Some people say on behalf of the religion, The [money and any] property the zakāt of which has been paid might not be considered as the property stocked, for the duty concerning property is zakāt only. After zakāt is paid there is nothing wrong in withholding property from circulation, [i.e. in not using it at all]. This is not true. The owner of personal property cannot withhold it from circulation or reserve it. In order to meet the need of Bayt al-māl, the government may commandeer it, take the excess of it and distribute it to the poor.
This is not an expression of objective learning or understanding, but it is his own opinion and thought. He wanted to adapt Islam to his own point of view and political thoughts. Hadrat al-Imām ar-Rabbānī, whom Mawdūdī also had to praise, wrote:
He who wants to attain endless bliss should adapt himself to Muhammad (alaihi s-salām). To become honoured by following him, it is not necessary to abandon the world altogether. When zakāt, which is fard, is paid, the world will have been abandoned. The property will escape harm, for, the property the zakāt of which has been paid becomes immune to harm. The remedy of rescuing worldly property from harm is to pay its zakāt. Though it is better to give all property, paying its zakāt is equivalent to giving all of it.[1]
The property of which zakāt has been given does not harm its owner no matter how long it is kept in its owners possession. It is not a guilt to withdraw a property from circulation if its zakāt has been given. If the government commandeers this property, it will be cruelty. By that it is not a guilt, it is meant that the owner will not be judged and punished for it in the next world. However, he will not gain the rewards of having performed charitable deeds, of having used such property in commerce and arts, and of having helped Islam and Muslims; he cannot attain high degrees in the next world. Great scholar Hadrat Abd al-Ghanī an-Nablusī wrote in his book al-Hadīqa that zakāt protected property against harm. Rasūlullah (alaihi s-salām) said, Protect your property from harm by paying its zakāt. This hadīth is written also in al-Manāwīs Kunūz ad-daqāiq with its source. When the āyat, There is very bitter punishment for those who conceal their golds and silvers and who do not distribute them in Allāhu taālās way, descended, Rasūlullah (alaihi s-salām) said, Zakāt was commanded in order to purify Muslims possessions. The property whose zakāt is given will not be kanz, that is, it will not be considered as property which is stored. A hadīth declares, There is very bitter punishment in the next world because of the property whose zakāt has not been given. Sayyid Qutb wrote as if he did not believe these hadīths. It is declared in a hadīth reported by at-Tabarānī and al-Manāwī, The property whose zakāt has been given is not kanz. Rasūlullah (alaihi s-salām) said that the property whose zakāt was given would not be
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[1] Maktūbāt, I, 165th letter.
considered as stored property, and Sayyid Qutb said that this was incorrect. This shows what kind of a person Sayyid Qutb was.