Issues on Zakat (1/2)

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful, Praise is to Allah Alone, and peace and blessings be upon the Prophet and his family and Companions.

This aims at exhorting and reminding the significance of the Zakat towards which most of the Muslims are very careless as they are not particular in giving it out, in spite of the fact that it is one of the five pillars of Islam and that without it Islam cannot be firmly established. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said:

“Islam is based on five (pillars): To testify that there is no God except Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah; To offer Salat (prayer); To pay Zakat (obligatory charity); To observe Saum (fasts during the month of Ramadan) and; To perform Hajj (pilgrimage to Makkah).”

It is obligatory upon every Muslim, in possession of wealth, to pay Zakat (obligatory charity). This Islamic command possesses plenty of advantages of which some are mentioned below:

1. It meets the needs of the poor of the society.

2. It strengthens the good relation between the rich and the poor, as everyone is naturally inclined towards the one who does good to him.

3. It purifies one’s self and sanctifies it; and it purges one’s moral of covetousness and miserliness; as is stated in the Qur’an:

“Take Sadaqa (alms) from their wealth in order to purify them and sanctify them with it.” (Surah At-Taubah, 9:103).

4. It promotes open-handedness, generosity and sympathy in a Muslim towards the needy persons.

5. It draws Allah’s blessing; causes increase in wealth and the replacement of spent out; as Allah describes:

“And whatsoever you spend of anything (in Allah’s cause), He will replace it. He is the Best of those Who grant Sustenance.” (Surah Saba', 34:39).

And also the Prophet (peace be upon him) has stated in an authentic Hadith that Allah says:

“O Children of Adam! If you give (in Allah’s cause), We shall give you.”

And there are many more benefits in it.

On the contrary, a severe punishment would incur upon those who act miserly and are negligent in paying out the Zakat. Allah describes regarding them:

 “And those who hoard up gold and silver (Al-Kanz-the money, the Zakat of which has not been paid), and spend it not in the Way of Allah,––announce unto them a painful torment. On the Day when that (Al-Kanz: money, gold and silver, etc., the Zakat of which has not been paid) will be heated in the fire of Hell and with it will be branded their foreheads, their flanks, and their backs: (and it will be said unto them): ‘This is the treasure which you hoarded for yourselves. Now taste of what you used to hoard’.” (Surah At-Taubah, 9: 34, 35)

The above verses clarify that the wealth of which Zakat has not been paid, is a hoarded treasure for which its owner would be punished on the Day of Resurrection. The same also been described by the Prophet (peace be upon him) in the following Hadith:

 “If any owner of gold or silver does not pay what is due on him, when the Day of Resurrection would come, plates of fire would be beaten out for him; these would then be heated in the fire of Hell, and his sides, his forehead and his back would be cauterized with them. Whenever these cool down, (the process is) repeated during a day the extent of which would be fifty thousand years, until judgement is pronounced among slaves, and he sees whether his path is to take him to Paradise or to Hell.”

Then the Prophet (peace be upon him) informed of the owners of the camels, cows, and goats; who do not pay their Zakat, that they would be punished on the Day of Judgement.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said:

 “Whoever is made wealthy by Allah and does not pay the Zakat of his wealth, then on the Day of Resurrection, his wealth will be made like a bald-headed poisonous male snake with two black spots over the eyes (or two poisonous glands in its mouth). The snake will encircle his neck and bite his cheeks and say, ‘I am your wealth, I am your treasure’.”

Then the Prophet (peace be upon him) recited the noble verse:

 “And let not those who covetously withhold of that which Allah has bestowed on them of His Bounty (wealth) think that it is good for them (and so they do not pay the obligatory Zakat). Nay, it will be worse for them; the things which they covetously withheld shall be tied to their necks like a collar on the Day of Resurrection.” (Surah Al-‘Imran, 3:180)