Fiqh Al Zakah by Dr. Yusuf al Qardawi

I believe the reader realizes by now that zakah is a unique system, unprecedented by any divine or man-made laws. It is a financial, economic, social, political, moral, and religious blend.

It is a well-defined financial tax imposed on heads sometimes, like zakah of al fitr, and other times on capital and income. Thus it represents a permanent and continuous flow of resources to the public treasury of the Islamic state, devoted to liberating men and women from the bondage of need and fulfilling their economic necessities. It fights accumulation of wealth and hoarding it away from circulation and investment It is a social system because zakah secures individuals against disability, accidents, and catastrophes. It realizes humanistic aspirations of social solidarity and cooperation, in which the haves help the have-nots, the strong carry the weak, and the rich give the indigent and wayfarer. The distance shrinks between the rich and the poor, and elements of jealousy, vanity, and hatred are diminished. Moreover, the zakah system financially aids reformers and mediators of disputes to carry on such great missions in order to fulfill the noble social and moral objectives of zakah.

It is political as well, because the institution of zakah is part of the state. The Islamic government takes full responsibility for collecting and distributing zakah according to the principles of justice, and to appoint necessary personal. Additionally, some categories of distribution can only be decided by the state, such as heart reconciliation and, in general, the share spent "in the way of God." It has a moral purpose because the very objective of zakah is to cleanse and purify the souls of the rich from selfishness and desire for accumulation. It aims to train the rich to sacrifice and to contribute to the welfare of other people. Zakah is a sword against jealousy and vanity. It aims at making brotherhood and love prevail among all people in the society.

Before all, it is a religious worship, for performing zakah establishes an essential pillar of Islam. It is one of the basic forms of worship through which men and women obey God and please Him. Additionally, some of its expenditures deal directly with the progress of religion: making Islam know to all people, and reconciling hearts to Islam whether they are hearts of new or prospective converts. The spending of zakah "in the way of God" aims at making the word of God supreme - what a glorious religious objective.

Lastly, zakah alone is bright evidence that this religion is from God, for Muhammad (p), an illiterate man from an illiterate and backward society, could never have thought of such a unique and just system on his own, not with all the information and resources he could muster, if it were not descending from God verse after verse, as a guidance to all human beings, if it were not taught to him by the Most Knowledgeable. Indeed, the bounties of God on Muhammad (p) and on all humanity are magnificent.

This unique system of zakah, which is misunderstood and often badly applied by many Muslims, finds admirers among non-Muslims writers who have studied it and given their opinions about it. In his book The Preaching of Islam, Thomas Arnold describes some of the rites of Islam, especially pilgrimage, and then goes on to speak about zakah: "Besides the institution of pilgrimage, we find the performance of zakah another basic obligation which reminds every Muslim of the verse of God, 'Believers are but one brotherhood,' which is a religious ideal realized magnificently in Islamic society in such a way that surprises all of us. It is seen in all acts of tenderness toward fellow Muslims, regardless of race, sex, color, or ancestry. A Muslim becomes a member in the bond of believers and immediately takes his place equal to other Muslims." Lloyd Rouch says, "I find in Islam the solution of the two major social problems that occupy the minds of the world. The first is in the statement of the Qur'an, 'Believers are but one single brotherhood.' This is the most beautiful principle of socialism. The second is the obligation of zakah on every wealthy person and allowing the poor to take it by force if the rich refuse to pay it voluntarily, and this is the cure for anarchy."2

Muhammad Kurd 'Ali quotes another foreign writer as saying about zakah, This tax, in addition to being a religious obligation required from all, is a social system and a source of income for the Muhammadan state which is used to supply and enrich the poor in a systematic, straight forward way, without any arbitrariness or enslavement. It is not a casual event in the life of the Muslim society. This marvelous system was established by Islam for the first time in the history of mankind. This tax, zakah, which is obligated on landlords, merchants, and the wealthy in order to be spent to the indigent, poor and disabled, brought down the barriers that divide the nation into classes, and unifies the Islamic nation into one social group based on justice. By that the Islamic system proves it is not based on hatred or selfishness."3 Muhammad 'Ali quotes also a renown French Orientalist, Massignon, as saying "This religion of Islam has the ability to be strict in realizing the principle of equality, by imposing zakah on every individual, paid to the public treasury and by working against interest loans and indirect taxes that are usually imposed on necessities. At the same time, this religion stands in support of private ownership and commercial capital. Thus Islam stands once more in the middle, balanced between the theories of bourgeoisie capitalism and Bolshevik communism."4

The Italian writer Vagleri says in her book In Defense of Islam "All religions recognize to a certain degree the great moral and social importance of giving charity and encourage it as a material expression of mercy. But Islam alone achieves the glory of making such charity obligatory. Thus transforming the teachings of Christ into ordinances and then reality in the world. Each Muslim is obligated by law to devote certain fraction of his wealth to the poor and needy, wayfarers, and strangers, etc. By performing this religious obligation, believers exercise such deeper humanistic feelings; they purify their souls from selfishness and niggardliness, and hope for divine reward."5

After quotations from orientalists, we give a few quotations from Muslim writers about zakah. Muhammad Rashid Rida, in his explanation of the Qur'an notes:

In imposing zakah, Islam is distinct from all religions and legislations, as confessed by most writers of many origins. If Muslims would only establish this pillar of their religion, no poor or needy or persons under pressure of debts would ever exist in their societies.

Unfortunately, many Muslims neglect this obligation, and consequently cause harm to their religion and their nation. So they have become the worst of all nations in political and financial matters to the extent that they even lost control of their own countries and became dependent on other nations, even in educating their children. Muslin children today are educated in Christian missionary schools, whereby they are lost to their nations and become enslaved to foreigners. If they are questioned, "why don't you establish schools yourselves on high levels of performance, instead of sending your children to missionary schools?" they answer, 'We do not have financial resources to do so." In reality, they do not have the zeal, the mind and the will to implement their religion. And they see with their own eyes other people spending to finance schools and charitable and political organizations. Thus vow to these Muslims that have lost their religion and thus have indeed lost their worldly living. God says, "Those who forget God, He makes them forget their own souls, such are the rebellious transgressors."6 Those who call for the reform of Muslim societies are required to start by saving the remnants of religion and dignity, by establishing organizations to collect zakah and distribute it according to Shari'ah. They must realize that the share of freeing slaves must be used to liberate people who suffer from colonialism if there is no one in the bondage of slavery, and that the share "in the way of God" must be used to re-establish the Islamic system through the glorious form of jihad, which preserves Islam before the aggression of disbelievers. They must spend to call for Islam and to defend its values by writing and speaking, if such defense is not viable by weapons. We must realize that if all, or the majority of Muslims perform zakah and spend it according to its proper designation, that would be sufficient to re-establish the glory of Islam, to regain what was stolen from Muslim land by foreigners, and to salvage Muslims from enslavement to unbelievers. This can be done only by spending one-tenth or one-quarter of a tenth from the wealth owned by the rich. We observe with our own eyes that may people who dominate over Muslim lands spend more than that for their own nations and ideologies, without even being obligated by their Lord.7

In his comment on the saying from Mu'adh that the Prophet (p) told him "Inform them that God imposes on them in their wealth a sadaqah, to be taken from the rich among them and rendered to the poor among them." Shaikh Mahmud Shaltut, former head of al Azhar mosque, says, These Prophet's instructions indicate that zakah in Islam is simply a transfer of the excess wealth of the nation within itself, since it is taken from the rich and given to the poor. In other words, zakah only changes control of some fraction of wealth from one hand-- the hand that invests and protect -- to the other hand - the hand that works and struggle (when the yield of that work is not sufficient for all their needs), or to the hand that cannot work, which is the hand of the poor.8

In his book Economic Foundations in Islam Compared to Other Contemporary Systems, Abu al A'la al Maududi talks about the role and place of zakah:

What Islam in fact wants is that wealth must not be concentrated in a few hands in society, that those who acquire wealth because of good fortune or good abilities must not hoard it and must spend at least part of it to help the unfortunate that can not obtain sufficiency of sustenance. In order to achieve this objectives, Islam works through two channels. First, Islam encourages generosity, cooperation, and helping others, by all means of moral encouragement and religious stimulus, so that people, who naturally like to accumulate, would be taught to like giving some of their wealth voluntarily. Second, Islam enacts a law that requires the rich to pay a certain well-defined fraction on their wealth. This payment is zakah. One must not forget that zakah is very important element in the Islamic economic system, it is next to prayer as a pillar of Islam. The Qur'an even explicitly states that hoarding wealth is not permitted without payment of zakah. "Out of their wealth take sadaqah, so thou might purify and sanctify them."9 The word zakah itself indicates that wealth accumulated by men and women is dirty and sinful if it is not purified and sanctified by paying 2.5 percent of it for the sake of God every year.

Undoubtedly God is rich, nothing of this payment given to Him nor does He need it.

Therefore, "the sake of God" means that one seeks to improve the lot of the poor, as well as to initiate activities that benefit the nation as a whole. God says, "Sadaqat are for the poor, and the needy, and those employed to administer the funds, and those whose hearts have been recently reconciled to truth, for those in bondage and in debt, in the cause of God, and for the wayfarer."10 Zakah is thus an organization of mutual cooperation on the social level, among all Muslims. It is their insurance company and their reserve fund.

This is the wealth that guarantees the jobless, the inable, the sick, the orphans, and the widows among them, and above all, it is the institution that helps Muslims not to worry about their material future. The simple principle established by Islam is if you are rich today, help others, for you will receive help if you become poor tomorrow. You need not to worry about what would happen to you if you become poor, or to your wife and children if you die, or how you would manage if an accident befalls you, or if you get lost on a journey without any financial means. Zakah is always there to enrich you, to save you, to relieve your worry about such accidents or mishaps. All you need is to pay 2.5

percent of all your wealth to this insurance institution established by God, and you feel secure about yourself and your family for all the future. You do not need this excess wealth today, so why not give it to those who need it for sustenance, and when you need help, it will be extended to you.

Thus the contrast becomes clearer between the Islamic way and the capitalist way.

Capitalists urge people to accumulate wealth and to collect interest on it, so that you acquire more of other people's wealth. This is not consistent with the nature of this religion. Islam ordains that if wealth happens to accumulate in your hands, it must flow through the channels of distribution provided by Islam, so that life flourishes around you.

Wealth circulation is restricted in capitalism, while it is free in the Islamic system. In capitalism, you must have some wealth to acquire anything from the common pool of wealth, while in Islam, if you have excess wealth, you must give a fraction to society, and those who need it will come and take it from the common pool. The two systems are different in both nature and approach and cannot co-exist in one place.11

Abu al Hasan al Nadwi, in his book The Four Pillars, explains that the principal feature of zakah is that it is based on faith and is performed for the sake of pleasing God. This does not exist in any other tax. He goes on to the second essential characteristic of zakah:

The second distinguished characteristic of zakah, in contrast with other taxes and financial charges imposed by kings, dictators, or even republics and people's governments today, which makes zakah different from them from beginning to end in method, objectives, and effects, is the legislative position given it by the Prophet (p) in his statement, ". . . to be taken from the rich among them and rendered to the poor among them ". Thus, zakah is collected from the rich, as defined in Shari'ah, and distributed to categories determined by God in the Qur'an, which are not left to any man or group of people to decide. Moreover, it is always preferred that zakah be spent on the poor and needy in the same land it is collected from. This was the general practice of zakah even by governments that did not strictly follow the teachings of Islam in minute detail and did not realize the Islamic ideals in politics and government. Even under these governments, the poor and needy were not deprived of their rights, and Islamic law was not abolished.12

This is very different from taxes and fees imposed by governments today. In most cases, taxes are collected from the poor and middle class and rendered to the chiefs, the rich, and the powerful. They are taken from the sweat of farmers, laborers, small craftsmen, and small businessmen, who work hard day and night, on their jobs and spent for visiting chieftains, ceremonies, and food and drink for celebrations lavish as those described in the One Thousand and One Arabian Nights legends. They are also spent freely by embassies of the country in other countries, and on propaganda for the government that exhausts the blood and resources of people. Proceeds are paid also to foreign journalists to write articles praising the government, something done by all kinds of governments, whether democratic, communist, capitalist or socialist. The most truthful description of these taxes is "collected from the poor among them and given to the rich." Zakah, which is imposed by God on the rich to help the poor, is a form of kindness and mercy to the whole nation, a bounty from God incomparable to all other taxes. It is a tax, if one must-use the term, that is least burden some and most beneficial.13

It is my turn to present this study to men and women of thinking, to experts of financial legislation and taxation, so they can know just how much Islam preceded modern financial and tax systems in legislating this zakah, based on principles of justice, that aims at the noblest objectives, and that is supported by the strongest bonds, hoping these thinkers and people of law may realize that they must observe the beliefs of this Muslim nation when they enact laws and establish zakah by law in all Muslim countries.

I present this study to specialists in social insurance so they may recognize that zakah is the first organized system of welfare in the history of mankind, that the history of governmental action in social welfare started in the seventh century with the revelation of the Qur'an, and not in Western Europe in the past few centuries. They must realize that social welfare and insurance are not contemporary inventions, but part of the original Islamic system, provided to Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

I present this study to the contemporary intelligentsia in Muslim countries who have Muslim and Arab names and faces, but European, American, Russian , or Chinese hearts and minds, so they may realize that Islam is not a religion of asceticism that lives in the corner of worship alone, but a religion and a state, a system and a faith, encompassing knowledge and action, mediation and active life, freedom and justice, rights and obligations. All these are most justly manifested in the system of zakah.

I present this study to all Muslim people and their contemporary governments, so they can revise their positions of the Islamic law and system, especially zakah, in order to remove the contradictions imposed on our lives by the empirialistic powers, and rid their societies of the effect of cultural and legislative colonialism, after they cleanse their lands from military colonialism and return to Islam as a source of law and legislation.

Lastly, I present this study to those who are concerned with Islamic jurisprudence and Islamic culture, those who call for implementing the Islamic system in their societies, hoping that they find in it a comparative study in the light of Qur'an and Sunnah which strengthens their faith that this religion can endure the onslaught of so-called "modernism" and can respond to the needs of contemporary life. Islam can again lead societies and direct their affairs toward truth, goodness, and justice under its ever rich and fertile Shari'ah, that is suitable to all ages and lands. And the close of our call will always be "praise be to God, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds."