The Fiqh of Zakat: Are You Doing It Right?

Imagine a beautiful garden with plants and flowers. It is essential to remove weeds for the garden to thrive. This is the original meaning of the word zakat. This is the fifth in a series of articles on Understanding Zakat: Practical Guidance on the Wisdom, Rules, and Etiquette of Giving Zakat.

Allah says:

خُذْ مِنْ أَمْوَٰلِهِمْ صَدَقَةًۭ تُطَهِّرُهُمْ وَتُزَكِّيهِم بِهَا وَصَلِّ عَلَيْهِمْ ۖ إِنَّ صَلَوٰتَكَ سَكَنٌۭ لَّهُمْ ۗ

“Accept charity offerings from their wealth, cleansing them and making them grow thereby to full purity in faith and deed; And pray for them: Verily your prayer is a great relief for them” [Quran, 9:103; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]

This tells us about the two central benefits of Zakat. Zakat purifies. It purifies, most immediately the wealth, and it purifies the giver as well. There is another aspect to it which is spiritual refinement. Zakat purifies your wealth. It increases the wealth itself but it also purifies the person and grants them spiritual increase. It is a means to spiritual refinement.

The Basis of Wealth

Zakat in the Quran, as an obligation has been mentioned in an important context. The basis of wealth in Islam is that your wealth belongs to you. You are free to dispose of it as you wish within broad limits. Certain exceptions have been made. Zakat is an obligation that is specific. Other obligations on your wealth are not specific. How much is it reasonable for you to provide for your spouse? Which is a duty. How much should you be supporting your parents if they are needy? It is not specifically defined so that is an obligation. 

If there are needy people in your family, in your circles of concern and your neighbor is desperately needy and the only person who will support them is you, that is an obligation upon you but that is not specified. However, Zakat is a specific type of charity. Allah says:

إِنَّمَا ٱلصَّدَقَـٰتُ لِلْفُقَرَآءِ وَٱلْمَسَـٰكِينِ وَٱلْعَـٰمِلِينَ عَلَيْهَا وَٱلْمُؤَلَّفَةِ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَفِى ٱلرِّقَابِ وَٱلْغَـٰرِمِينَ وَفِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ وَٱبْنِ ٱلسَّبِيلِ ۖ فَرِيضَةًۭ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌۭ

“The due alms are but for those stricken with poverty, the helpless who are in need, the alms workers, the weak in faith whose hearts are to be won, those buying their freedom from slavery, those debt-ridden, for doing battle in the path of Allah, and for the traveller impoverished on the road: A binding obligation from Allah; And Allah is all-knowing, all-wise.” [Quran, 9:60; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]

These are specific categories. From this verse, two things are important to keep in mind. One is the verse makes clear that Zakat is something that must be given. Secondly, Zakat is only given to certain specific categories. You need to approach Zakat with caution because there are many people in our time who approach religion with lots of goodwill but with little concern for the specifics of prophetic teachings. 

They may think you can use Zakat for pretty much anything so they will build mosques with Zakat, they build wells, etc. However, Zakat is very specific. Zakat really is a charity for the poor. Broadly speaking, although there is some discussion in Islamic law about certain specifics, the shared condition for the categories of Zakat is that the person be legally poor. These are types of people who are actually or effectively legally poor. Poverty is a shared characteristic. 

Warnings

There are many warnings in both the Quran and the Sunna against not giving Zakah. Allah says:

وَلَا يَحْسَبَنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ يَبْخَلُونَ بِمَآ ءَاتَىٰهُمُ ٱللَّهُ مِن فَضْلِهِۦ هُوَ خَيْرًۭا لَّهُم ۖ بَلْ هُوَ شَرٌّۭ لَّهُمْ ۖ

“And let not those who unjustly withhold with the tight fist of greed what Allah has give them of His bounty deem it better for them: Rather it is woefully worse for them” [Quran, 3:180; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]

They will be punished for it. Our wealth is that it is a blessing from Allah. That blessing has certain duties. Every blessing requires gratitude and the gratitude for wealth is to give what Allah has obligated for you to give from it. The emphasis on Zakat is clear in the Quran.

If we look at the Sunna of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), Zakat is one of the most emphasized of matters in our religion. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) sent Mu’adh to Yemen. He told him to first call them to belief. Then, to prayer. Then, “If they comply with that, let them know that Allah has made payment of zakat from their wealth obligatory on them. It is to be taken from the wealthy among them and given to their poor.”

This also tells us about the nature of our religion. Your faith in God entails a spiritual responsibility which is that you turn to God in devotion. The central devotion is prayer. Belief in God entails that you care for His creation. And the beginning of the expression of care for creation is Zakat.

Higher Aims

There are higher aims of Zakat that return to the purpose of the religion itself, the purpose of the Sacred Law, and the purpose of your divine guidance which is the preservation of human benefit. Your wealth is not from you. It is from Allah so you are preserving your own benefit and you are preventing harm from yourself before you benefit others and prevent harm from others. 

If you understand that wealth is from Allah as a gift, you have a duty to ensure its benefit. Zakat is a key to that. Furthermore, you prevent harm from yourself spiritually in the next life but also in worldly terms by getting rid of stinginess and excessive attachment to wealth. 

There are other degrees of benefit that the Sacred Law has come to preserve. There is the individual benefit but also benefit in society, to preserve encompassing global benefit. Who is most deserving of your Zakat? The people who are most immediately related to you besides those who are considered to have shared interests with you so you cannot give Zakat to your parents or your spouse (with some difference with the Shafi‘i’s) or your children.

Etiquette of Charity

There are immediate benefits that Zakat preserves and there are long-term benefits. There are material benefits but also spiritual benefits to it. When one gives, one should look at all these considerations. There is etiquette of charity. Even outside of Zakat, if you are attached to certain things, one of the etiquettes is to give off the things you are attached to. 

Allah says:

لَن تَنَالُوا۟ ٱلۡبِرَّ حَتَّىٰ تُنفِقُوا۟ مِمَّا تُحِبُّونَۚ

“None of you shall attain devotion to their Lord in every good, until you spend of what you truly love” [Quran, 3:92; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]

If you have a tech itch for example and you bought yourself a nice new mic, give it to someone else or buy it for someone else instead of buying it for yourself. Even at a personal level, you will grow to enjoy someone else benefiting from it more than you do. So you give it for a higher purpose which is for the sake of Allah. These higher aims are realized through Zakat, charity, and broader giving. 

These higher aims should be included in our intention of paying Zakat. They help focus our intent on why we are giving. We are giving for the sake of Allah, to gain his good pleasure, by all these means.