13th Safar 1444AH
Assalamu alaykum warahmatullah wabarakaatuhu
All praise is due to Allah Whose help, guidance and forgiveness we seek. We seek refuge with Allah from the evils within ourselves and from the burden of our evil deeds. He, whom Allah guides, will never be misled; and he whom He allows to stray no one can guide him. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah without partners and that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.
We ask ALLAH to bestow His salutation upon our master and leader, Muhammad, SAW, his household, his companions and all those who believe in him till the end of time.
Zakah is different from Sadaqa (voluntary charity); it is not a replacement for tax nor is tax a replacement for it. Rather, it is a pillar of Islam having similar status with Salat, Hajj and Fasting. Indeed it is an obligation due upon a Muslim who has qualifying wealth to meet the obligation. Discharging the obligation of Zakah is an acknowledgment that everything we have belongs to Allah and as such disposal thereof shall be according to His instructions.
O servants of Allah! “The parable of those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah is that of a grain of corn; it grows seven ears, and each ear has a hundred grains. Allah gives manifold increase to whom He Pleases” (Q 2:261). Our Lord and Sustainer also declared that: “Truly, to a happy state shall attain the believers, who humble themselves in their prayer, and who turn way from all that is frivolous, and who fulfill their Zakah duty.” (Q 23:1-4)
The instruction for the payment of Zakah is seen very frequently in the Qur’an and tied to Salat. Prayer and Zakah, however, have a particularly great importance. Hardly ever is faith mentioned in the Qur’an without it being associated with prayer and Zakah, and the need to fulfill both duties. Sayyidina Abu Bakr (RA), the first ruler of the Muslim state after the Prophet (SAW), went to war against groups of Muslims who wanted to abrogate Zakah upon the passage of Rasulullah.
In our mundane life civic responsibility, we say that “no one likes to pay tax”. The same malady has befallen the Muslims when the issue of Zakah is being reviewed.
O servants of Allah! Know that Zakah is the Islamic institution for income redistribution to protect the society against wide disparity between the rich and the poor. But because we have fallen short of our obligation of payment of Zakah, the poverty level among the Muslims is embarrassingly high. The gap that exist between the rich and the poor has continued to widen due to our failure to give Zakah its proper pride of place as Muslims.
All manners of thoughts have beclouded the Muslim’s mind on the need to pay Zakah. In one instance, he claims that his payment of tax to government exonerates him from the Zakah obligation while in another he believes that because he regularly gives out handouts/gifts/donations that the obligation of Zakah is fulfilled.
O servants of Allah! Let us do a quick soul search and quiz:
· Why do Muslim businesses not prosper like the ones owned by the non-Muslims?
· How many Muslim businesses can we point to that are over 100years and listed as one of the biggest in the world?
· Are we aware that the Christian pays his tithe every month and he is so dedicated to it?
· Why do Muslim organizations almost, always have to solicit financial help before they can carry out the smallest of projects? Etc.
Sincere answers to the above posers will leave you in no doubt that our failure to pay Zakah explains some of the reasons for the failures to run successfully long businesses while the consistency of the non-Muslims (Christians) in paying their tithes has given them the financial edge that they seemingly/actually have. This is just a hint for this world. In the Hereafter, this failure to pay Zakah will be a major source of problem for those involved.
My dear brethren! A person who is obligated to pay Zakat but willfully declines to pay it will be deemed to have forfeited his claim to be a Muslim. There is no place for him in the fold of Islam. Such were the men against whom Sayyidina Abu Bakr (RA) took up arms and his action was universally supported by the Companions. It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (RA) that the Prophet (SAW) said: “There is no day on which the people get up but two angels come down and one of them says, ‘O Allah, give in compensation to the one who spends (in charity),’ and the other says, ‘O Allah, destroy the one who withholds.’” [al-Bukhari & Muslim]
Zakat, which Islam has enjoined upon Muslims, marks the lowest limit of the expression of human sympathy, kindness and compassion. It is a duty, the disregard or violation of which is not in any circumstance tolerable to Allah. The Shariah is emphatic in its insistence upon its observance. It has prescribed it as an essential requirement of Faith for Muslims. “So, if they repent (from kufr by accepting Islam), establish salaah and pay Zakah (follow the Shari’ah), they are your brothers in Deen.” (Q9:11).
O servants of Allah! It should be apparent to us all by now that in every act of ibadah, Allah has put a means of purification. As we all know, before each salat we make wudu’u to purify our externalities while the ikhlas (sincerity to observe the salat for Allah’s sake) is the purification for the internal. Likewise, the fast that we observe is the purification (i.e., the zakat) of the soul/body. In this wise, Zakah which we are mandated to pay is the purification for our wealth and it is a pillar of Islam.
Prayer and Zakah are given precedence over other types of Islamic worship because prayer, which is offered purely for Allah’s sake, has an important role in restraining people from committing sinful and evil deeds, while Zakah has a greatly beneficial effect on both individual and society. In reference to Zakah and other types of charity, Allah instructed His Rasul (SAW) in the Qur’an: “Take a portion of their wealth as charity, so that you may cleanse and purify them thereby; and pray for them; for your prayers are a source of comfort for them. Allah hears all and knows all” (Q9:103). This means that charity, in general, and Zakah, in particular, work in such a way as to purify believing hearts and generate growth and increase, as well as blessings for the Muslim community.
Zakah and other charity purifies the believer’s hearts of various negative feelings, such as a sense of guilt, envy, grudge, hostility, hatred, worry, isolation, powerlessness, as well as the feeling of being a social outcast or abandoned. If those whom Allah has honoured with wealth allows for free flow to the less-endowed through sadaqah and zakah, the level of deprivation which has aggravated the level of violence and crime in the society would have been overcome.
Divine wisdom necessitates that Allah grants people different aspects of His grace in different measures. Thus, some people are rich, while others are poor; some are healthy while others suffer from sickness, and some are physically strong while others are weak. But believers are brought up as Allah-fearing, nurturing a lively conscience and a compassionate attitude.
A believer, who enjoys an abundance of something other people have not been given, will find that his active conscience will not let him enjoy such abundance fully, while others are deprived. He will feel a twinge of conscience every time he enjoys his blessings because others are not sharing that enjoyment, even though it may not be a necessity. Although he knows that he is not responsible for the fact that others do not have what he has been given in abundance, he will continue to feel ill, when he realizes that he has plenty while others have little. This is the state of the mind that fears Allah. He does not arrogate his success unto himself and accuse others of laziness. He does not say like Qaaroon who said: “This (wealth I possess) has been given to me because of the knowledge I possess” (Q28:78).
O servants of Allah! The amount specified for Zakah by Allah varies with the type of wealth possessed by the individual which include:
· Financial assets – This includes money (in the different world currencies), gold, silver and other precious metals used as money. Zakah is at the rate of 2.5% after it attains minimum amount and a tenor of ownership of one year.
· Farm Produce – To be assessed at the point of harvest and rate is dependent on the type of farming and quantity of harvest.
· Livestock – Animals of the family of cattle are specifically included bur modern scholars have expanded it.
· Natural resources and other modern sources of wealth have also come under the subject of Zakah.
In all the instances, the amount of Zakah is quite meagre compared to the entire wealth and property so that it will not be burdensome. Similar to the legislation to fast in which He (SWT) gave permission for abstention under certain conditions and has said: “… Allah desires ease for you and does not desire hardship for you …” (Q2:185), Zakah rate are made so meagre so as to fulfill the principle of making compliance easy for us. We thank Allah for His Compassion upon the Ummah of Muhammad (SAW).
O servants of Allah! I warn you and myself not to fall into the trap of failing on payment of Zakah if you meet its conditions. “Behold! You (Muslims) are the very ones who are called upon to spend in Allah’s way but there are those among you who are miserly (who do not give). Those who are miserly practise miserliness to their own detriment. Allah is Independent and you are all needy. If you turn away (from obeying Him), He (will not at all be affected because He) will substitute you with another nation who will not be like yourselves (but who will do exactly as He orders).
PART 2
All Praises are due to Allah. May the Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon His Confidant, Muhammad (SAW), his family, companions and those who follow their path until the day of Judgement.
O servants of Allah! I urge you and myself to take the payment of Zakah very serious as dereliction thereof has grave consequences. For us to take heed and to be saved against the punishment promised the defaulters of Zakah, Allah said: “those who hoard up gold and silver, and do not expend them in the way of Allah [that is, they do not pay from it what is due to Him by way of Zakah], give them tidings of a painful chastisement. On the day when it shall be heated in the fire of Hell and therewith their foreheads and their sides and their backs shall be branded [burnt — their skins will be stretched until the hoards of gold and silver can be placed on them entirely], and it will be said to them: ‘This is what you hoarded up for yourselves: so taste
now what you used to hoard!’” (Q9:34-35).
He (SWT) further emphasized that: “Let them not suppose that those who are niggardly with what Allah has given them of His bounty is better for them (and so they do not pay the obligatory Zakah). Nay, it is worse for them [with respect to what they were niggardly with, namely, the obligatory almsgiving of their wealth] they shall have hung around their necks on the Day of Resurrection; and to Allah belongs the inheritance of the heavens and the earth” (Q3:180).
Abu Hurairah (RA) reported: The Messenger of Allah (SAW) said, “Any person who possesses gold or silver and does not pay what is due on it (i.e., the Zakat); on the Day of Resurrection, sheets of silver and gold would be heated for him in the fire of Hell and with them his flank, forehead and back will be branded. When they cool down, they will be heated again and the same process will be repeated during the day the measure whereof will be fifty thousand years. (This would go on) until Judgment is pronounced among (Allah’s) slaves, and he will be shown his final abode, either to Jannah or to Hell.”
It was asked, “How about someone who owns camels and does not pay what is due on him (i.e., their Zakat)?” He (SAW) replied, “In the same way the owner of camels who does not discharge what is due in respect of them (their due includes their milking on the day when they are taken to water) will be thrown on his face or on his back in a vast desert plain on the Day of Resurrection and they will trample upon him with their hoofs and bite him with their teeth. As often as the first of them passes him, the last of them will be made to return during a day the measure whereof will be fifty thousand years, until Judgement is pronounced among (Allah’s) slaves, he will be shown his final abode either to Jannah or to Hell.”
It was (again) asked: “O Messenger of Allah, what about cows (cattle) and sheep?” He (SAW) said, “If anyone who possesses cattle and sheep and does not pay what is due on them (i.e., their Zakat); on the Day of Resurrection, he will be thrown on his face in a vast plain desert. He will find none of the animals missing with twisted horns, without horns or with a broken horn, and they will gore him with their horns and trample upon him with their hoofs. As often as the first of them passes him, the last of them will be made to return to him during a day the measure whereof will be fifty thousand years, until Judgment is pronounced among (Allah’s) slaves; and he will be shown his final abode either to Jannah or to Hell.”
It was asked: “O Messenger of Allah, what about the horses?” Upon this he (SAW) said, “The horses are of three types. One, which is a burden for the owner; another which is a shield, and another one which makes its owner entitled to reward. The one for whom these are a burden is the person who rears them for show or for pride or for causing injury to the sentiments of the Muslims. They will be a cause of torment for their owners. The one for whom these are a shield is the person who rears them for the sake of Allah but does not forget the Right of Allah concerning their backs and their necks (i.e., he lets a needy ride on them), and so they are a shield for him. Those which bring reward to the one who rears them in pastures and gardens are the ones that are used in the Cause of Allah (Jihad) by the Muslims. Whatever they eat from the meadows and the gardens will be recorded on his behalf as good deeds so much so that their droppings and urine will be counted for an equal number of good deeds for him. Even when they break their tying rope and every height from which they climb and every hoofprint which they leave will be counted as a good deed on behalf of the owner. When their owner leads them through a stream from which they drink, though he does not intend to quench their thirst, yet Allah would record for him the quantity (of water) of what they would drink on his behalf as good deeds.”
It was asked: “O Messenger of Allah, what about the donkeys?” Upon this he (SAW) said, “Nothing has been revealed to me in regard to the donkeys in particular except this one verse of a comprehensive nature: “So whosoever does good equal to the weight of an atom (or a small ant) shall see it. And whosoever does evil equal to the weight of an atom (or a small ant) shall see it.”’ (Q99: 8,9). [Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
O servants of Allah! “Verily, Allah commands justice, and the doing of good and giving (help) to the kith and kin and He forbids evil deeds, polytheism and oppression. He admonishes you that you may take heed.” Q16:90 The fulfillment of the obligation of zakah is part of doing good.
This is an introduction to the subject of Zakah; if Allah permits, we shall discuss the fiqh (jurisprudence) of Zakah for our guidance.
We ask Allah to bestow upon the Muslim Ummah beneficial wealth and give us the faith to pay the Zakah as enjoined upon us.
Da’wana subhanaka Allahumma wa tahiyyatuna feeha-s-salam. Wa akhiru da’waana anil hamdu lillahi rabbi aalameen.
Suleiman Zubair
