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 first in a series of articles on Understanding Zakat: Practical Guidance on the Wisdom, Rules, and Etiquette of Giving Zakat.
It could be quite upsetting that people would give so much focus to voluntary giving and leave the essential and obligatory giving. We should be a nation of priorities. What we should do first is the obligations. Allah has obligated Zakat upon us.
Zakat is not only an obligation that helps and benefits the recipient of Zakat. It actually benefits and helps firstly, the person who gives the Zakat.
Zakat is the third pillar of Islam after the testifications of faith and performing prayer. Allah commanded us in the Quran to give 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]
Sadaqa here means Zakat.
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said in the hadith narrated by our master Abdullah ibn Umar, “Islam is built on five essentials: testifying that there is no god except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and performing prayer duly, and giving out Zakat.”
Giving Zakat is one of the essentials that a Muslim cannot neglect or disregard. Zakat is the Islamic way of creating love and calmness in society. It creates solidarity in society. Islam has specified who can take Zakat, you cannot just give Zakat to anyone but there are conditions for the ones who receive Zakat and there are conditions for the ones who are obliged to give Zakat.
Every divine command has a wisdom and benefit. The teachings of Allah always come with what is good and they always help the society become better. A society that lives without a Sacred Law or is a messed up society. The reality is it is the power of faith and the teachings of Allah that will make man good.
Benefits for the Giver
Man is born with stinginess. We are fearful of the future. This is baked into our innate disposition (Fitra). This does not mean that Allah has instilled something bad in us because He might breed something in our innate disposition for us to combat it, reverse it, and fight it. This is when we will feel that we are more human, this is when we will feel that we have done something.
Man by his innate disposition is born to stick to things and to want things. Allah says:
إِنَّ ٱلۡإِنسَـٰنَ خُلِقَ هَلُوعًا
إِذَا مَسَّهُ ٱلشَّرُّ جَزُوعًۭا
وَإِذَا مَسَّهُ ٱلۡخَیۡرُ مَنُوعًا
“Verily has Man been created pitiably anxious for himself: When the slightest evil touches him, wordless with despair; And when the slightest good touches him, unspending out of greed” [Quran, 70:19-21; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]
Man was created in such a way that he is always fearful. When evil touches him he loses. When he has been touched by goodness, he debars others from having it. He claims total ownership of it and does not want to share.
Purify the Soul
The challenge to become a proper human who is purified someone and cleansed from inside is to try to reverse this bad quality and work on it. Allah has facilitated for us the means to clean ourselves from these bad qualities.
The first quality is purifying ourselves from the quality of stinginess. One may not want to give out money and one may not give from his time and so does not dedicate time to others, serving them, and helping them. Allah says:
وَمَن یُوقَ شُحَّ نَفۡسِهِۦ فَأُو۟لَـٰۤىِٕكَ هُمُ ٱلۡمُفۡلِحُونَ
“And whoever is shielded from the greed of his own soul: Those are the successful forever.” [Quran, 59:9; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]
A person may not have money at all but one could be safe from greed so he smiles, has good feelings, and still gives out. Allah says:
وَأُحۡضِرَتِ ٱلۡأَنفُسُ ٱلشُّحَّۚ
“While greed has been made ever present with human souls” [Quran, 4:128; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]
Allah gave us a way to purify the soul from greed by normalizing your relation with money. Giving out. 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]
Zakat is purification for the soul.
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