Zakat In Islam – Service To Humanity Through Charity

Zakat, known to be one of the five pillars of Islam apparently is an Arabic word and means ‘that which purifies’. It finds its mention in both the holy books of Islam, Hadith as well as Quran. A practice that was initiated by Prophet Mohammad, is a mandatory practice for every person who is a Muslim, an adult and is free. He or she has to pay Zakat if the income and assets he or she possesses exceeds the specific amount mentioned in the Nisaab and that too the possession has to be over a period of one year atleast. Nisaab accounts to not only cash possessions, but possessions in form of gold, silver and bonds as well as stocks also.

History of Zakat – An important part of Islamic history zakat, has undergone a lot of changes over the years and the first person to contribute to this change is said to be ‘Caliph Abu Bakr’ and the objective of the change were to ensure that every Muslim child, woman and man get a standard income of atleast 10 Dirhams. Further modification was done by ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab’ and ‘Uthman ibn Affan’ which said that only apparent wealth was considered to be taxable. But, this practice was short lived but in the current times, the amount of zakat online paid annually is said to be 15 times the global humanitarian aid contributions.

Holy Books about Zakat – Zakat is mentioned in the Islamic holy books, namely the Quran and Hadith. Here is what each one says.

Quran – There are 30 verses in Quran which have a mention of Zakat and according to the Quran, Zakat is a method of redistribution of wealth thus creating a balance in the economy by helping the dispossessed and poor Muslims through charity. Quran says that Zakat is given to attain salvation for self and those who give Zakat are said to receive rewards from the God in their afterlife while people who fail to pay Zakat are damned by the God. It is a way of purifying ones soul as well as wealth.

Hadith – In the Hadith, people who are not willing to pay Zakat or who do not pay Zakat are considered to by hypocrites and that if every Muslim capable of paying Zakat does so, there would not be any poor hungry Muslims. Hadith also mentions that God takes care of the properties and possessions of the people who pay Zakat and even purifies their souls.

Global Charities - There are numerous Muslim charities in UK and around the world who with help of charities received from the Muslim fellowmen, are into developmental activities for the upliftment of the poor Muslims across the Globe, particularly in the countries that are below the poverty line. Their developmental programs and activities start right from the grass root levels so that the future of the country is secure. This includes education, schools, food, clothing, books for the children, child sponsorship programs, orphanages for children as well as women empowerment programs for women. Even the unemployed men are trained for skills like handicraft, weaving, tailoring, animal husbandry so that they are able to earn money and take care of their families also. The contribution of Islamic charities towards the welfare of the Muslim community across the world is immense.