Saturday, October 21, 2006

Rules of Giving ZAKAAT (ALMS)

1) Zakaat is obligatory on the free, adult sane Muslim when:
• He possesses the nisab with complete possession.
• A lunar year has passed over it.

2) Zakaat is not obligatory on the following:
• A child, nor an insane person, nor a mukatib.
• Anyone who has a due debt encompassing his money. But, if his money is more than the debt, he pays zakaat on the excess if it reaches nisab.

3) If one advance-pay the zakaat before the year has passed over it, and he possesses nisab, it is valid.

4) If wealth is destroyed after the obligation of zakaat has become due, it is waived.

5) Zakaat is due on the following:
• Gold
• Silver
• Cash
• Trade-goods
• freely-grazing livestock kept for milk, breeding or fattening: camels, cows, sheep and goats.
• Produce (excluding firewood, reeds and grass)
• Buried treasures and metals

6) Zakaat is not due on the following:
• Residential homes
• Body clothes
• Household furniture
• Riding-animals
• Slaves in service
• Weapons of use

7) Zakaat is only valid if offered with an intention coinciding with the payment, or coinciding with the setting-aside of the obligatory portion.

Zakaat on Silver
1) There is no charity obligatory on any silver less than 200 dirhams (200 dirhams corresponds to19.69 troy oz and 612.36g).

2) Then, if it is 200 dirhams, and a lunar year passes over it, 5 dirhams are due for it.

3) There is nothing due on the excess until it reaches 40 dirhams, and then 1 dirham is due for it.

4) Similarly for every 40 dirhams, there is 1 dirham due.

Zakaat on Gold
1) There is no zakaat obligatory on any gold less than 20 mithqal (20 mithqal corresponds to 2.81 troy oz and 87.48g).

2) Then, if it is 20 mithqal, and a lunar year passes over it, then half a mithqal is due for it.

3) Then, for every 4 mithqal, 2 qirat are due. There is no charity obligatory on any gold less than 4 mithqal according to Abu Hanifa.

4) There is zakaat due on raw gold and silver, as well as on jewellery and vessels made of them.

Zakaat on Goods
1) Zakaat is obligatory on trade goods, whatever they may be, if their value reaches the nisab of gold or silver; one assesses it based on whichever of the two is more beneficial for the poor and destitute.

2) If the nisab is complete at the two ends of the lunar year, then its dropping in between that does not waive the zakaat.

3) The value of goods is added to gold and silver. Similarly, gold is added to silver in value in order to reach the nisab, according to Abu Hanifa.


CATEGORIES OF ZAKAAT RECIPIENTS

Those Who May Receive Zakaat:
Allah, the Exalted, says, (which means), “Alms are only for the poor, the destitute, those who collect them, those whose hearts are to be reconciled, for [mukatib] slaves, debtors, and in the Path of Allah, and the wayfarer. It’s an [ordained] obligation from Allah. And Allah is all Knowing, and Wise” [Qur’an, 9:60].

These, then, are eight categories:
1) The Poor: the one who has the least of things.
2) The Destitute: the one who has nothing.
3) Al-Mu’allafa Quloobuhum: those who are still not sure of Islam yet and this money is given to them to soften their hearts towards Islam and muslims.
4) The [Zakaat] Worker: is paid by the imam in proportion to his work, if he worked.
5) Slaves: the mukatibun are assisted in freeing themselves.
6) The Debtor: the one on whom a debt is incumbent.
7) In the Path of Allah: are the stranded fighters.
8) The Wayfarer: the one who has money in his homeland, but is in a place in which he has nothing.

One may divide the Zakaat to each category, or he may restrict himself to one.

Causes Not Eligible for Receipt of Zakaat:
1) It is not permissible for one to give zakaat to a dhimmi.
2) Nor may a mosque be built with it.
3) Nor may a dead person be shrouded with it.
4) Nor may a slave be bought with it to free.
5) Nor may it be paid to a rich person.
6) Nor may it be paid to a Sayyid's (Hussainy's) & Shareef's (Hassani's) (descendants of the Prophet, sallallahu alahi wa aalihi).

Relationships Making One Ineligible to Receive Zakaat:
1) Nor the payer of zakaat pay it to his father, or his grandfather even if higher up in ascendancy.
2) Nor to his child, nor his child’s child, even if lower down in descendancy.
3) Nor to his wife. A woman may not pay her zakaat to her husband, according to Abu Hanifa. Abu Yusuf and Muhammad said: she may pay it to him.
4) One may not pay one’s zakaat to he one’s mukatib or slave, nor to the slave of a wealthy person, nor to the child of a wealthy person if he is a minor.
5) It may not be paid to Banu Hashim, and they are: the Household of `Ali, the Household of `Abbas, the Household of Ja`far, the Household of Harith ibn `Abd al-Muttalib; nor to their freed slaves.

NOTE: In Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith #1420 and #2907 and in Sahih Al-Muslim Hadith #1069. It is reported that Sayyiduna Hasan bin Ali once took a date from the dates of sadaqah and placed it in his mouth. At this Rasulullah sallallahu alahi wa aalihi said: "Kakh!Kakh! Spit it out! Don’t you know that we do not eat of charity?"

Miscellaneous Regulations:
Abu Hanifa and Muhammad said: If one pays zakaat to a man whom one thinks to be poor, and then it transpires that he is rich, or Hashimi, or an unbeliever, or if one paid it in darkness to a poor person, and then it transpired that he was his father or his son, then repeating it is not obligatory on him.

Abu Yusuf said: Repetition is obligatory on him. If one paid it to a person, and then he learned that he is his slave or mukatib, it is not valid according to the verdict of them all. It is not permissible to pay zakaat to anyone who possesses the nisab of whatever type of wealth it may be. It is permissible to pay it to anyone who possesses less than that, even if he is healthy and earning. It is disliked to transfer zakaat from one land to another; rather the Zakaat of each people should be distributed amongst them, unless a person transfers it to his relatives, or to a people who are more in need than the people of his land.


SADAQAT-AL FITR

1) Sadaqat al-Fitr is wajeb on the free Muslim, if he is in possession of the quantity of nisab in excess of his dwelling, clothing, furnishings, horse, weapons and service slaves.

2) He gives it out on behalf of himself, his minor children and his slaves.
• He does not pay it on behalf of his wife, nor his adult children, even if they are in his household.
• He does not give it out on behalf of his mukatib, nor his slaves who were acquired for trade.
• There is no fitrah due on either of the two masters of a slave co-owned between two partners.
• A Muslim master pays the fitrah on behalf of his unbelieving slave.

3) The obligation of the fitrah is attached to the rise of the dawn on the Day of Eid al- Fitr. So, whoever dies before that, his fitrah has not become wajeb. Whoever accepts Islam, or is born, after the rise of the dawn, his fitrah has not become wajeb.


Payment

The fitrah is as follows:
1) half a sa` of wheat, or
2) one sa` of dried dates or raisins or barley.

The sa` according to Abu Hanifa and Muhammad is 8 Iraqi ratl.

Abu Yusuf said: it is 51/3 ratl (1 sa` is a volume of 2.03 litres, and corresponds to approximately 3,149.28g. 1 sa` ~ 4 mudd; 1 mudd ~ 2 ratl; 1 ratl ~ 20 istar; 1 istar ~ 4½ mithqal {Radd al-Muhtar}).

It is recommended for people to give out the fitrah on the Day of Fitr before going out to the prayer place. If they advance-pay it before the Day of Fitr, it is valid. But, if they delayed it beyond the Day of Fitr, it is not waived, and it is still an obligation on them to give it out.

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