ZAKAT- The Fallen Pillar

Extract from the Islam Today Newsletter

Zakat on wealth is one of the five pillars of the deen which must be properly established alongside Shahada, Salah, the fast of Ramadan and Hajj before the full reality of the Islamic way of life can ever be recovered. Here in Britain the widespread building of mosques throughout the country for the daily salah and the Jumu'ah, attendances at the two 'Eids and the enormous individual and collective effort involved in observing the fast and undertaking the hajj, all bear witness to a remarkable degree of success in our efforts to restore these four fundamental pillars. So, why has success in the case of zakat on wealth proved so elusive?

Not Sadaqah or Zakat al-Fitr

Zakat is often confused with general sadaqah so that no clear distinction is made between the two. An example of this is the presence of boxes marked 'Zakat' in mosques. Many people place donations in such boxes either totally unaware that these payments do not fulfil the obligatory conditions of zakat on wealth or they merely hope that such gestures of generosity (sadaqah) may suffice instead. This is the equivalent of doing sunna and nafilah prayers while neglecting the fard prayers.

The distinction between zakat al-fitr and zakat on wealth has also become blurred. Some Muslims presume that the payment of zakat al-fitr has released them from the obligation of the zakat due on their wealth, whereas, of course, zakat al-fitr and zakat on wealth have their own very distinct conditions for payment and distribution.

How to Pay

The rules which govern the implementation of zakat on wealth are clearly established in the Qur'an, the Sunna and the practices of the first community. The payment of zakat on wealth on a yearly basis is obligatory for every free Muslim man, woman or child whose personal wealth has remained at or in excess of the nisab (the minimum limit established in the shari'ah) for the entire lunar year up to the time of annual assessment and collection. Zakat is due on livestock, certain types of grain and fruit, gold, silver and the value of turnover stock.

Although the Zakat on livestock and agricultural produce can be paid in kind, the Zakat of wealth can only be assessed, and paid, in either gold dinars or silver dirhams. One can choose to have ones wealth assessed by either the nisab of dinars which is 20 or the nisab of dirhams which is 200. This equals approximately 86 grams of gold or 600 grams of silver. In common paper currency that might be around £500-£600 for the nisab in dinars and around £60 for the nisab in dirhams. Whichever nisab (dinars or dirhams) is chosen then that is what the Zakat must be paid in.

For Zakat purposes wealth relates not only to money but also personal possessions and trade goods. Therefore it is essential that dinars and dirhams become common enough for us to be able to use them as a unit of measure, and that secondly both dinars and dirhams be made accessible to all Muslims in order for them to be able to pay Zakat correctly.

The payment of zakat on wealth does not belong to the private sphere as an individual act of charitable giving. Its collection and distribution are a matter of Islamic governance.

The key elements that are essential to the restoration of Zakat as a functioning Pillar of the Deen of Islam are:

a) Authority;

b) Assessment;

c) Supply of Dinars and Dirhams;

d) Collection;

e) Security/Storage;

f) Distribution.

Therefore it becomes imperative that every group of Muslims has someone in authority, which implies amirate, having an amir (if not then someone needs to take authority). He must then appoint:

i) Assessors and Collectors;

Ii) A person and a place to secure the Zakat overnight if necessary;

iii) Distributors.

He must also then authorise, or at least encourage and support:

iv) A supplier of dinars and dirhams to the people of the community.

The categories who may receive Zakat are stated clearly in the Quran. It is therefore important that the distributors are absoluteley clear about these categories and are made aware of who these people are locally.

In the short term the supplier of dinars and dirhams should be prepared to redeem dinars and dirhams from members of the community who have received them as Zakat if this will assist them in spending it . However the more common dinars and dirhams become the less of a necessity this will be. The forthcoming publication 'The Gold Dinar and the Islamic Money System' explains further how to implement the widespread usage of dinars and dirhams.

Raising the Fallen Pillar in Bristol

Thanks to the generous support of Qari Abdul Majeed of Easton masjid, the Muslims of Bristol can be added to the list which already includes communities in Norwich, Nottingham, Leicester, Nuneaton, Slough and Manchester. These communities, in view of the issues and prospects now being raised, have begun to re-examine their understanding of the fundamentals of the payment and distribution of zakat on wealth and its potential for revealing the missing focal point of political unity and strength amongst the Muslims, as well as the vital implications of a return to the use of the gold Dinar and the silver Dirham as the key to economic power and autonomy for the Ummah.

Introductory presentations of the central issues were given by Amir 'Uthman Ibrahim Morrison, Hajj Abdalhaqq Bewley and Hajj Idris Mears at Easton masjid, Totterdown masjid and St Pauls masjid. The general response was overwhelmingly positive. The comprehensive and detailed statement of the required approach to zakat which was first presented by Hajj Abdalhaqq Bewley as part of the Islam Today Working Weekend, has now been published in separate English and Urdu versions under the title, 'Zakat: Raising the Fallen Pillar'. These are currently being circulated amongst the locally and nationally recognised 'ulama without whose support implementation of this powerful new understanding will not penetrate deeply enough to deliver its full social and political impact.

For further information contact the Open Trade Network