The Prophet's Sunnah regarding Zakah and charities

9- The Prophet's Sunnah regarding Zakah and charities[1]

A- The Prophet's Sunnah regarding Zakah:

1- The Sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him) was the best regarding the time, amount, and the rate of Zakah, the person who is entitled to pay it, and the channels of giving away this Zakah. He took into consideration the interest of Zakah givers as well as the interest of the needy, as he prescribed an amount of money in the rich's wealth so that the poor may be satisfied without feeling injustice.

2- If he knew that a person was one of the people who are entitled to take Zakah, he would give it to him. However, when someone asked him to take part of Zakah although he is not entitled to take it because of wealth or power, he would give it to him after telling him that he was not entitled to take it.

3- Of his Sunnah that he would distribute Zakah to the entitled people within the boundaries of the country where Zakah is collected and if there was something left after distribution, it would be distributed to other countries.

4- He did not ask for Zakah but from the people who are wealthy, such as the people who have cattle, plants, and fruits.

5- He used to send a person to estimate the dates of palms and grapes to see how much the gardens will produce to estimate Zakah for this amount.

6- It was not part of the Prophet's Sunnah to take Zakah from people who have many horses, slaves, or the people who have many mules and donkeys. He took Zakah neither on vegetables nor on fruits that are not weighted or stored except grapes and fresh dates, so he did not differentiate between the fresh and the dry dates.

7– It was not part of his Sunnah to take the best fruits, sheep, or plants, but it was of his Sunnah to take kinds of medium quality.

8– He used to forbid charity givers to buy their charity, but allow the rich to eat of the charity that was given to them by a poor person.

9– Sometimes, the Prophet would borrow some money to meet the needs of Muslims depending on charity and sometimes, he would borrow charity from its givers.

10- When Zakah giver comes to pay Zakah, the Prophet (peace be upon him) would supplicate Allah for him saying: "O Allah! bless him as well as his camels." Sometimes, he would say: "O Allah, bless him."

B- The Prophet's saying regarding Zakatul-Fitr (obligatory charity that is given upon the end of Ramadan)[2]

1- Zakatul-Fitr is Sa` (2,172 grams) of dates, barley, Aqt (dried whole milk), or raisin.

2- The Prophet's Sunnah was to pay Zakatul-Fitr before Salatul-`Eid (the festival of breaking the fast). He said: "Whoever gives it before Salatul-`Eid, it will be an accepted Zakah and whoever gives it after Salah, it will be a normal charity."

3- He used to allocate them for building houses and did not distribute them on the eight channels of Zakah.

C- The Prophet's Sunnah regarding the voluntary charity.[3]

1- He used to give charity regularly and more than any other person, and he did not save something for himself or his family and he was not miser.

2- No one ever asked him something and he refused to give, whether the demand was little or much.

3- He used to be happy with his charity more than being happy with receiving something.

4- When he saw a needy person seeking something, he would give it to him, either food or clothes.

5- No one associated with the Prophet (peace be upon him) could hold himself not to be tolerant.

6- He used to diversify the types of his charity: sometimes gifts, charity, donation, by purchasing something then gives the seller the good and the price, and sometimes borrow something and returns more value than the borrowed thing; sometimes he would accept the gift and rewards for it more than he has already received.