The Words: Zakah And Sadaqah - Fiqh Al Zakah | Quran Course

The Words: Zakah And Sadaqah - Fiqh Al Zakah | Quran Course

Zakah as known in Shari'ah is sometimes called in the Qur'an and Sunnah "sadaqah", to the extent that al Mawardi said "Sadaqah is zakah, and zakah is sadaqah.

They are two names for the same thing."8 God (J) says, "of their wealth take sadaqah that so thou mightest purify and sanctify them"9 and "and among them are men who slander thee in the matter of sadaqat"10 and "sadaqat are for the poor and the needy."11,12 Hadith says, "There is no sadaqah in what is less than five Wasq. There is no sadaqah in what is less than five camels and there is no sadaqah in what is less than five uqiyah."13 Addressing Mu'adh when sent to Yemen the Prophet (p) said "Inform them that God has prescribed sadaqah on their funds, to be taken from their rich." All these texts were talking about zakah while using the word sadaqah, even the zakah collector and distributor is called musaddiq. But In the later history of Islam, sadaqah was traditionally used to mean only Vol.untary charitable donations given to beggars and destitutes. But such a tradition must not be allowed to mislead us and divert us from the meaning of the word at the time when Qur'an was being revealed. The root of the word sadaqah is the word sidq. Judge Abu Bakr bin al 'Arabi, commenting on naming zakah sadaqah, states that "It is derived from sidq. Sidq is truthfulness in realizing declared belief by action. The root sidq means realizing and supporting something by another. The word sadaq (Dowry) for women means realizing the lawfulness of intimacy by the contract and the dowry under specific conditions known in Shari'ah.

The root sidq has several derivatives. The verb saddaqa with respect to statements means to accept and to realize. The verb tasaddaqa with respect to funds means gave away, realizing his faith by action. And the verb asdaqa means to give dowry in marriage to women. The meaning of sadaqah is derived from the root sidq because sadaqah implies giving away goods and funds for the sake of God in expression of faithfullness and in realization of the belief in ressurection and afterlife."14 It is for that reason that Qur'an associated giving with affirmation of faith and withholding with rejection of faith, God (s) says, "So he who gives in charity and fears God and in all sincerity testifies to the best, we will indeed make smooth for him the path to bliss, but he who is a greedy miser and thinks himself self-sufficient and gives lies to the best we will indeed make smooth for him the path to misery."15

Sadaqah is thus an indication of truthfullness in faith and sincere belief in the day of judgment, Accordingly, the Messenger of God (p) said sadaqah is a proof (or evidence),"16

1. Al Mu'jam al Wasit, Vol.. 1 p. 398.

2. At Zamakhshari said in his al Fa'iq Vol.. 1, p. 536, first printing "zakah is like the word sadaqah. It is a common name" used to refer to a material thing which is the part of the fund paid out in the form of zakah. It also refers to an abstract meaning, the action of sanctification. It was because of lack of knowledge of this latter meaning of the word that some people did not understand the verse, "and those who are active in practicing zakah" thinking of it as a reference to money paid out while it is a reference to the action of sanctification and purification.

3. Al Majmu', Vol.. 5, p. 324.

4. The collection of Fatawa Shiekh al Islam Ibn Taimiyah, Vol. 25, p. 8.

5. Sura at Tawbah, 9:103.

6. Al Majmu', Vol. 5 p. 325.

7. Encyclopedia of Islam, Vol.. 10, pp. 355-6.

8. At Mawardi, al Ahkam al Sultaniyah, the beginning of Chapter 11.

9. Sura at Tawbah, 9:103.

10. Sura at Tawbah, 9:58.

11. Sura at Tawbah, 9:60.

12. The late professor Dr. Muhammad Yusuf Musa, commented on, Schact "Qur'an refers first to the meaning of zakah using the word sadaqah, then used the word zakah. But if we look carefully in the Makkan suras of the Qur'an we find the word zakah used long before the words sadaqah and sadaqat. The letters are only used in Madinan suras.".

13. Reported by Bukhari, Muslim, and others.

14. Ahkam al Qur'an part 2, p. 946, with commentary by al Bijawi.

15. Sura al Layl, 92:5-10.

16. Reported by Muslim.

17. We used the word al zakah, with the article al (the) to refer to the word used in the religious meaning. The word zakah, in the pure meaning, is mentioned in two additional places: in sura 18:81, and in sura 19:13.

18. Sura at Muminun, 23:2 and 4.

19. See the Index of the Words of the Holy Qur'an by Muhammad Fu'ad 'Abd al Baqi, under "Zakah".

20. See al Dur al Mukhtar, al Bahr, al Nahr, and other books of the Hanifites, Ibn Abideen quoted a correction in his commentary, Rad al Muhtar. But the fact is that it came associated with prayer in only 28 places.