Let  Us Be Muslim Part-IV
(ZAKAH)

by
Syed Abul A'la Maududi

 

Contents  

  Fundamental  Importance  of  Zaka
  Meaning  of  Zakah
  Zakah,  a  Social  Institution
  General  Principles  of  Spendin
  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.

Meaning  of  Zakah

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?

Zakah,  a  Test

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.

           

Early  Practice

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.

Categorical Imperative

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.

Fate  of  Zakah  Defaulters

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.

 

Becoming  God’s  Friends

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?

 
Allah’s  Unique  Beneficence

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