السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ
It’s Thursday 7th May 2020. Let’s focus on ‘Ramaḍān and Zakāt‘ today.
Zakāt, one of the 5 pillars of Islām, means giving 2.5 percent of your excess wealth to the poor and needy. Many people have set Ramaḍān as their annual Zakāt month. They will usually have a fixed date in Ramaḍān, on which they will work out their Zakāt and discharge this duty, every year.
The purpose of this article is to emphasise the importance of giving Zakāt, if it is due on you. If you are not sure whether Zakāt is Farḍ on you or not, or how much you have to give, then please consult your local Imām or, for the sisters, your local ‘Ālimāt.
Remember, wealth is a great bounty of Allāh bestowed upon you. Just like the Giver has given it to you, He can also take it away. In 2001, a major earthquake hit the Kutch district of India. Bhuj was the name of the area, and Anjar was the epicentre.
When I visited this area some 2 years after the earthquake, the place was like a cemetery. Virtually everything was flattened. We were informed that millionaires had become beggars overnight.
The people of Kutch were well known for having wealth, especially gold. At weddings, they would give gold, not in tolas, but in kilos. That’s how much gold they had. Those who were liable for giving Zakāt on the 21st of January 2001 were begging for Zakāt on the 22nd. A few seconds changed their lives forever.
Therefore,brothers and sisters, please do not take this Zakāt issue lightly. If each and every person paid their correct Zakāt, there would not be one poor Muslim left on the face of this earth.
I once attended a bayān of the Grand Mufti of Pākistān, Mufti Rafī’ Us̱mānī Ṣāḥib, in Masjid-e-Sājidīn, here in Blackburn (UK). This was about 15 years ago. Mufti Rafī’ Ṣāḥib’s words still echo in my ears. Mufti Ṣāḥib said that ‘If all the rich people of Faisalābād paid their correct Zakāt then, there would not be one poor person in the whole of Pākistān’. سُبْحَانَ الله, what a statement from a Grand Mufti!
One final point. Our relatives back home in India and Pākistān tend to think that Zakāt is only Farḍ upon us here in the UK! They fail to realise that Zakāt has nothing to do with your country of residence, and in fact, relates to how much wealth you have!
We all know about the price boom of land in India a few years ago. Poor farmers became millionaires overnight. Land was being bought by multi million pound companies. I recall a sale in one area of Surat (Gujarāt), where one small patch of land sold for over £100,000; yes, pounds, not rupees.
Where have all those millions and billions gone? Has Zakāt been paid? Whether you live in the UK or US, make it clear to your relatives back home that Zakāt is just as compulsory on them as it is on us.
Almighty Allāh give us all the correct understanding of discharging our Zakāt duty, Āmeen. Please share far and wide.
جَزَاكَ اللَّهُ خَيْرًا
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وَالسَّلَامُ Hanif Dudhwala