FIFTH FASCICLE
It was during the month of Ramadān in the second year of the Hegira
when it became fard to give zakāt. Zakāt has one fard: It is to reserve at a
certain time a certain amount of ones property of
zakāt, which is ones full property and which has reached the amount
of nisāb[1] ,
with the intention of zakāt, and to give it to those prescribed Muslims as
commanded. Full property means ones own property which has come through halāl
(legitimate) means and which is possible and halāl (permitted) for one to use.
The property of a waqf is no ones property. If one has not mixed ones own
possessions with the harām possessions such as those obtained through
usurpation, thievery, bribery, gambling or by selling alcohol, or if one has
not mixed with one another those harām possessions which one obtained from
various people, such property never becomes ones own property. It is not halāl
for one to use them or to make them ones means of subsistence. One cannot use
them to make mosques or in any other pious deeds. It is not fard for one to pay
their zakāt. That is, they are not counted in calculating the nisāb of zakāt.
If their owners or their heirs are known it is fard for one to return the properties
to them. If they are not known one may distribute all of the (harām)
possessions to the poor as alms though one has to compensate for the properties
if the owners or their heirs appear later. If the possesions will not last but
will deteriorate until one finds their owners, it is permissible to use them
and to indemnify afterwards, that is, to pay their equivalents or, if their
equivalents are not
---------------------------------
[1] Nisāb means border. The border between richness and
poverty prescribed by Islam is termed nisāb.
avaliable,
to pay for them. Please see page
The ulamā of the Hanafī Madhhab stated that it is fard for every male
or female Muslim who is mukallaf, that
is, who is discreet and has reached the age of puberty [the age when he or she
has begun to become junub and must perform the ablution of ghusl], and who is
free, to give zakāt when he or she has the conditions. To give zakāt it is
necessary to put the goods into the poor persons possession, that is, to hand
them to him. If a poor and discreet orphans walī feeds him, this does not
count as zakāt. But if he hands the food to the orphan, or if the walī clothes
the orphan, it becomes zakāt. If he eats with the poor orphan who has not
reached the age of discretion, or if he hands the food to the poor and discreet
orphan, he has given zakāt. Being a walī is possible by being appointed the
orphans guardian by the orphans father or by a judge. Because the appointed
person has the right to take the presents to be given to the orphan and give
them to him, he can also buy clothes, food and other necessary things with his
own zakāt and give them to him. It is written in Bezzāziyya that the alimony
given to ones poor relatives by a judges decision is comparable to this. Yet
the zakāt intended (to be given) to other poor people must be paid (only from
the property of zakāt concerned) without any substitution. Imām
Nasafī (rahmatullāhi aleyh) wrote in Zahīra, It is written in Ziyādāt that a rich person will not have given
zakāt by buying food and giving it to the poor. It is written in Bezzāziyya and in Fatāwa-i
Hindiyya, If one gives the flesh of ones Qurbān to the poor with
the intention of the zakāt of ones sheep, it will not be zakāt. It is written
in Īdāh, The zakāt which is to be given
to a child or to an insane person can be given to his father, to his relative
who is his walī, or to his guardian.
In all the four Madhāhib (Madhhabs), there are four types of property of zakāt:
1 -
Quadruped animals that graze freely in the fields for the major part of the
year.
2 -
Gold and silver.
The author of Durr-ul Muntaqa
(rahmatullāhi aleyh) declares, When over twelve carats, the zakāt of gold and
silver is to be given, whether they be used as currency or used in a halāl way,
such as jewelry by women, or used in a harām way, such as mens wearing gold
rings, or they be kept in order to buy a residence, food or shrouds or even if
they were necessities like a sword [or a gold tooth]. Hence, it is harām for
men to wear gold rings. Please see the second last page of the forty-first
chapter of the second part of the Turkish original version.
3 -
Commercial property or commodity which is bought for trade and kept for trade.
While explaining the causes and the conditions of zakāt, Hadrat Ibni Ābidīn (rahmatullāhi aleyh) stated, The
property should be bought with the intention of trading. Even if one intends to
trade in things that come out of land areas liable to the Ushr, or which are
obtained through inheritance, or which have become ones property when one has
accepted them, such as presents and bequests, they do not become commercial
property. For the intention of trading is valid only in buying and selling. For
example, if a person who obtains wheat from his field gives its Ushr or who
has obtained urūz through inheritance keeps it with the intention of selling
it, and if it is more than the amount of nisāb and is kept for more than a
year, it is not necessary to give its zakāt. If he sows the wheat which he has
bought for trade [in order to sell] in his field, or if he intends to use
personally the animal or the cloth which he has bought for trade, it is no
longer commercial property. If later he intends to sell it, it does not become
commercial property. The goods that he obtains by
selling it or by renting it out become
commercial property. If after buying he intends to sell the property which he
has bought for use, or if when obtaining he intends to sell the urūz which he
has obtained by inheritance or such things as presents, bequests and alms which
become his property by his accepting them, or if he intends to sell the wheat
he gets from his field, they do not become commercial property. If he sells
them and if while selling them he intends to use in trade the urūz which (he
gets in exchange for them and which) are their samans (badals), these badals
(prices, values) become commercial property. For trade is a job. It does not
happen only with an intention. It is necessary to begin it as well. But giving
up trade happens only with an intention. In fact, giving up everything can be
done with an intention only. Likewise, one does not become a musāfir and break
ones fast only with an intention. Nor does a disbeliever become a Muslim or an
animal sāima[1] . But the reverse of these happen only with an
intention. Ones gold and silver belongings and paper money are property of
zakāt, by whatever means one has obtained them.
4 - Things coming out from all kinds of land that are watered by rains,
rivers or brooks and which are not taxed with kharāj, (even if they are not
kinds of land with Ushr), or from the land belonging to a Waqf (pious
foundation). Their zakāt is termed Ushr. It has been commanded in the hundred
and forty-first āyat of Anām Sūra of the Qurān to give the Ushr[2] , and has been communicated by a hadīth to give
one-tenth. Ushr is one-tenth of the crops. But kharāj can be one-fifth,
one-fourth, one-third, or half. It is necessary to give either the Ushr or the
kharāj of land. A person who is in debt to people does not deduct the amount of
his debt, but gives the precise amount of his Ushr.
There
is one fard in zakāt: To make an intention (niyyat). An intention is made with
the heart. When reserving or giving the zakāt of ones property, if one
intends, I shall give the zakāt for Allahs sake, and then says that one
lends it or that one gives it as a present while giving it to the poor or to
the person whom one has appointed ones deputy to give it to the poor on ones
behalf, it is acceptable. Words are not important. If one intends for zakāt and
for alms at the same time, it becomes zakāt according to
---------------------------------
[1] See THE ZAKĀT OF ANIMALS, in the following pages.
[2] ...Eat
of their fruit in their season, but render the dues that are proper on the day
that the harvest is gathered. ... (VI-141)
Imām-i-Abū Yūsuf. It is alms according to
Imām-i-Muhammad rahmat-ullāhi taālā aleyh, and one has not given ones
zakāt. The debt of zakāt of a person who has died intestate is not to be paid
from the property he has left behind. For he should have intended it so. His
inheritors may pay it from their own property. (In this case the isqāt of the
zakāt will have been performed). If one does not intend while reserving the
zakāt or while giving it to the poor and intends long after giving it, it is acceptable
as long as the property is in the poors possession. The intention which one
makes while giving the zakāt to ones deputy is enough. It is not necessary for
the deputy also to intend while giving it to the poor. It is also permissible
for one to appoint a zimmī, that is, a countryman who belongs to another
religion, ones deputy to give ones zakāt to the Muslim poor. Yet it is not
permissible to send a zimmī as ones deputy for Hajj (pilgrimage). For only the
rich person has to intend for zakāt. However, for Hajj the deputy also has to
intend. If the rich person says that it is alms or that it is kaffārat or that
it is a present while giving zakāt to his deputy and if he intends for zakāt
before his deputy has given it with the former intention to the poor, it will
be acceptable.
If a person who is the deputy of two rich people mixes their zakāts
with each other without their knowing of it and then gives it to the poor,
zakāt has not been given. The deputy has given alms. The deputy will pay for
the zakāts. While explaining this on the eleventh page, Ibni Ābidīn stated, He having mixed zakāts with
each other, they have become his property. He has given the poor his own
property. If he has mixed them with the permission of the two rich persons or
if he has gotten permission after mixing them and before giving them to the
poor, it is acceptable. It is permissible for a person who is the deputy of the
poor to mix the zakāts he received without letting them know and then to give
them to the poor persons. It has been said (by some savants) that it is also
permissible for the deputy of the two rich persons to give them after mixing
them without permission. If a rich person says to another person, Give this
much gold as zakāt on my behalf, (or if he writes to a person in another city
by letter), and if the latter buys the gold ordered with his own money and
gives it to the poor, it is acceptable. According to Imām-i Yusūf (rahmatullāhi
aleyh), this person will ask for his money from the rich person later. Imām-i-Muhammad
(rahmatullāhi taālā aleyh) said, He can ask for it if the rich person told
him that he would pay him later. Otherwise he cannot ask for it. It has been
said
(by savants) that if the deputy gives the
zakāt he has to poor people not nominated by the rich person and if the rich
person agrees to it later, it is acceptable. If a person who has said (to his
deputy), Give alms to the poor on my behalf, has not also said, I shall pay
you later, he does not (have to) pay it. A rich person can give his deputy as
much zakāt as he would like to have distributed to the poor. The deputy of poor
people cannot receive zakāt more than the amount of nisāb for each poor person.
A poor persons deputy getting possession of his (the poor persons) zakāt,
means the poor persons possessing his own zakāt. In that case the poor person
owns that property. The zakāt is not given for animals and commercial goods
belonging to a Waqf (pious foundation).
Living or non-living, every kind of property, such as salts obtained
from earth or from the sea, oxides, petroleum and the like, when they are
bought for trade, that is, for selling, become commercial
property. Gold and silver are always
commercial property for whatever purpose they are bought.
Debts that are results of borrowing and floating debts to other people
that are due to be paid before the day on which it is fard to give zakāt are
not included into the calculation of nisāb. In other words, first these debts
are subtracted from the total of what one has of gold and silver and commercial
property and ones dues. Then, if the remainder is the amount of nisāb, one
year later it will become fard to give zakāt for them. Debts that are gone into
after zakāt has become fard are not excusable; their zakāt is to be given. The
unpaid zakāts of past years are counted as debts to other people. That is, they
are not included into the new nisāb. Ibni Ābidīn
gives a record of the books stating that those debts that are muajjal, that is,
floating debts that are to be paid back at a definite time in the future after
the zakāt becomes fard, such as the mahr[1] that
has been made muajjal till the time of divorce[2]
, are to be included into the nisāb, but it is written in Durrulmukhtār, in Hindiyya,
in Durr-ul-muntaqā, in Dāmād, and in Jawhara
that it is acceptable not to include into the nisāb these or the debts that are
to be repaid by instalments at definite times
---------------------------------
[1] Please see chapter 12.
[2] ... that can be posponed until divorce takes place.
in
future. The zakāt of the money kept for hajj, nazr or kaffārat is to be given.
For they are not debts owed to other people. If a person who has the nisāb
amount of gold and silver borrows a few sacks of barley towards the end of the
year and still holds the barley at the end of the year, he does not have to
give zakāt. For debts should precedently be repaid from the property of zakāt.
They cannot be thought of as being paid from the property which is not included
in the calculation of zakāt.
As for
dues; there are three kinds of dues according to Imām-i-azam:
1 - Dayn-i-qawī is the Saman that has been lent or which is to be
received in return for the selling of the property of zakāt. It is included
into the calculation of nisāb. When one year has passed over the nisāb of the
dues or of the summing up of the dues with the money one already has, it is
wājib to give immediately one-fortieth of each amount (of them) that one has
obtained. One gives the two years zakāt of what one receives two years later
and three years zakāt of the amount that one receives three years later. For
example, if a person who is owed three hundred pounds receives two hundred
pounds three years later, he gives fifteen pounds value of zakāt for three
years, it being five pounds for each year. It is not necessary for him to give zakāt
before he receives the money. If a tenant repairs a house in return for the
rental with the permission of the landlord, he will have lent the expenditure
to the landlord, (Ibni Ābidīn).
2 - Dayn-i-mutawassit is the
dues that are to be received for the selling of those animals of zakāt which
are not commercial property and of the things of necessity such as slaves,
houses, food and drink, and for the rentals of houses. They are included into
the calculation of nisāb. One year after ones property reaches the amount of
nisāb one immediately gives one-fortieth for each year of what one has
received.
3 - Dayn-i-daīf is the inherited
property or mahr. It is included in the calculation of nisāb. One year after
one has reached the nisāb amount of it one gives zakāt of that year only. If
one also has the nisāb amount of property, one adds to it what one has received
of the dues and also gives the zakāt of the amount received when the year of
the nisāb one already has is over. One does not wait for another year to give
its zakāt. Also, if one receives those kinds of dues that are qawī and
mutawassit before one year has passed, one adds them to what one already has
and gives their zakāts at the same time. According to the two imāms,
(that is, Imām-i-Abū Yūsuf and
Imām-i-Muhammad) rahmatullāhi taālā alaihimā, if any dues are the amount of
nisāb their zakāt is to be given after one year has passed, even if the amount
received is less than the nisāb.
Property
that is lost, which has fallen into the sea, which has been usurped, or the
place where it was buried has been forgotten, and dues that are denied are not
included in the calculation of nisāb, and if they are recovered the zakāts of
previous years are not given. Dues for which there are written proofs or two
witnesses for each or which are confessed by the debtors are included in the
nisāb even if they are kept by an insolvent or poor person. When one receives
them one gives their zakāts for the past years as well.
VITAL NEEDS - Are things that protect one from death.
The first of them is subsistence. There are three kinds of subsistence. Food,
clothing, and housing. Food includes things needed in the kitchen as well. And
housing includes things needed in the house. Ones beast of transportation or a
car, weapons, servants, tools of art and necessary books are counted as things
of necessity as well.
Going
on hajj also requires having money and property more than these things of
necessity. Subsistence is the subsistence for one and for those who it is wājib
for one to support. Of these things the ones that are more than one needs and
all books other than religious and professional ones are counted as the money
for hajj and are included in the nisāb of Qurbān and Fitra. But they are not
included in the nisāb of zakāt unless they are intended for trade. To go on
hajj, if one has a house other than the one one lives in, one sells it. But one
does not sell the spare rooms of one house. It is not necessary to sell the
house one lives in and then rent another house. It is permissible to buy things
of necessity before the time of hajj comes. After hajj has become fard, it is
not permissible to spend the money of hajj to buy them. One should go on hajj
first. While explaining the hajj, Ibni Abidīn says, Ones food or money for
one year is counted as subsistence. One sells what is more than that and goes
on hajj. A tradesmans, a craftsmans, an artisans or a farmers capital
customary in his region is of the things of necessity when the hajj is
concerned. Ones subsistence and that of those who it is wājib for one to
support are calculated in accordance with the customs of ones city and with
ones friends. It is necessary to eat good food and to wear good, clean and
beautiful clothes. But one should not be a
spendthrift. Human rights are to be paid
before Allahs rights. One should not borrow money in order to go on hajj,
unless one is sure to repay it.
Money
which one has reserved for buying things of necessity or for meeting the
expenses of ones funeral is included in the calculation of nisāb. If a person
has only that money and if it is still equal to the amount of nisāb one year
after it has reached the amount of nisāb, he gives zakāt of what remains in his
possession of that money. For in zakāt, fitra and qurbān it is not a condition
to have the things of necessity. What one has of these things are not included
in the calculation of nisāb.
If
gold or silver or commercial property remains in ones possession for one hijrī
(Arabic) year (354 days) from the day its weight or value has reached the
amount of nisāb, it is fard for one to reserve with the intention of zakāt
one-fortieth of what has remained and give it to poor Muslims. It is wājib to
give it as soon as possible. It is makrūh to delay it without any good excuse
(udhr) to do so. It is not necessary to intend or to say that it is zakāt
while giving it. This is so in all of the four Madhāhib.
The nisāb of gold is twenty mithqals. A mithqal is a unit of weight.
Weight, length, volume, time, and value (money) measures are designated as
sharī and urfī units. Sharī units were used during the era of our Prophet Muhammad (sallallāhu alaihi wa sallam) and are
referred to in hadīth-i sherifs. The four Madhhabs imāms reported the
definitions of the values of these units in different ways. Urfī units denote
customary usage or units of measure adopted by the government. The four Madhhab
imāms have described mithqal equivalents differently. For example, the mithqal
equivalents in Hanafī and Shāfiī Madhhabs differ. Similarly there are also
various urfī mithqals. In Hanafī Madhhab, one mithqal is twenty qirāts
(carats). One qirāt-i-sharī equals five peeled cut-ends of dry barley seeds.
During my experiments [made on a very accurate balance in a pharmacy] I observed
that 5 seeds of barley weigh twenty-four centigrams (gr. 0.24). Hence, one
sharī mithqal is a hundred seeds of barley and, as it is written in (Zahīra),
one mithqal is seventy-two seeds of barley according to Mālikī Madhhab. Hence
one mithqal is three and a half [3.456] grams in Mālikī and four point 80
[4.80] grams in Hanafī. So, the nisāb of gold is
mithqals and urfī mithqals are identical.
Since the Ottoman and Republican gold coins both weigh one and a half mithqals
and one gold coin weighs
was used during the latest times of the
Ottomans was the weight of four seeds of wheat. It was twenty centigrams, and
the dirham was 3.20 grams]. It is written in the book
Al muqaddemat-ul Hadramiyya, In the Madhhab of Shāfiī, one mithqal
weighs 24 qirāts. So one dirham-i-sharī is
It is written on the thirtieth page of the second volume of Durr-ul-mukhtār, The dirham-i-sharī is used
when the nisāb of zakāt is to be calculated in silver. Also there have been
those (savants) who have said that the urfī dirham in use in each city can be
used for zakāt. In explaining these lines, Ibni
Ābidīn writes, Those savants who say that the dirham used in every
city can be used say: Yet the weight of the dirhams used should not be less
than the lightest one of the three kinds of dirham used during the time of
Rasūlullah sall Allāhu alaihi wa sallam. The lightest dirham weighed half a
mithqal, i.e. ten qirāts. If not so, it must be calculated with the
dirham-i-sharī, which weighs fourteen qirats. The majority of Hanafī savants
advise this dirham. This dirham is meant in the books of both the old ones and
the new ones. As seen, zakāt cannot be calculated with
dirhams that were used in a country in old
times and which have been superseded later or with the new ones that weigh less
than the dirham-i-sharī. For this reason, it is not permissible to calculate
the zakāt of silver with the dirhams of Istanbul or Egypt now. It is necessary
to calculate it with the dirham-i-sharī, which weighs three grams and
thirty-six centigrams (3.36 gr.).
According
to the majority of the Ulamā, zakāt of gold and silver is given, regardless of
the form or shape they are in and the purpose they are used for. In the
accepted unanimity (by the Ulamā) in Shafiī Madhhab and in Hanbalī Madhhab,
zakāt of gold and silver which women use for ornament is not given.
Because gold and silver are soft when they are pure, they cannot be
used as money or as an ornament. They are used in alloys mixed with metals such
as copper. Gold and silver alloys of more than fifty per cent gold and silver,
that is, with more than twelve carats, are looked on as pure. Their degrees of
purity is not taken into consideration. But those alloys half or less of which
is gold or silver are like commercial property. [It is written in a fatwā of
Ebussuūd Efendi (rahmatullāhi taālā aleyh) that in the time of Sultan
Süleyman the Magnificent (rahmatullāhi taālā aleyh) the nisāb of silver was
840 aqchas, which means that one aqcha was a silver coin of 0.24 dirhams, i.e.,
eighty centigrams (0.8 gr.)]. Abdurrahman Žeref Bey says in his book, Tarih-i Devlet-i Osmaniyye (History of the
Ottoman Empire) printed in 1309 [1892 A.D.], During the era of Süleyman the
Magnificent, three aqchas were being minted out of one silver dirham. After
1100 [1688 A.D.], the amount of silver dwindled to a sixth. It was written on
the Ottoman Calendar dated 1308 [1891
A.D.] that one piece is three aqchas and one aqcha equals three fulūs.
The
value of commercial property, that is, its purchase price at the time of the
calculation of the nisāb, is calculated either in gold or in silver money,
depending on the one as per which it equals the amount of nisāb. If it equals
the amount of nisāb in accordance with either one of them, it is to be
calculated with the one that is more advantageous to the poor. It is not
calculated with gold or silver which is not used for money. The value is
calculated with the one that has the lowest value of the kinds of gold and
silver money monetized by the government. The value is calculated anew
according to the current prices on the day when its zakāt becomes fard
according to the one with which it has first been calculated, that is, when one
year has elapsed over the nisāb, and one-fortieth of the new value, that is, of
its price of purchase,
or of the property itself, is given. At
places where gold and silver are now not used as money, other metal coins and
paper bills are equivalents to gold. The nisāb for commercial property bought
with such money or for paper bills or for fitra or qurbān is, according to the
Shaikhayn [Imām-i-azam and Imām-i-Abū Yūsuf (rahmatullāhi taālā alaihimā)],
calculated in the one that has the lowest value of the officially marked gold
coins. It cannot be calculated in silver. It is written in Kashf-i-rumūz, The value of a commodity is
determined with gold or silver.
No
matter how many they are, zakāt is not given for houses, apartment houses,
mechanical implements, machines, lathes, lorries, ships, or for things used in
the house, when they are not for trade, that is, for sale. Artisans,
manufacturers, and producers give zakāt of raw material and of production.
Zakāt is not given for fixed assets. Nor is it given for what is reserved for
use in a house from commercial commodities or for a years household needs
reserved from commercial food. That is, all these and the debts to be repaid
are not included in the calculation of nisāb. All the gold, silver and paper
kinds of money which one keeps in order to buy all those things or to buy the
means of subsistence, such as food, drink, clothes and housing, are included in
the calculation of nisāb. That is, their zakāt is to be given.
Ibni Ābidīn (rahmatullāhi taālā aleyh) says: If the
value of ones commercial property does not amount to the nisāb according to
gold and silver and if one also has gold and silver, one adds the value of the
property to the value of the gold and silver to complete the nisāb. For
example, if one has wheat for sale the value of which is a hundred dirhams of
silver, and five mithqals of gold the value of which is hundred dirhams as
well, one shall give zakāt. For the sum of the values of the gold and the wheat
is two hundred dirhams according to silver and this equals the nisāb.
A person who has gold only gives zakāt in gold. He cannot give its
value in silver. Nor can zakāt of silver be given in gold. A person who has
gold or silver or paper money only and who does not have commercial property
cannot give other goods as its zakāt. It is written in Shernblālīs book Marāqilfalāh, Instead of gold and silver it is
acceptable to give their value in urūz, that is, any kind of living or
non-living property other than gold and silver. But if the same page is read
completely it will be understood that it is to be given out of ones commercial
property instead of gold and silver. As a matter of fact, by interpreting this
book, Tahtāwī
writes, Urūz means commercial property. As stated clearly in all books of fiqh,
a tradesman who has commercial property as well as gold and silver, even if
each of them is equal to the amount of nisāb by itself, can give zakāt for his
gold and silver out of his commercial property.
While discoursing upon zakāt of sheep, Ibni
Ābidīn (rahmatullāhi taālā aleyh) says: Instead of the commodities
that are to be given as zakāt, ushr, kharāj, fitra, nazr or kaffārat, it is
permissible to give their equivalents in value. That is, available as they may
be, one may give zakāt commodities of the same or different kind or gold or
silver money of the same value. [It will be explained later on that paper money
cannot be given]. The value of a beast is calculated according to the current
prices of the day when it will be given. Three fat sheep can be given instead
of four medium sheep. But the equivalent of the same kind cannot be given
instead of goods that are measured by weight or volume. Their equivalents of a
different kind can be given. Zakāt of gold and silver is given in weight, that is,
by weighing. But zakāt of crops that are intended for trade is given by volume.
The equivalent of the same kind for such things which are measured by weight or
volume cannot be given, for this practice entails interest. For example,
instead of five dirhams of silver alloyed with copper, four dirhams of pure
silver which is of the same value cannot be given. Five dirhams of lower carat
silver can be given instead of five dirhams of pure silver. But it is makrūh to
knowingly do so. Instead of five kilograms of low quality wheat, four kilograms
of high quality wheat which is of the same value cannot be given. It is
necessary to give one more kilogram. But when giving another kind of commercial
property as zakāt of any of these it is given according to its calculated price
of purchase in the concerned country. For example, if a silver pitcher that
weighs two hundred dirhams is worth three hundred dirhams on account of the art
or handicraft it bears, five dirhams of silver shall be given as its zakāt.
Gold worth five dirhams of silver cannot be given instead. It is necessary to
give gold worth seven and a half dirhams of silver. If one has both gold and
silver each amounting to nisāb one gives their zakāts separately by weight, but
even in this case, that is, a person who has both gold and silver is permitted
to calculate their value and give in either one even if they are the amount of
nisāb, provided it shall be to the advantage of the poor, that is, the current
one shall be given. If one has both gold and silver one or both of which are
less than the
amount of nisāb and if in this case the
nisāb of one of them can be complemented by calculating either one with the
other, it can be given instead of the other as well. For all that, one should
calculate and give the one which is useful to the poor. Please see chapter 5.
If the value of a silver pitcher weighing one hundred dirhams is two hundred
dirhams owing to the workmanship, its zakāt is not due. For zakāt is calculated
according to weight. A person who has hundred and fifty dirhams of silver and
five mithqals of gold the value of which is forty dirhams, shall give zakāt.
For though the total amount calculated in silver does not amount to the nisāb,
the total amount calculated in gold reaches the nisāb. If a person has
ninety-five dirhams of silver and one mithqal of gold and if the value of one
mithqal of gold is five dirhams of silver, it complements the nisāb of gold and
so he gives zakāt.
If a
person gives millions to the poor without reserving one-fortieth with the
intention of zakāt or without intending when giving, he will not have given
zakāt. For it is fard to intend when reserving (the prescribed amount) or
giving it to his deputy or to the poor or to the poors deputy.
If the money or the commercial property one has decreases and becomes
less than the nisāb or increases before one year has elapsed after the time it
reached the amount of nisāb, this does not affect zakāt. That is, if it is not
less than the amount of nisāb at the end of the year zakāt of the amount
possessed is to be given. One does not deduct the amount of money that will be
necessary to buy such things as food, clothes and housing or to pay the rental
from the money which one has at the end of the year. After giving zakāt of all the
money he spends the rest buying these things. In the Madhāhib of Hanafī and
Shāfiī, if the nisāb is depleted or if one depletes it before the end of the
year, that is, if one does not have the amount of nisāb any longer, the
previous nisāb lapses. If he has the nisāb again he waits for another year, and
if he still has the nisāb at the end of the year, he reserves with the
intention of zakāt one fortieth of what he has and gives it. In Mālikī and
Hanbalī Madhāhib the case is the same if the nisāb is depleted. But if one
depletes the nisāb in order to evade paying zakāt the previous nisāb does not
become void. If one obtains a large quantity of money or property[1] after one year and a few days have passed one
does not give its zakāt also immediately. If
---------------------------------
[1] in addition to the amount of nisāb that one already has
one
still has it also one more year later one gives its zakāt, too. A loan due to
one and what one obtains are different things. It is written on the
eighty-sixth page of the book Jāmi-ur-rumūz,
Those things that are obtained before one year has passed after one had the
amount of nisāb, such as commercial property bought, beast of pasture (Sāima),
gold and silver obtained through birth, gift, inheritance or bequest, even if
they are obtained when the end of the year is quite near, are included in the
nisāb of their own kind and zakāt of all is given at the same time. This means
to say that those that are obtained after the year is over are not included in
the nisāb. That is, they are not included in the (previous) years zakāt but
are left over for zakāt of the following year. It also means that if they are
obtained by one who does not have the nisāb their zakāt is not to be given that
year.
THE ZAKĀT OF PAPER MONEY It is necessary to give zakāt of paper
money, too. The Shiites say that zakāt of money other than gold and silver is
not to be given. The author, (rahmatullāhi taālā aleyh), of the book Tātārhāniyya, a copy of which exists with number
[It is written in Arabic in Miftāh-us-saāda,
If the value of copper coins termed fulūs amounts to two hundred dirhams of
silver when calculated with silver, it is necessary to give one-fortieth of the
silver equivalent of those fulūs as their zakāt. Hence it is understood that
zakāt of paper money is to be given in gold. It cannot be given in paper money.
The author (rahmatullāhi taālā aleyh) of the book Durr-ul-muntaqā states at the end of the section
about sarf, When fulūs becomes currency it is like silver money. If it is not
legal tender it is like other commodities. It is permissible to buy something
in exchange for fulūs which one has in a certain number or weight, e.g. one
dirham of fulūs. Then one has to pay the fulūs weighing one dirham. Actually,
the fulūs itself is not money. Consisting in pieces of metal coined so as to
represent pieces of silver dirhams, it is used for buying cheap things.]
The
nisāb of paper bills is calculated with the cheapest gold coins on the market.
For they are bonds used in lieu of gold today
and being pieces of paper have little
intrinsic value, which cannot equal the amount of nisāb. Their nominal or face
values equal to the gold have been determined by governments. That is, they are
speculative and everchanging. For their zakāt, one fortieth of their gold coin
equivalent or any kind of gold of the same weight should be given. After
handing the gold to a poor person, one can buy the gold back from him with the
current market price and give him paper money to facilitate the transaction for
the poor person. It is written in the book Bukhārī that
(this method of) buying back (the zakāt given), and thereby using (it) in ones
own transactions, is makrūh when the zakāt is given in property other than
these two currencies, (i.e. gold and silver,) such as commercial property.
Zakāts will not be sahih if they are given as paper money without taking into
consideration the rules of fiqh. A rich person who gave his zakāt in paper
money must give it again in gold or silver. One who becomes poor later makes
qadā by using a small amount of gold to make dawr[1] with this gold. For many centuries Muslims have
given their zakāt in gold and silver. No religious scholar has ever said that
paper bills called fulūs or bonds could be given as zakāt. The article which is
said to be the fatwā dated May 5 1338 (1922) is false. It is written in Iqd-ul-jīd that it is not permissible in Shafiī
Madhhab. (See the last two pages of the chapter concerning the ablution of
ghusl in the previous fascicle).
While discoursing over sarf, that is, money-changers business, Ibni Ābidīn (rahmatullāhi taālā aleyh) writes,
If the fulūs, that is, the copper coin, is legal tender, it becomes money according
to its face value. If its face value is not valid it becomes valueless
property. And he says on the thirteenth page, Bonds have two kinds of value:
the first one is the value stated on it, which indicates the bond holders
property which he does not possess; the second value, the value of the paper
itself, is quite insignificant. If one is in possession of ones property, the
property is called Ayn. If one does not
possess it, it is termed Dayn. The value
stated on a paper bill indicates the property of zakāt which is dayn. It is
written on the twelfth page of Durr-ul-mukhtār,
It is not permissible to give in dayn zakāt of property which is ayn or which
is dayn due to be returned. It is necessary to give it from property which is
ayn. For example, if one donates with the intention of zakāt five dirhams of
two hundred
---------------------------------
[1] Please see the twenty-first chapter for dawr and isqāt.
dirhams which a poor person owes him and
takes back the rest, it is not acceptable. He has given zakāt of those five
dirhams only.
It is wrong to say, Paper bills cannot be compared to ordinary
documents prepared and signed up by a few people. They are valid everywhere.
They are like gold. For, Ibni Ābidīn,
in the subject of oaths (yamīn), quotes Imām-i-Abū Yūsuf as making the
following statement in his book Kharāj and Ushr, which he wrote for Hārūn
Rashīd: It is harām for the Caliph to take currency other than gold and
silver, e.g. the coins called Sutūqā, from land owners as their kharāj or ushr. For though these are officially
marked coins and are to be accepted by everyone, they are not gold but copper.
It is harām to accept any money which is not gold or silver as zakāt or
kharāj.
It is not taqwā to give zakāt of paper money in gold. Taqwā in worships
means to strive so that everything will be acceptable to all the imāms of a
Madhhab and even to every Madhhab. If it is claimed that the poor consent to
paper money and meet their needs with it, then (it should be noted that) it is
Allahu taālās consent which is necessary, not the poors consent. For
example, Ibni Ābidīn says on the twelfth
page, If a poor person owes to a rich person, who gives the bond of debt to
the former and says, I have intended to give you as zakāt as much as you owe
me. So you accept it and take it as the equivalent for your debt so that we will
have paid our debts mutually, and if the poor person says that he accepts it,
the Sharīa will not accept this and the rich person will not have given his
zakāt. For zakāt is not performed by uttering empty words, by giving bonds of
debt, or by consent, it is performed by handing the commodity. The rich person
has to pay his zakāt to the poor person and the poor has to pay his debt by
returning it to the rich after taking it from the rich. So is it in the
Madhāhib of Shāfiī and Hanbalī. If he cannot count on the poor persons
returning the money, he shows a person whom he trusts to the poor person and
says, Appoint him your deputy to take your zakāt and to pay your debt, and
then gives zakāt to the deputy, who returns it to the rich person, thus paying the
poor persons debt. It is also written as such in the books Durr-i-yaktā and Mizān-i-kubrā.
Ibni Ābidīn (rahmatullāhi taālā aleyh) says on the
same page, If a rich person, in order to give a poor person zakāt of his ayn
property, that is, property which he possesses, [or of the dayn golds which are
the equivalents of the paper bills he has], gives the bonds of debts which
someone else owes to him [or the paper
money to buy gold in a bank or from a
money-changer] to the poor person and advises the poor person to take the
commodities stated on the bonds from the debtor [or to buy gold in a bank or
from a money-changer with the paper bills], when the poor person has taken the
commodities from the debtor, [that is, when he has obtained gold by giving
paper money], zakāt of the rich person has been given in ayn. Unless the poor
person takes possession of the property [or gold], zakāt will not have been
given only by giving the bonds [or the paper money]. For when the poor person
takes the property [or the gold] the bond, [that is, the paper money] becomes
property [or gold], and therefore zakāt of ayn [and dayn] has been given in
ayn. As seen, it is definitely necessary to give zakāt of paper money in
gold, or to have the poor person who is given paper money to change it for gold
in a bank or money changers office, or to command the poor person to change it
for gold while giving him the paper money. If the poor person does not change
the paper money given for gold, the rich person will not have given zakāt. For
it is the rich persons duty to change it for gold, that is, to give zakāt of
dayn property in ayn.
Summary: Those who do not have commercial property
have to give zakāt of paper money in gold. It is always easy to find gold and
to exchange paper money for gold. For the gold does not have to be in coins.
Bracelets, rings, or gold in any form can be given after being weighed. And
such things can be found in any jewellers shop far and near. A rich person who
is in a place where gold is not available at all, if he does not have
commercial property either appoints as his deputy a Muslim who is in a city
where gold is available and sends him paper money. And the deputy changes the
paper money for gold and gives the gold to the poor. He (the rich person) can
directly appoint the poor person his deputy as well. If the poor person lives
far away from the rich person or his deputy and if gold is not available in the
city where the poor person lives, the gold can then be given to the poor
persons deputy appointed by the poor person. Even, advised by the poor person,
the rich person can give the gold which is his zakāt to the poor persons
creditor, thus freeing the poor person from his debt. In this case the creditor
has become the poor persons deputy to take zakāt. But the poor persons
consent, that is, his appointing him the deputy beforehand, is a prerequisite.
To say
that zakāt cannot be given in paper money does not
mean to say that one should not give zakāt
in paper money. It means that the paper money should be given compatibly with
the Sharīa. To give the zakāt of ones commercial property in paper money
compatibly with the Sharīa, one should do as the rich person would do who
wanted to pay debts concurrently with the poor person by intending to give the
poor person the amount of gold equivalent to what the poor person owed him. And
this is instructed as follows in Ashbāh,
in Redd-ul-mukhtār, and at the end of
the sixth volume of Hindiyya: The rich
person borrows the gold equivalent for the paper money which he wants to give
the poor and which is less than the amount of nisāb from his wife or from
someone else. Then he finds a pious poor person. If he still cannot trust him,
he says to him, I shall give zakāt in paper money to a few acquaintances of
mine and to you. Our religion commands that zakāt should be given in gold. In
order to change the gold into paper money easily, I want you to appoint so and
so as your deputy to take your zakāt and to spend
it as he likes. Thus you will have helped me follow the Sharīa. And
you will earn thawāb for this. Thus a person whom the rich person trusts is
appointed the deputy. A rich person can also be the deputy. He gives the gold
with the intention of zakāt to the deputy in the poor persons absence. Hence,
the zakāt will have been given to the poor. A few minutes after receiving the
gold, the deputy sells them for paper money to the rich person, and then gifts
the paper bills which he has received to the rich person. And the rich person
distributes these paper bills to that and other poor people, [to schools where
they teach the Qurān, and to those Muslims who serve the religion and make
jihād]. If he gives it to the rich its thawāb will be less. If he does not give
them to anybody or if he gives them to people who do not have the
qualifications prescribed by the religion, such as those who do not perform
namāz, he will escape the torment for (not having given) zakāt, but will not
attain its thawāb. If there is a poor person who he is sure will not take away
the gold, he gives his zakāt directly to this poor person. A few minutes after
receiving the gold, the poor will sell it to the rich who has paid his zakāt.
He gives the paper money that he had taken back to the rich as a gift. He may
as well give the gold back as a gift instead of selling it. And the rich will
distribute the paper money of the same value to the places we have described
above. The rich returns the gold to the lender. If the zakāt he has to give is
more than the nisāb he repeats the procedure. It produces more thawāb to give
zakāt in gold. By
doing so others will be shown and taught
that zakāt should be given in gold. To give the zakāt to the poor or to a
deputy in gold and then to convert it into paper money, is called Hīla-i shariyya. To give zakāt and at the same
time to obey the rules of Sharīa, it is necessary, and will yield much thawāb,
to perform such a technique. The last paragraph of the third parts 15th
article of the Turkish original version and the twenty-first chapter (of this
English version) inform us that it is permissible to do hīla-i shariyya, and for the poor person to give
back (as a gift) the money. However, after zakāt becomes fard, it becomes harām
to practise this technique if it is intended to avoid giving zakāt; it is
considered a fraud (Hīla-i-bātila). (This technique which is called) hīla, when
it is performed before zakāt becomes fard, is bātila according to Imām-i-Muhammad, while it is shariyya according
to Imām Abū Yūsuf. The fatwa is in agreement
with Imām Muhammad. Please see the final paragraph of the fifteenth chapter of
the third part of the Turkish original, Seādet-i
Ebediyye.
The two hundred and seventy-fifth āyat of Sūra Baqara purports, Allah destroys completely the income and property earned
through interest. He lets none of it remain. But He increases the property for
which zakāt is given. People who do not know or believe in Allāhu
taālās just promise, try to avoid giving zakāt. Some people resort to hīla-i
bātila in order not to pay the poor and the government their due. One of the
hīla-i-bātilas they have been practising recently is converting their cash into
landed property, such as a house or a store or an urban or rural land plot, in
order to avoid attaining the nisāb of zakāt, and then renting out their
purchases. This shenanigan absolves them from the obligation of paying zakāt,
only to entangle them with another obligation, the obligation of supporting
their poor relatives. And this second situation, in its turn, is something they
are quite unaware of. Consequently, they not only neglect the fard of paying
nafaqa to (supporting) their poor relatives, but also deprive themselves of the
thawāb (that Allāhu taālā promises) for Silai-rahm (visiting ones
relatives). In addition, they confine to heaps of stone and earth the money
that could otherwise be utilized in trade, industry, and for the countrys
economic development. It goes without saying that in consequence they remain
forever deprived of the abundance and wealth that Allāhu taālā promises to the
givers of zakāt.
While discoursing about the kinds of oath, Ibnī
Abidīn,
Mawqūfāt and the authors of many other books
(rahmatullāhi alaihim ajmaīn), write that If a person swears: I shall pay
today so much silver which I owe to so and so, and if he in lieu gives zuyūf,
or silver more than half of which is copper, he will have fulfilled his oath.
If he gives fulūs, that is, currency made of bronze, tin or copper, [or paper
money], or if the lender gifts or donates the loan to his sworn debtor, the
debtor will not have fulfilled his oath. For copper coins are not silver. The
debtor has to return the money. It is not fulfilled with the lenders word.
Although zuyūf means coin with little silver, its copper content is not more
than half. Fulūs means metal coin other than gold and silver. As seen, even
though the zuyūf is considered as silver in the matter of oath, the fulūs, that
is, currency made of copper, (or paper money), is still not acceptable, that
is, it is not permissible.
Lā madhhabī and ignorant people say, Paper money cannot be compared to
bonds written out between two people. It is the days currency. It has become
attested to universally. Today it has become indispensable to give it as
zakāt. They should not be believed. Something cannot be universal,
indispensable or permissible only because we, common people, say that it is so.
It is mujtahids right and authority to have a say on this subject. There is no
mutlaq (absolute) mujtahid on earth today. For this reason, it is not
permissible for any Muslim to go beyond the limits of the four Madhāhib.
Mujtahids fatwās, which cover even todays conditions, have been given above.
While discoursing upon how to listen to the khutba, Ibni
Ābidīn wrote, Traditions that began during the time of the Sahāba
(radiy-Allāhu taālā anhum ajmaīn) and mujtahids and which have been going on
are to be taken as proofs for halāl. Traditions introduced later cannot be
dalīl sharī.
In the Ottoman Empire, the worlds greatest Muslim state, paper money
was first used in 1256 [1840 A.D.]. Later it was given up. It was used in 1268
for the second time and in 1279 for the third time, each time being revoked
some time later. Its fourth monetization took place in 1294 [1877 A.D.] under
the entitlement of the Ottoman Bank, and from then on it has been in use up
till now, being changed ever and again. In none of the books written or the
fatwās given during that long period has it been said or stated that zakāt
could be given in paper money. People have always given their zakāt in gold and
silver. It is written on the forty-fourth page of Ikd-ul-jayyid
that it is not permissible to give zākāt in fulūs in the Madhhab of Shāfiī,
Every Muslim should always be considering the amount of the property of
zakāt he has and should write down the day it reached the amount of nisāb. If
the nisāb is depleted before one year has passed from that day, that is, if he
no longer has any property more than he needs, the day which he has registered
as the beginning date no longer has value. If he obtains the nisāb amount again
before the year is over, it is fard for him to note down the date anew and to
give zakāt one year after that date, if the nisāb has not been depleted and is
still in his possession. This rule applies even if the nisāb is depleted at the
end of the year, that is, after it has become fard (to give zakāt). In this
case zakāt will be excused, and if he obtains the nisāb amount of property
again he will have to wait for another year. For it is not necessary in Hanafī
Madhhab to give zakāt as soon as it becomes fard. If he dies before having
given it, it is not to be given from the property he has left behind. In the
Madhāhib of Shāfiī and Mālikī, it is fard to set aside the amount of zakāt and
give it as soon as it becomes fard [Mīzān-i-Sharānī].
If the nisāb is not depleted altogether but falls down during the middle of the
year and if the property reaches the amount of nisāb again at the end of the
year, zakāt becomes fard and now one gives one-fortieth of what one still has.
If the property that has fallen down below the amount of nisāb during the year
does not reach the amount of nisāb again at the end of the year, zakāt does not
become fard. If ones property equals the amount of nisāb after that, one has
to wait for one year from that day on. If after the zakāt has become fard ones
property is not depleted (for justifiable reasons) but if one spends or wastes
it oneself or goes into debt, zakāt will not be excused. If one has lent the
property or given it to someone as āriyat (for use) and cannot take it back,
the property has been depleted (for justifiable reasons). One has not depleted
it oneself. It is makrūh according to the unanimity (of the Ulamā) to waste
the property after zakāt has become fard in order not to pay zakāt. And
according to Imām-i-Muhammad, also before the zakāt has become fard, it is
makrūh to seek for ways so that it will not be fard. Please see the fifteenth
chapter of the third part of the Turkish original version.
If one
has not mixed commodities of zakāt obtained by harām means (usurpation or
bribery) with ones own property, one does not include them in the nisāb. For
they are not ones own property. It is fard for one to return them to their owners
or
inheritors, or to give them as alms to the
poor if one cannot find anyone of them. If one has mixed them, the case is the
same if one can separate them. If one cannot separate them, one pays this debt
to the owners from ones halāl zakāt property. One keeps this zakāt property
until the owners are found. One does not pay the zakāt for them or for the
mixture. If one has zakāt property amounting to nisāb other than the two
mentioned above, one should give zakāt both for this nisāb and the mixed property.
After paying back its former owner it would also become fard to give zakāt of
all khabīs (abominable) property. In other words, one includes the mixed
property in the nisāb amount. For by mixing others property with ones own
property one has owned and possessed it. But it has become ones Mulk-i-khabīs (abominable property). The owners
will have no rights to this property. When one gives any amount out of this
abominable property to someone, it will be permissible for that person to
receive it. But unless the abominable property is compensated for, one has no
right to use it. One cannot give it to someone else. One cannot give it as alms
to the poor, either. One cannot include it in the nisāb of zakāt. Compensation
means to return a similar commodity. If its like is not avaliable, the value
that was current on the day when it was obtained is to be paid to the owners.
Compensation should be made out of ones halāl zakāt property, not out of an
abominable mixture. It would be a worse sin to acquire an abominable mixed
property in order to avoid giving zakāt than to simply not give zakāt at all.
If the owners are unknown, the unmixed amount, and if it is mixed altogether
all that abominable property is to be given as alms to the poor. For it exists as
harām property in every part of this mixture. Even if harām commodities
purchased from several people are mixed together, all of them become abominable
property. But it is wājib to give them back to their original owners; if they
are not known, then as alms to the poor. If it is wājib to dispense some
property as alms, its zakāt cannot be given. Even if any commodity or money
acquired through Fāsid Bey[1] is not mixed with ones own money that property
becomes abominable property. It is written
---------------------------------
[1] Bey means bartering, buying or selling. The business of buying and selling has to be done as prescribed by Islam. Fāsid bey is a kind of purchase done in a way not justified by Islam. The business of buying and selling will be explained in full detail in one of the later fascicles of Endless Bliss.
in the
book, Bezzāziyya, If a person, while
giving alms from abominable mixed property (which it is wājib to give as alms),
makes an intention of giving zakāt for his halāl property, he will have given
both the zakāt and the alms simultaneously. Hence, it is permissible to give
the zakāt of ones halāl property out of harām property.
THE ZAKĀT OF CROPS - It is fard also to pay ushr. The zakāt
of production obtained from ones land is termed Ushr. Even a person in debt
has to pay ushr.
Imām-i-azam
says, Whether in a large or small amount, when any kind of vegetable or fruit
is obtained from the earth it is fard to give its one-tenth or its equivalent
in gold or silver to poor Muslims. When the produce is obtained from land
which is irrigated by animal power, a waterwheel or machinery, one-twentieth of
it is given. Whether one-tenth or one-twentieth, it should be given before
deducting what is spent on animals, seeds, tools, fertilizer chemicals and
workers. Ushr is not to be given for produce which is less than one sā. Even
if the owner of the land is a child, an insane person or a slave, its ushr is
to be given. The state takes the ushr by force from a person who will not give
his ushr. Ushr is not given for the fruit and vegetable in the yard of ones
house or for firewood, grass or hay, no matter how abundant they are. For
honey, (even if there has been an expenditure on such things as engineering
outfits), for cotton, for tea, for tobacco, for fruit obtained from trees in
fields, (such as olives, grapes), one-tenth is given as ushr. There is no
ushr for pitch, petroleum or salt. [See the second one of the four treasuries
of the Beytulmāl a few pages ahead]. It is harām to eat the produce the ushr
of which has not been given. It is necessary to give its ushr even after
having eaten it.
Ibni Ābidīn says, The ushr of fruits and grains,
according to Imām-i-azam and Imām-i-Zufer, becomes fard when they have been
formed on the stem and while they are still secure from rotting off. Even if
they are not ready for reaping, the ushr should be given when they are ripe
enough to utilize, to eat. According to Imām-i-Abū Yūsuf, when they ripen it
becomes fard (to give the ushr for them) before the harvest. And according to
Imām-i-Muhammad it becomes fard after the harvest, that is, after all of them
have been reaped and gathered. It is permissible to pick some off their stems
and eat them or to give them to someone else to eat before the harvest. But
according to Imām-i-azam their ushr also
has to be given later, which is not necessary according to the two imāms. But
they are included in the calculation, which is done to see if the produce is
(at least) the amount of five wesks. If one picks them off after they have
ripened, their ushr is still not necessary according to Imām-i-Muhammad. After
the completion of the harvest, the ushr of wasted or stolen amount is not to
be given. The poor should calculate and give their ushr according to the two
imāms. Those who are rich should give it according to Imām-i-azam.
It is written on the two hundred and twenty-fifth page of the book Imād-ul-Islām, Whether from a cultivated field
or from an orchard or vineyard, it is harām to eat the produce before giving
one-tenth of it to poor Muslims. If one measures the quantity one has taken out
and eaten and then calculates and gives the ushr of what one has eaten, then
what one has eaten becomes halāl.
If a
person who has gathered ten bushels of wheat does not give one bushel (36 1/2
kg) of it to a poor Muslim, not only that one bushel but also all of the ten
bushels will be harām. If a person tills someone elses land and obtains crops
without the latters consent, of the produce he gets only the amount equal to
his expense and capital becomes halāl for him, and the rest is harām; he has to
give the rest to the poor as alms.
According
to Imām-i-Yūsuf and Imām-i-Muhammad, to give the ushr, the produce obtained
from the land has to be of the kind and quality that will last one year and its
amount has to be more than five wesks. One wesk means a camel-load, which is a
volume of sixty sa. Sixty sa is two hundred and fifty litres. Accordingly,
the two imāms state that the nisāb of ushr is twelve hundred and fifty litres.
But the fatwā has been given according to the ijtihād of Imām-i-azam.
Ibni Ābidīn stated on the two hundred and
fifty-fourth page of the third volume, If the inhabitants of a city become
Muslims voluntarily or if Muslims capture the city by force and one-fifth of
the land is reserved and the remainder is dealt out to the soldiers or to other
Muslims, such plots of land become property of those who take them, and it is
fard to give the ushr of the produce of this land. Ushr is not taken for land
which has been captured by force and given to disbelievers or which has been
taken by peaceful means and still belongs to disbelievers. Kharāj is taken for such land areas. [Ushr and
kharāj are spent for different purposes.] Kharāj is taken for the lands of
Iraq, Syria and Egypt, but not for Basra. It is written on the fifty-second
page of the
second volume, Even if the owner of a
land of kharāj donates or sells it to a Muslim, still kharāj is to be given
from the produce. It is written in Majmūa-i-jadīda,
It is permissible for a zimmī to donate his real estate to a pious foundation
by stipulating that its rentals should be given to poor Muslims. And it is
written on the two hundred and fifty-fifth page of the third volume of the
sharh (the abovementioned book), When a disbeliever dies his inheritors still
give the kharāj. If he has no inheritors the land left belongs to the Beytulmāl
and the kharāj lapses, that is, it is not to be given. If the state sells this
land, which is mīrī, or donates it to a waqf, the person (or foundation) who
gets it gives ushr, not kharāj. The majority of Anatolian land has became
land of ushr through this policy. It is also written so on the fiftieth page
of the second volume. It is written on the forty-ninth page of the second
volume, If a person donates his own land of ushr, the person who tills the
land gives the ushr. It is written on the fifty-fifth page, If the state
rents out the land belonging to the Beytulmāl, the rental taken each year
counts for kharāj. Ushr is not taken in addition. For ushr is not taken for
land if kharāj is taken for it. If a person rents out his tenement of ushr,
the owner gives the ushr of the produce according to Imām-i-azam. The fatwā
is given in agreement with this at places where rentals are high. Accēording to
the two imāms the tenant gives the ushr. The fatwā is given accordingly at
places where rental rates are low. No one but the president of the state can
sell the land belonging to the Beytulmāl. If the owner of a tenement of kharāj
becomes a Muslim or donates the tenement to a waqf, its kharāj must still be
given. If a tenement with ushr is bought by a zimmī, that is, a non-Muslim,
the tenement becomes land of kharāj. It is written on the two hundred and
sixty-fifth page of the third volume, If the president of the state donates
the kharāj to the Muslim who is the owner of the tenement, the owner uses it
personally if he has due rights demandable from the Beytulmāl[1] . If he has not those rights, he gives it to
someone who has the rights. If the president donates the ushr it is not
permissible. Ushr is not excusable by the states pardoning. In that case the
owner of the tenement has to give his ushr to those who have due rights
demandable from the
---------------------------------
[1] The Beyt-ul-māl is the treasury of an Islamic government. On pages ahead there is detailed information about the Beyt-ul-māl. By reading those pages, the readers will know what is meant by people who have due rights demandable from the Beyt-ul-māl.
It is
written in the second volume, Those land areas that are not liable to kharāj
or ushr, such as mountains and forests, are to be counted as lands of ushr.
If one is sent some presents by a land owner who one knows has not given their
ushr, it is good for one to spare one-tenth of them for the poor and to eat
the rest.
One of the explanations of the superseded Land
Laws, which prescribed the management of the Beytulmāl, that is, the
mīrī land areas, is a book printed in 1319 [hijrī], by Ātżf Bey, who was a
teacher of the civil code in the school of political sciences. It is written in
its introductory section:
If a
country is conquered by war, one-fifth of the land belongs to the Beytulmāl.
One of the following three cases may be applied to the rest:
1 - It
is divided and distributed to the soldiers or to other Muslims. Such land areas
become the property of these people. Such land is taxed with ushr, which is
collected yearly.
2 -
The land is left to the disbelievers. Such land is taxed with kharāj.
3 - The chief of the state does not give the land to anyone, but gives
it to the Beytulmāl. Such land is also called mīrī land. If the owner of land
of ushr or of kharāj dies and if he has no heirs, the land belongs to the
Beytulmāl. It becomes mīrī land. It will be sold or rented at a rate determined
by the sultān (chief of state). Its saman (sale value) and rate become kharāj,
that is, it is put in the third part of Beytulmāl. Or, it is rented out to
Muslim or non-Muslim countrymen by legal deed, a certain percentage of the
produce being taken yearly as rent. The rent used to belong to the soldiers and
officers. The soldiers who had the right to take the rents were called Timarcż, and the officers were called Zaīm. The soldiers land was called Tżmar, the officers land was called Zeāmet, and the generals land was termed Hās. Abussuūd Efendi, the Muftiyy-us-saqaleyn,
wrote in his fatwās, which exist in the library of Nūr-i-Osmāniyye (in
Istanbul), One-tenth of the produce, which is given with the sultāns order
yearly to the Timarcżs by those who have rented the Beytulmāls mīrī land by
legal deed, is termed ushr, yet it is not ushr, it is rent. Later on most of
the mīrī lands were donated or sold to the people by the State, in both of
which cases it became land of ushr. Thus almost all of the lands in Asia Minor
and Rumelia became land of ushr. As it is seen, either one of the ushr and
the kharāj should be
given for the land. Some people say and
write that the Anatolian land is not land of ushr. However, nowadays there is
no mīrī land in our country. Everybodys fields and gardens are their property,
or they are tenants. It is fard for them to give the ushr of its produce.
1 - Of
those land areas which were the peoples property, very few were of kharāj and
the great majority were of ushr. Land which was the peoples property had four
categories. The first category comprised plots in a village or city and land
areas adjacent to a village and no larger than half a dönüm (about 1/2 acre).
They had been mīrī land formerly and had been sold to the people with the
Caliphs permission later. Or they were land areas of ushr or of kharāj. In
the second category were those mīrī areas and fields that had been sold to the
people with the Caliphs permission. Their produce was taxed with ushr. The
third category was those land areas with ushr and the fourth consisted of
those with kharāj.
The owner of any of these four kinds of land could sell it. He could
bequeath it, too. It would be divided and distributed to his inheritors as
prescribed by the knowledge of Farāid (the branch of Islamic Sharia that deals
with inheritance)[1] . But
if a person died who had been using the mīrī land with a legal deed for which
he had paid rent in advance, his heirs are not allowed to divide it or sell it.
He cannot will this type of land to be sold or have his debts to be paid out of
the money received for its sale. The land would not belong to his inheritors.
It would not be included in the nisāb for Qurbān, either. Nor could it be sold.
Only, it could be transferred to someone else in return for money with the
permission of the owner of Timār. A person who had rented the mīrī land could
sow anything or let someone else use the land in return for rent. Any land area
left uncultivated for three years would be rented out to someone else. The
tenant farmer could not plant trees or vines on the mīrī land without
permission. He could not build a house there without permission, either. Nor
could a dead person be buried there. The mīrī land would not become the
property of the person who had rented it by legal deed. Such people were only
tenants. It was customary that when the tenant farmer died the land would be
rented to his inheritor. This was not the inheritors right prescribed by the
Sharīa, but
---------------------------------
[1] Please see the twenty-third chapter.
was a
gift by the State. Please see the final part of the twenty-third chapter.
2 -
Beytulmāls or mīrī land areas. Most of the countrys land was so and was
rented out. Later most of such land areas were sold to the people, and became
land of ushr.
3 -
Areas of pious foundations, which were with ushr of the produce.
4 -
Open spaces, fields and the like that were made public.
5 -
Areas that belonged to neither the Beytulmāl nor anyone else, such as mountains
and forests; Muslims who cultivated them would give the ushr of the produce.
THE ZAKĀT OF ANIMALS - It is written in the book Mawqūfāt: If
those animals that graze in the fields free of charge for more than half of the
year are intended for breeding [or for milk], they are termed Sāima animals.
One year after the number of the sāima animals has reached the amount of nisāb
their zakāt is to be given. If they are intended for wool, for burden or for
transportation, they are not termed sāima and zakāt is not necessary. Sāima
animals of different families, such as camels and cattle, are not added to one
another or to other commercial goods.
THE ZAKĀT OF CAMELS - Zakāt is not to be given for four camels.
The nisāb for camels is five. Five camels are the equivalent of two hundred
dirhams of silver. A person who has five camels gives one sheep. This means
that one sheep is five dirhams [seventeen grams] of silver. One sheep is to be
given for up to nine (inclusive) camels. A person who has ten to fourteen
(inclusive) camels gives two sheep. Three sheep are to be given for fifteen to
nineteen (inclusive) camels, and four for twenty to twenty-four. For
twenty-five to thirty-five camels a young female camel which is in its second
year is given. For thirty-six to forty-five camels a young female camel in its
third year is given. For forty-six to sixty camels a female camel which is in
its fourth year and which can already carry a burden is given. A five-year-old
camel is given for sixty-one to seventy-five camels, two three-year-old camels
for seventy-six to ninety camels, and two four year-old camels for ninety-one
to hundred and twenty. A sheep also
is given for each five camels over a
hundred and twenty. But when the number becomes a hundred and forty-five, a
two-year-old female camel is given instead of the sheep. Three four-year-old
camels are given for a hundred and fifty camels. A sheep also is given for each
five additional camels. But a person who has a hundred and seventy-five to a
hundred and eighty-five camels gives a two-year-old female camel instead of the
sheep. For a hundred and eighty-six to a hundred and ninety-five camels three
four-year-old camels and one three-year-old camel are given. For a hundred and
ninety-six to two hundred camels four four-year-old camels are given. Male
camels cannot be given for zakāt. A person who does not have any female camels
to give, gives the value of the male camels in gold or silver. Zakāt is not
given for a young camel that has not completed its first year. A person who has
more than two hundred camels repeats the procedure between a hundred-and-fifty
and two hundred for every fifty camels.
THE ZAKĀT OF CATTLE - The nisāb for cattle is thirty. A person
who has fewer than thirty heads of cattle does not give zakāt for them. For
thirty heads one male or female calf over one year of age is given. It is the
same up to thirty-nine (inclusive) heads. For forty to fifty-nine heads one
male or female calf just over two years of age is given. For sixty to
sixty-nine heads two calves over one year of age are given. One calf over two
years of age and one over one year of age are given for seventy heads. This
calculation is done for every ten heads over seventy heads. One one-year-old
calf is added for every thirty heads and one two-year-old calf is added for
every forty cattles. When the number reaches eighty, two two-year-old calves
are added. The zakāt of water buffalos is the same as the zakāt of cattle.
THE ZAKĀT OF SHEEP - The nisāb for sheep is forty. A person
who has fewer than forty sheep does not give zakāt for them. A person who has
forty to a hundred and twenty sheep gives only one sheep. Two sheep are given
for a hundred and twenty-one to two hundred sheep. Three sheep are given for
two hundred and one to four hundred sheep. Four sheep are given for four
hundred sheep, and one sheep is added for every additional hundred sheep. The
zakāts of sheep and goats are the same, whether they are male or female. Zakāt
is not given for lambs that have not completed their first year. But if one has
sheep also, one includes the lambs into the calculation, too. So is the case
with the calves of camels and cattle. A lamb is never given as zakāt.
THE ZAKĀT OF HORSES - Their zakāt is necessary when the male and
female horses are fed together for breeding in the
fields. Zakāt is not necessary if they are
intended for transportation or for carrying things. Zakāt is not fard for a
person who has only male horses [stallions]. For he cannot breed them. If they
are kept for commercial purposes, one gives their zakāt as commercial property.
Zakāt is not given for mules and asses not intended for trade, even if they are
legion.
There
is no nisāb for horses. One mithqal of gold is given for each horse. One may as
well calculate their value and give one-fortieth of their value in gold if
their value equals the amount of nisāb. Also for camels, cattle and sheep that
are given as zakāt, their equivalent in gold can be given.
WHO IS ZAKĀT GIVEN TO? - Zakāt is given only to the Muslims
existing in the seven groups written below. The eighth was muallafat-ul-qulūb. That is, the harsh enemies of
Islam used to be given zakāt so that Muslims could be spared from their
wickedness. But since the era of Abū Bekr (radiy Allāhu anh), there has been
no reason to give zakāt to this group.
1 - Faqīr (The poor): A person
who has property more than his subsistence but less than the amount of nisāb is
termed faqīr. Every poor civil servant who supports his household with
difficulty, no matter how much his salary is, can receive zakāt if he has īmān;
it is not necessary for him to give the fitra or to perform the Qurbān, [See
chapter 4 on Qurbān].
2 - Miskīn (The needy): A Muslim
who has no more than one days subsistence is termed miskīn. Hamīdullah, who
has been misrepresented as a man of religion, says in his book Introduction to
Islam that miskīn means non-Muslim countryman. This view of his is wrong. It
means a reformation in the religion. It is not permissible to give zakāt to a
non-Muslim.
3 - Āmil (Zakāt collectors):
This term is used for the Sāī, who collects zakāts of the beasts of Sāima and
the produce of the earth, and the Āshir, who lives outside town and collects
zakāt of commercial property from the tradesmen he meets; they are given zakāt
in return for their work, even if they are rich.
4 - Mukāteb (Indentured
servant): The slave who has been bought by his master and who will be
manumitted when he pays his debt.
5 - Munqati Those who are on
the way of jihād or hajj and who are in need. It is written in Durr-ul-mukhtār
that also those who learn and teach religious knowledge can receive zakāt even
if they are rich, since they do not have time to work and to earn
money. In explaining this, Ibni Ābidīn says that a hadīth written in Jāmi-ul-fatāwā states, Even if a person who is learning knowledge has forty years
subsistence, it is permissible to give him the zakāt.
6 - Medyūn (Insolvent debtor):
Those Muslims who are in debt and cannot pay their debts.
7 - Ibnus-sebīl (The wayfarer):
The person who is rich in his homeland but who has no property left with him in
the city where he lives now or the person who has many dues but cannot get them
and therefore is in need.
Zakāt should be given to all or one of these people. A dead persons
shroud cannot be bought with the money of zakāt. A dead persons debt cannot be
paid with it, either. Nor can it be spent on building mosques, on jihād or on
hajj. A zimmī, that is, a non-Muslim countryman cannot be given zakāt. A zimmī
can be given fitra, alms or votive offerings. Nor can it be given to a rich
mans slave or small son. If a rich persons adolescent child or wife or father
or small orphaned child is poor, others can give zakāt to him or her. If the
small child is wise, that is, if he can distinguish money from other things and
if it cannot be taken from him by deceit, zakāt is given to him. If he is not
wise enough, it is necessary to give it to his father, to his guardian, or, of
his relatives or other people, to the person who looks after him. Zakāt is not
given to descendants of our Prophet or of his
paternal uncles who will come to the world until Doomsday. For, one-fifth of
the ghanīma taken away from the enemy in every combat is their due. Ahmad
Tahāwī says in the explanation of the book Emālī,
Imām-i-azam said that since they are not given their dues from the ghanīma
any more it is permissible to give them zakāt and alms. It is also written in Durr-i-Yektā that it is permissible.
One
cannot give zakāt to ones parents, to any of ones grandfathers or
grandmothers, or to ones own children or grandchildren. Nor can one give them
those alms that are wājib, such as fitra, votive offerings and keffāret. But
one can give them the supererogatory alms if they are poor. One cannot give
zakāt to ones wife, either. Imām-i-azam said that a woman could not give
zakāt to her poor husband, either. But the Imāmeyn said that she could give
zakāt to her poor husband. It is permissible to give zakāt to ones poor
daughter-in-law, son-in-law, mother-in-law, father-in-law or stepchild. It is
permissible to give alms or gifts to a zimmī.
If, after finding out that a person can be given zakāt and after giving
him or her zakāt, one learns that he or she is rich or a zimmī disbeliever or
ones mother, father, child or wife, it will be all right. That is, it will be
accepted. It is written in Nehr-ul-Fāiq,
If the person to be given zakāt is among poor people and like them or if he
says that he is poor and accepts the zakāt, there is no need to search to see
if he has the right to take zakāt. When one gives him zakāt one has given it as
if one had searched and asked about him.
Abdulqādir Ghazzī (rahmatullāhi taālā aleyh) says in Eshbāh Hāshiya, As Debbūsī conveys in Multeqit, it is permissible for one to give the
orphan for whom one is the guardian clothes and food as zakāt. For the orphan
is now one of his household, children. The orphans guardian has the right to
buy necessary things with the property of zakāt and give them to him. If the
orphan is wise enough to understand buying and selling, it is necessary to hand
the food and clothes to the child.
It is mustahab to give the poor at least enough to meet his one days
need. It is makrūh to give a poor person who is not in need and who does not
have a wife and children so much zakāt as to equal the amount of nisāb or so
much as to make his property equal the nisāb. It is permissible to give a poor
person who has a wife and children so much zakāt that each of them will not get
as much as the amount of nisāb when it is divided and distributed to them. It
yields more thawāb to give zakāt to ones poor close relatives, such as
brothers, sisters, uncles and aunts. If one gives it to others while ones
close relations are in need, one does not get blessings [Imdād]. If it has been judged by a court of law
that one has to give means of subsistence to ones zī-rahm mahram relative[1] , it is permissible for one to give the means of
subsistence from ones property of zakāt with the intention of zakāt. Though it
is makrūh to send zakāt to another city, it is permissible if one sends it to
ones relative because one cannot find poor Muslims in ones city. It is
written in a fatwā of Bezzāziyya that
giving zakāt to a person in debt is better than giving it to a poor one. It is
written in Durr-i-Yektā that a person
who depletes his property and who uses it in harām ways should not be given
zakāt.
A rich
persons deputy gives zakāt to the person advised by the rich person. He cannot
give it to someone else. He pays for it
---------------------------------
[1] Kinds of close relatives are explained in detail in the twelfth chapter.
if he gives it to someone else or loses
it. So is the case with a will. It is given to the poor person specified. If
the rich person tells his deputy that he may give it to anyone he likes, he can
give it even to his children or wife, if they are poor. If he is poor, he can
take it to himself. But the case is not so with nazr. The deputy may as well
give it to someone other than the person advised by the owner of the votive
offering. While explaining this, Ibni Ābidīn
says at the beginning of the twelfth page, It is permissible for the deputy to
give the poor his own gold and silver instead of the gold and silver given to
him by the rich person and use the rich persons gold and silver. But it is not
permissible for him to use the rich persons money first and then give zakāt
from his own money, in which case he will have given alms for himself. Later he
will have to pay the money back to the rich person. So is the case with the
deputy who uses the money he has been given for paying some alimony or buying
something or paying some debt. As it is seen, it is not compulsory to give
zakāt by reserving it from ones own property. The rich persons deputy may
also make someone else the deputy without (the rich persons) permission.
Having reserved the (sum calculated as the) zakāt does not mean having
paid it. If the zakāt reserved is lost while one or ones deputy is keeping it,
one has to set aside the same amount again and give it. If the deputy loses it
he pays for it. It is not necessary to give zakāt anew which has been lost by
the Āmil or by the poor persons deputy.
The deputy shall pay it to the poor. Āmil
means both Sāī and Āshir.
In
order to wrapp a dead person in a shroud, to build a mosque, or to help those
who perform jihād, poor people (who want to take zakāt), as we have explained
in our discourse on zakāt of paper money, may appoint a trustworthy person
their deputy to take their zakāt on their behalf and deliver it to the place
they have ordered. The deputy takes zakāt on behalf of the poor, and delivers
it to the place ordered by the poor. The same is done to give zakāt to
charitable institutions. It is not necessary for the deputy to say something as
he takes zakāt or as he delivers it to the place ordered. But the poor people
who depute him should be Muslims who can be given zakāt. As we have explained
above, the same is done to give zakāt in paper money.
A rich
person who cannot take possession of his dues and property and who possesses
bonds the payment time of which has not arrived, may accept as much zakāt as he
needs, if he cannot find anyone to lend him money without interest. When he
takes
possession of his property he does not
give the zakāt he has received to the poor. However, a poor person can accept
more zakāt than he needs, provided that it will be less than the amount of
nisāb. The zakāt of gold, silver and commercial property must be handed to the poor
or to the poor persons deputy. If zakāt (intended to be) given to other
institutions is not possessed by the Muslim poor (first), zakāt will not have
been given.
If a
person has a days food or if he is healthy enough to work or do some business
though he does not have a days food, it is harām for him to ask for food and
drink or to beg for money to buy them. Also, it is harām to give him what he
wants though you know about his welfare. It is permissible to give without
being asked or to take what is given. It is permissible for that person to ask
for his needs other than food, such as clothing, household goods and money to
pay his rents. It is permissible for a hungry or ill person to ask for food
even if he has a house to live in. If a person who has a days food or who is
healthy enough to work though he does not have a days food is studying [or
teaching] knowledge, it is also permissible for him to ask for food. Please see
Part 2, Chapter
THE BEYTULMĀL - The ushr and zakāt of animals that graze
in the fields are given to the poor, but it is permissible also to give them to
the Beytulmāl. If a person who has taken possession of something to be given to
the Beytulmāl has dues from the Beytulmāl, he uses it himself. If he does not
have any dues, he gives it to a Muslim who has dues from the Beytulmāl. He does
not give it to the Beytulmāl. It is written on the fifty-sixth page of the
second volume of Ibni Ābidīn, If those
people who have dues from the Beytulmāl take possession of the Beytulmāls
money, such as the poor, collectors of zakāt, scholars, teachers, preachers,
students of religious knowledge, debtors, Ahl-i-beyt-i-nebewī, that is, sayyids
and sherīfs, soldiers, it is permissible for them to keep as much of it as is
due to them.
The author of the fatwā of Bezzāziyya
(rahmatullāhi taālā aleyh), quoting from Halwānī, states, If the owner of
something entrusted to a person dies, the person gives it to his inheritors. If
he has no inheritors, he gives it to the Beytulmāl. If it will be lost in case
it is given to the Beytulmāl, he uses it himself or gives it to those who have
allotments from the Beytulmāl.
Zakāt means societys guaranteeing the poors living and needs. If any
Muslim dies of hunger in any nook of a city and if any of the rich people in
the city has a little zakāt left unpaid, he (the rich one) becomes his (the
poor ones) murderer. Zakāt is an insurance policy among Muslims. Islam has not
entrusted this insurance, which is called Beytulmāl,
to individuals, to opportunists, to those who think of their own advantages
only, but has committed it to the State authority. This insurance is unlike
other insurance policies. It does not demand money from the poor, but collects
it from the rich. In the world, there is an increase in the property of the
rich people who give zakāt. And in the Hereafter they will be given plenty of
blessings. Islams insurance program helps all the poor. When the chief of a
family dies, it makes allowances to his poor family, and makes everyone happy.
Islam has established such a social security system through zakāt.
Ibni Ābidīn (rahmat-ullāhi aleyh) states: Two of the
four types of property of zakāt, that is, the animals of zakāt and the produce
of the earth are termed Emwāl-i-zāhira.
The Caliphs officials come and collect them. These officials are called Sāī.
The State reserves this property collected [and also zakāt of Enwāl-i-bātina,
which the officials called Āshir collect
from travelling tradesmen] in the Beytulmāl, and spends them on all the seven
groups. Of the kinds of property of zakāt, gold, silver and commercial property
are called Emwāl-i-bātina. It is not
permissible to ask their owner about their amounts. Their owner himself gives
their zakāt to anyone he likes of the seven groups. The State cannot demand
again zakāts that have been given in this way. If it is uncovered that the rich
in a city never give their zakāts, the State can collect zakāts of their
Emwāl-i-bātina. It is written in Diyā-ul-manawī
and in Īdhāh, The State cannot collect
five things; zakāt of Emwāl-i-bātina, the fitra, the qurbān, the nazr, and the
kaffārat.
[Recently
there has been an increase in the number of those who cannot realise the
greatness of the savants of the Ahl-i-sunna (rahmatullāhi taālā alaihim
ajmaīn). It is for a savant to know a savant, not for the ignorant. Those
ignorant people who pass for men of religion think of themselves as savants.
They introduce one another as Islamic savants to the people. They dislike the
ijtihāds of the Selef-i-sālihīn and say, We believe in the Qurān and the
ahādith only. They infer some new meanings suitable with their short sights
and sterile thoughts from the Qurān and
the ahādith. They slander the superiors of
the second century (of Islam) and our religious imāms, who are praised in the
ahādith. They strive to cast aspersions on their valuable books. The books of
such lā-madhhabī people as Ibni Taymiyya, Mawdūdī, Sayyed Qutb, Hamīdullah,
Abd-us-salām, a physicist, and Ahmad Didad spread information that is
disagreeable with that which has been communicated unanimously by Islamic
savants. For example, it is written in the books Worlds Peace and Islam and
Introduction to Islam that, The zakāt is a tax given to the State. The money
which the rich give to those poor people they like is not called zakāt. The
zakāt is given to the State only. The State can give it to poor disbelievers as
well. For miskīn means the poor ones
among disbelievers. It has been explained in detail in the book Answer to an Enemy of Islam that the lā-madhhabī
people are on the wrong way.
According to some savants, when a Muslim but cruel sultan applies a tax
on the Emwāl-i-zāhira it is acceptable
if one gives it with the intention of zakāt. But it does not stand for zakāt if
the sultan takes the tax from the Emwal-i-bātinā,
even if one intends for zakāt, nor does any kind of property taken by those
sultans who are disbelievers or renegades stand for zakāt. In this case one has
to pay the zakāt, too.
1 - The zakāts that are taken for animals and produce of the earth and
those which the Āshir takes only from the
tradesmen he meets on their way, are given to the seven groups mentioned above.
2 - One-fifth of the ghanīma and of the metals extracted from the
earth, is given to orphans, to miskīns and to those travellers who have no
money left on their way. In all these three groups, those who are Benī Hāshim and Benī Muttalib[1] have priority. Nothing is taken for petroleum or
other liquids of its kind, for oxides, for ores that do not melt in fire, such
as salts, or for things that are obtained from the sea.
3 - The
kharāj and the jizya, which are taken from non-Muslims, and goods that the Āshir
has taken from them. They are
---------------------------------
[1] Hāshim was the paternal great grandfather of the Messenger of Allah sall-Allāhu alaihi wa sallam. Therefore, Rasūlullahs and his uncles descendants are called Benī Hāshim, i.e. Sons of Hāshim, or Hāshimīs (Hāshimites). Descendants of Rasūlullahs paternal great granduncle are called Benī Muttalib, i.e. Sons of Muttalib.
spent on public needs such as roads,
bridges, inns, schools, law courts, and on national defence. They are given to
those Muslims who mount guard over the frontiers and over the roads within the
country, to the construction and maintenance of bridges, mosques, ponds,
canals, to imāms, muezzins, to those who serve pious foundations, to those who
teach and study Islamic knowledge, that is, Islam and science, to qādīs, muftīs
and preachers, to those who work so that Islam and Muslims will survive and
spread. Even if these people are rich, they are given a share suitable with the
customs and current prices in return for their work and service. [There is
detailed information about those who have allotments from the Beytulmāl in the
chapter about disasters incurred by the hand in Hadīqa].
When they die, their children are preferred to others if they have the
qualifications. If their children are ignorant and sinful, they are not
appointed to their fathers place. It is written in Ashbāh,
If the Sultan appoints an ignorant person as a teacher, khatīb [speaker of
khutba] or preacher, it will not be sahīh. He will have committed cruelty.
4 - Property left behind by rich people who do not have any inheritors
and the luqata, that is, things found
unattended of which no one claims ownership; they are spent on hospitals and on
funeral of the poor, and given to poor people who cannot work and who have no one
to take care of them. It is the States task to make these four groups of goods
reach the allotted people.
The State appoints an official called Āshir
to work out of town. These officials protect tradesmen against highwaymen and
all kinds of danger. The Āshir asks the tradesman he meets on the road the
amount of his property. If it is the amount of nisāb and if he has had it for
one year and if it is commercial property, of any kind of goods, he takes
one-fortieth from a Muslim, one-twentieth from a zimmī, and one-tenth from a
harbī. The property that is taken from the Muslim stands for his zakāt. Zakāt
is not taken from one who says that he has given his zakāt in the city or that
he has not yet had it for one year. Nothing is taken from tradesmen from a country
of disbelievers which does not take anything from Muslim tradesmen. If it is
known how much they take, the same amount is taken from them. [This implies
that those who work in countries of disbelievers should pay taxes to the
related governments].
It is written on the fifty-seventh page of the second volume of Ibni Ābidīn, (rahmatullāhi taālā aleyh), If
there are no more
goods left in one of the four treasury
departments of the Beytulmāl, some of the property in the other three
departments is transferred on loan to this department and given to those who
have allotments from this department. By the same token, when there is no
property of kharāj and jizya left in the third department men of religion and
those who perform jihād are paid from the property of zakāt and ushr in the
first department. At a time when enemies of religion attack by writing and by
every sort of propaganda to demolish Islam and to mislead the Muslims children
out of Islam, writers, societies, courses of the Qurān, print-houses, books
and newpapers who answer them and who protect Muslims against their deceit are
all champions, heroes of Islam. It is fard to give these champions, who protect
Islam and Muslims in such a cold war, from the property of ushr and zakāt in
the Beytulmāl. The Sultāns abrogating the ushr does not absolve the Muslims
from (giving) the ushr. It is fard for them to give the ushr themselves. They
should give it to those mujāhids (above-mentioned champions of Islam). Thus
they will both fulfill the fard and attain the thawāb of jihād.
It is written on the two hundred and forty-ninth page of the fifth
volume of Ibni Ābidīn (rahmatullāhi
taālā aleyh), If the property in the Beytulmāl has not been collected in a
way fair and halāl, if it has been taken away by cruelty, it is fard to give
the property that has been taken unjustly back to its owners. It is not given
to those who have allotments from the Beytulmāl. It is harām for them to accept
it. If the owners are not known, the property is put in the fourth department
of the Beytulmāl, and given to those who have allotments from that department.
THOSE WHO DO NOT PAY ZAKĀT - The author of Riyād-un-nāsihīn
(rahmatullāhi taālā aleyh) says that Hadrat Alī, the Emīrulmumīnīn
kerrem-allāhu wejheh, says: Rasūlullah declared in his farewell hajj: Give zakāt of your property! Be it known that those who do
not give their zakāt do not have namāz, fast, hajj, jihād, or īmān,
which means to say that if a person does not know it as a duty to give zakāt,
does not believe that it is fard, is not sorry for not giving it, and does not
know that he is sinful, then he becomes a disbeliever. If a person does not
give zakāt for years, his debts of zakāt pool together and cover all his
property. He thinks his property belongs to him; it does not even occur to him
that Muslims have rightful shares in that property. His heart never feels
sorry. He has clasped the property so tightly. Such people are known as
Muslims. But very few of them pass
away with īmān. Giving zakāt is commanded
together with namāz at thirty-two places in the Qurān. The thirty-fourth āyat
of Tawba sūra declares about such people: Give the
news of very bitter torment to those who save their property and money, but do
not give their zakāt to the poor among the Muslims! The following
āyat informs us of this torment as follows: Property
and money for which zakāt is not given will be heated in Hell-fire and will be
pressed on the foreheads, flanks and backs of their owners as if being stamped
with a seal.
O thou, the arrogant rich! Let the transient property and money of this
world not fool thee! Before thee they belonged to others. And after thee they
will belong to others again. Think of the severe torment of Hell! That property
from which you have not reserved and given zakāt and that wheat for which you
have not given ushr are in actual fact poisons. The real owner of the property
is Allāhu taālā. The rich are like His representatives and officials and the
poor are, as it were, His household and relatives. Allahs representatives have
to give His debt to the poor. A person who does the tiniest favour will get its
reward. A hadīth-i-sherīf states, Allahu taālā will certainly reward the good-doers.
The ninth āyat of Hashr Sūra gives glad tidings, He
who gives his zakāt will certainly be saved. The hundred and
eightieth āyat of Imrān sūra declares, Those who
do not give zakāt of the property which has been bestowed upon them by Allāhu
taālā think that they are doing well and that they will remain rich. On the
contrary, they are harming themselves. Their property will be a means of
torment in Hell; in a serpents guise, it will coil around their necks and bite
them from head to foot. It is written so in the tafsīrs of Albasīt and Wasīt.
Those rich people who believe in the Hereafter and torment in Hell should give
zakāt of their property and the ushr of their crops and fruit and thus escape
the torment. A hadīth-i-sherīf declares, Protect your property against harm by paying zakāt.
The author of Tafsīr-i-mughnī
(rahmatullāhi taālā aleyh) says, Three things are conveyed together with
other three things in the Qurān. If the former of each pair is not done the
latter is not acceptable: unless one obeys the Prophet
(sall Allāhu taālā alaihi wa sallam), one will not have obeyed Allāhu taālā;
unless one thanks ones parents one will not have thanked Allahu taālā; unless
one gives zakāt of ones property, ones namāz will not be accepted. O you who
have gotten drunk on the wine of oblivion! How long will you go on running
after the worlds comfort and pleasure? Until
when will you go on wasting this valuable
life amassing property paying no regard to whether it is of the harām or of the
halāl? You ignore the commands and prohibitions of the Sharīa! Think of the
time when Azrāīl (alaihi-s-salām) will come and take away your soul by force,
when the lion of death will seize you with its paw, when the throes of death
will attack you, when the devil will pique you in order to steal your īmān,
when your acquaintances will offer condolences to your children by saying, We
are so sorry about his death. May you be safe! Do you never apprehend the time
when the sad voice of separation will reach you and they will say, You have
done nothing good for us, but have always done what we dislike. And we in turn
will do to you as you have done to us.?
Only
think; what answers have you prepared for the questions in the grave and in the
Hereafter? What pretexts will you profess to Allahs reproaches? Pity yourself!
You will be questioned, and you have no answer to give. If you go into Hell you
cannot endure its fire. Do so much good to yourself and to others that when
others do good people will think you did it. Do not harm yourself or others so
that when someone does something harmful they will not think you did it.
A hadīth-i-sherīf in Sahīh-i-Muslim states, O Adams son! You keep saying, My property, my property. What is yours
from that property is what you eat up, what you wear out, and what you cause to
survive eternally by giving it away for Allahs sake. If you love
your property, then why are you going away leaving it to your enemy? Do not
part with your beloved one; take it with you! If you cannot give it all, then
at least suppose you are one of your inheritors and mail your share to the
Hereafter. If you canot give this, either, then at least give your zakāt and
thus escape the torment! An epigram: Khwāja Abdullah-i-Ansārī, the great master
from Hirat, stated: If you love your property, spend it properly so that it
will be your eternal friend! If you do not love it, eat it up so that it will
cease to exist!
A story: Ferīdeddīn-i-Attār says in his book Tedhkira-tul-awliyā: Juneyd-i-Baghdādī was seven
years old, when one day he came back from school and saw his father weeping.
When he asked the reason his father said, Today I sent your uncle Sirrī Sakatī
a few silver coins as my zakāt, but he refused them. Now I am weeping after
realizing that I have wasted my valuable life for these silver coins which men
of Allah do not like but refuse. Give the money to me, daddy, let me take
it, said Juneyd, and
went off to his uncles place with the
money. He knocked at the door and when his uncle asked who he was he said,
Its me, Juneyd, uncle. Open the door and take these silver coins which are my
fathers zakāt! When his uncle said that he would not take them he said, Take
them for the sake of Allāhu taālā, who has done justice by commanding my
father and been so kind by giving you freedom! And when his uncle wanted to
know what Allāhu taālā had commanded his father and how He had been kind to
him, Juneyd said, He has done justice by making my father rich and by
commanding him to pay zakāt. And He has been so kind by making you poor and
giving you a choice between accepting and refusing it. Sirrī liked this word
and said, Sonny! Before accepting the silver coins, I have accepted you. He
opened the door and took the money. Here we end our translation from Riyād-un-nāsihīn.