest virtue and the
basis of all good deeds. On one level, there is a
general directive to remember Allah at every
moment and in every circumstance of life.
Remember
God, standing and sitting and lying down (al-Nisa’
4: 103).
And
remember God often, that you may be successful
(al-Anfal 8: 45).
Surely
in the creation of the heavens and earth, and in
the alternation of night and day, there are signs
for those who possess understanding, who remember
God, standing and sitting and lying down, and
reflect upon the creation of the heavens and the
earth. Our Lord, Thou hast not created this
without meaning and purpose. Glory be to Thee (Al
‘Imran 3: 190—1).
And
obey not him whose heart We have made neglectful
of Our remembrance, who follows his own desires,
and whose every affair exceeds all bounds (al-Kahf
18: 28).
These,
and many other Ayahs, direct us top always
remembers Allah, for remembering Him keeps our
affairs in proper order and keeps us on the right
path. Whenever we forget Him we are liable to
become easy prey to the temptations of evil and go
astray.
Specific
directives show us how to obey the general
directives. Thus, the remembrance of Allah has
been translated into the specific act of Prayer
and performing some prayers five times a day has
been made obligatory. But making Allah’s
remembrance obligatory for a few minutes at a time
in no way implies that we should remember Him only
during these fixed periods and forget Him for the
rest of the time. It means that during that period
we ought to be exclusively engaged in the
remembrance of Allaha. And at other times, for
example while busy in our work, the awareness of
Allah should continue to be present in our minds.
Spending
in the Way of Allah
Spending
in the way of Allah is a similar case in point. On
the one hand, general directives have been given:
Refrain from avarice and selfishness as they are
the root of evil and mother of vices. Model your
morals on the attributes of Allah who is all the
time bountifully showering His beneficence on His
countless creations although no one has any right
or claim upon Him. Spend whatever you can in the
way of Allah. Save as much as you can from your
requirements and fulfil the wants of other needy
servants of Allah. Never flinch from
sacrifice your love of wealth for the love of Him.
Specific
injunctions arise from these general directives.
If you possess wealth over a certain amount,
called Nisab, It is incumbent on you to spend at
least a certain minimum proportion of it in the
cause of Allah; and similarly, a certain amount of
the produce of your land must be offered to Him.
Just as the making of some Prayers obligatory does
not mean that God should be forgotten for the rest
of the time, so the fixing of a certain ceiling (Nisab)
which makes spending in the cause of Allah
obligatory, does not mean that only those who
possess that much wealth should spend something or
those who posses less should spend nothing. Nor
does it mean that the rich should give only the
minimum prescribed Alms and refuse to help the
needy or donate for Jihad after they have met
their basic obligations. Zakah only means that at
least the minimum amount must be given, but over
and above that minimum, as much as possible should
be spend in the way of Allah.
Essential
Prerequisite to Guidance
Before
explaining to you the general Qur’anic teachings
about spending in the way of God, let us see why
we are required to spend in His way and what
main benefits we should derive. The Qur’an
always explains the reason for any injunctions
that it gives so that those who are required
to obey do so in full understanding of its real
meaning and import.
As
you open the Qur’an the first Ayah you come
across is this:
This
is the Book of God, there is no doubt in it. It is
guide for the God-conscious who believe in the
Unseen, perform the Prayer and spend of what
We have provided them (al-Baqarah 2:
2---3).
A
fundamentally important principle has been stated
here. In order to be guided on the right path in
the present life, three essential conditions are
necessary: fain in Unseen; performing the Prayer,
and spending in the cause of God those gifts which
He has given you. At other places Allah says:
Never
shall you attain true piety unless you spend [in
the way of God] out of what you love (Al ‘Imran
3: 92).
Satan
threatens you with poverty and bids you unto
shameless things [like being niggardly] (al-Baqarah
2: 269).
Spend
in God’s cause and throw not yourselves, by your
own hands, into destruction (al-Baqarah 2:
195).
And
whoso is saved from avarice in his self, it is
they who are the successful (al-Taghabun 64:
16).
Thus,
we are told, there are two ways we can lead our
lives. One is the way of God; virtue and goodness,
well-being and success, all are ensured herein. To
walk on this path, you must generously help your
brothers and support Jihad out of whatever
resources God in His bounty and wisdom has given
you. The other is the Satanic way:
apparently full of benefits, but in reality it
leads to ruin. The hallmark of this way of life is
worshipping money and amassing wealth at the
expense of all other considerations.
Let
me now put before you the general, basic
principles that have been laid down for spending
in the way of Allah.
Spend
Only to Please Allah
First:
Spend solely to please Allah and seek only His
approval. Neither to put the recipient under
obligation nor to earn a name for yourselves or
win approval and acclaim should be your aim.
Spend
not but only for seeking God’s countenance (al-Baqarah
2: 272).
Do
not Stress Your Benevolence
Second:
Never stress upon the needy what a great and
generous benefactor you have been in helping,
feeding or clothing them; nor expect them to
acknowledge it; not treat them with contempt or
humiliate them or injure their feelings in any
way.
Those
who spend their wealth for the sake of God,
and then follow not up their spending with
stressing their own benevolence and hurting, their
reward is with their Lord and no fear shall be on
them, neither shall they sorrow. A king word, and
[seeking] forgiveness, are better than a
charitable deed followed by hurting (al-Baqarah
2: 262---3).
O
believers! Void not your charitable deeds by
stressing your own benevolence and hurting, like
the one who spends his wealth only to show off to
people and believes not in God and the last Day.
For his parable is that of a smooth rock on which
is [a little] earth---and then a rainstorm smites
it, leaving and bare (al-Baqarah 2:
264).
Give
Only Good Things
Third:
In the way of Allah give only those things which
are good and have been rightfully earned. Do not
sort out shoddy things for this purpose. Why
should those who dig out torn and old clothes to
give to a poor man or who set aside the worst
possible food to dole out to a beggar not except
the same kind of reward from God?
O
believers! Spend out of the good things you
have earned, and out of that which We bring forth
for you from the earth and intend not to spend the
bad thereof, which you would never accept
yourselves, except that you avert your eyes from
it (al-Baqarah 2: 267).
Give
Unobtrusively and Secretly
Fourth:
Give in as secret a manner as possible so that
your act of charity does not run the risk of being
tainted with hypocrisy and ostentation. Although
there is no harm in giving openly, it is far
better to do so discreetly.
If
you do a deed of charity openly, it is well; but
if you hide it and give it to the poor that is
even better for you, and it will acquit you of
your evil deeds (al-Baqarah 2: 271).
Guard
Against Misuse
Fifth:
Do not give money in excess of their actual needs
to people who lack understanding, in case they are
tempted by it to fall into bad habits. Allah wants
everyone, even the most sinful, to have food and
clothing; but in no circumstances should
money be given for evil purposes or for alcohol,
drugs or gambling.
Do
not give to fools your wealth which God has made a
support for you, but provide them out of it
and clothe them (al-Nisa’ 4: 5).
Do
Not Harass Debtors
Sixth:
If a loan is given to a poor man, do not harass
him to return the loan, and give him enough time
so that he can repay it without great hardship. If
he cannot pay it Back and you are wealthy enough
to do without it, then better write it off.
And
if [the debtor] is in difficulties, let him have
respite till things are easier; and that you remit
[the debt] by way of charity would be better for
you, did you but know (al-Baqarah 2:
280).
Take
due Care of Family
Seventh:
You should not exceed certain limits in spending.
Allah does not desire that you keep your wives and
children hungry because you have given away all
you have. In fact what He has laid down is that
you spend first on yourselves and your families
whatever you need to lead simple but adequate
lives, and to give away what is left over in
Allah’s cause.
They
ask you what they should spend. Say:
Whatever you can spare (al-Baqarah 2:
219).
Those
[servants of the Most-merciful] who, when they
spend, are neither wasteful nor niggardly, but
between those two is a just mean (al-Furqan
25: 67).
And
keep not your hand shackled to your neck nor
outspread it altogether, lest you find yourself
blamed or even destitute (al- Isra’ 17:
29).
Give
to the Deserving
Eight:
And, finally, take note of the categories of
persons as given by Allah, who deserve you help.
And
give the kinsman his right, and the needy, and the
traveler (al-Isra 17: 26).
[True
piety is] to give wealth, for love of Him, unto
kinsmen, and orphans, the needy, the traveller,
and the beggars, and for freeing necks from
bondage (al-Baqarah 2: 177).
And
do good unto parents, and the near kinsmen, and
unto orphans, and unto the needy, and unto the
neighbour who is of kin, and unto the neighbour
who is a stranger, and unto the companion by
you side, and unto the traveller and unto that
your right hand owns (al-Nisa’ 4:
36).
And
they give food unto the needy and the orphan and
the prisoner, for the love of Him, [saying]:
We feed you only to seek God’s countenance; we
desire no reward from you, nor thanks, for we fear
from our Lord a distressful, fateful day (al-Dahr
76: 8, 10).
And
in their wealth there is a right for beggars and
the have-nots (al-Dhariyat 51: 19).
[What
you spend is ] for the poor who are wholly
confined to God’s cause, and are unable to go
about the earth [to earn their livelihood]. The
ignorant man supposes them to be rich because of
their abstinence [from begging], but you shall
recognize them by their mark-they do not beg of
men with importunity. And whatever good you spend,
surely God knows it all (al-Baqarah 2:
273).
Go
to Top
Chapter
5
Specific
Injunctions Of Zakah
Prp
roduce of the Earth
On Wealth and Financial Assets
Jewellery
who Are Entitled to Receive Zakah
Fuqara: the Poor---Masakin:
The Destitute and needy---‘Amilina
‘alayha: who administer
Zakah---
Mu’allafatu ’l-qulub:
who need to be
Reconciled---Fi’r-riqab:
freeing from
Bondage---Al-gharimin:
overburdened
Debtors---Fi-Sabili
’llah: in the way
Of Allah---Ibnu
’s-sabil: travellers
Other Important Principles
Need
For Collective System
Brothers
in Islam! We turn now from the general
directions concerning spending in the way of God
to the specific injunctions about Zakah, as an
obligatory act of worship.
Produce
of the Earth
In
the Qur’an, you will find three injunctions
regarding Zakah. The following two Ayahs relate to
the produce of the earth:
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 (al-Baqarah 2:
267).
Eat
of their fruits when it comes to fruition and give
their due on the harvest day (al-An’am 6:
141).
According
to the Hanafi jurists, to Allah is due a share of
every produce of the earth except self-growing
things such as wood and grass. Other Hadith
specify that Allah’s due is one-twentieth of
irrigated crops and one-tenth of the rain-fed
crops. This due becomes payable as soon as the
harvest is in.
On
Wealth and Financial Assets
The
third Ayah relates to Zakah on cash, gold, silver,
trade goods and other similar wealth.
And
those who hoard up treasures of gold and silver
and spend it not in the way of God---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 9:
34---5).
Further,
we read:
The
Alms ar
