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Chapter
16:
Charity and Zakat (Hadith -- The
Traditions):
(Note:
The superscript-numbers [e.g., intention2]
that
appear in the text [in
pink]
refer to the numbers of the explanatory footnotes that
appear at the end of each Hadith
[Tradition].)
1
Abu Musa reported,
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him,
said:
"Sadaqah is incumbent on
every Muslim."
They (his companions) said, O Prophet
of Allah! And (what about him) who has not got (anything to
give)? He said:
"He should work with
his hand and profit himself and give in charity."
They said, If he has nothing (in spite
of this). He said:
"He should help the
distressed one who is in need."
They said, If he is unable to do this.
He said:
"He should do good deeds and
refrain from doing evil--this is charity on his
part." (B. 24 : 31.)
2
Abu Hurairah reported,
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him,
said:
"On every bone of the fingers
charity is incumbent every day: One assists a man in
riding his beast or in lifting his provisions to the back
of the animal, this is charity; and a good word and every
step which one takes in walking over to prayer is
charity; and showing the way (to another) is charity."
(B. 56 : 72.)
3
Abu Hurairah reported,
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him,
said:
"Removal from the way of that
which is harmful is charity." (B.
46 : 24.)
4
Jabir said,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, said:
"Every good deed is charity,
and it is a good deed that thou meet thy brother with a
cheerful countenance and that thou pour water from thy
bucket into the vessel of thy brother."
(Ah-Msh. 6 : 6.)
5
Abu Hurairah said,
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him,
said:
"The man who exerts himself
on behalf of the widow and the poor one is like the one
who struggles in the way of Allah, or the one who keeps
awake in the night (for prayers) and fasts during the
day." (B. 69 : 1.)
6
Abu Hurairah said,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, said:
"A prostitute was
forgiven--she passed by a dog, panting with its tongue
out, on the top of a well containing water, almost dying
with thirst; so she took off her boot and tied it to her
head-covering and drew forth water for it; she was
forgiven on account of this."
It was said: Is there a reward for us
in (doing good to) beasts? He said:
"In every animal having a
liver fresh with life there is a
reward."1
(B. & M-Msh. 6 :
6.)
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1
Doing good to beasts is, like the doing of good to
human beings, a deed of charity; while cruelty to
animals is forbidden just like cruelty to human
beings (B. & M-Msh. 6 : 7).
|
7
Abu Hurairah said on the authority of the Prophet, peace
and blessings of Allah be on him, (who said):
"There is a man who gives a
charity and he conceals it so much so that his left hand
does not know what his right hand spends."
(B. 24 : 13.)
8
Zubair reported,
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, said:
"If one of you should take
his rope and bring a bundle of fire-wood on his back and
then sell it, with which Allah should save his honour, it
is better for him than that he should beg of people
whether they give him or do not give him."
(B. 24 : 50.)
9
Fatimah bint Qais said,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, said:
"In (one's) wealth there is a
due besides the zakat;"
then he recited:
"It is not righteousness that
you turn your faces towards the East and the West (2 :
177.) "2
(Tr-Msh. 6 : 6.)
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2
See v.4 quoted above. There charity is first
enjoined--wealth must be given away out of love for
God--and after it is mentioned the giving of zakat.
It is thus shown that these are two separate
duties, the voluntary duty of giving away to others
as much as one likes, and the obligatory duty of
giving away 2.5 p.c. of one's savings after every
twelve months.
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10
Ibn `Abbas reported,
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, sent
Mu`adh to Yaman and said:
"Invite them to bear witness
that there is no god but Allah and that I am the
Messenger of Allah; if they accept this, tell them that
Allah has made obligatory on them five prayers in every
day and night; if they accept this, tell them that Allah
has made obligatory in their wealth a charity which is
taken from the wealthy among them and given to the poor
among them." (B. 24 : 1.)
11
Abu Sa`id said,
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him,
said:
"There is no zakat in what is
less than five auqiyah (of silver), nor is there
any zakat in the case of less than five camels, nor is
there any zakat in what is less than five
wasaq."3
(B. 24 : 4.)
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3
The minimum on which zakat is payable is called
nisab. In the case of cereals and fruits, the nisab
was five wasaq, which comes to between 20
and 30 maunds, according to different calculations.
In the case of camels, the nisab was five, in that
of goats and sheep, 40. In the case of silver it
was five auqiyah or 200 dirhams which comes
to a little over Rs. 50. According to one hadith
(AD. 9 : 5), the nisab in case of gold was twenty
dinars, about 3 oz. Under present conditions a
uniform nisab would lead to greater facility, and
as money is the standard in all payments, it would
be quite in conformity with the spirit of the
shari`ah if a money value of Rs. 50 is fixed as the
minimum on which zakat is payable in the case of
all possessions. No zakat is payable in things
which are required for daily use (Tr-Msh. 6 : 2).
Jewels and precious stones are also
excepted.
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12
`Ali said,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, said:
"I remit (zakat on) horses
for riding and slaves for service; but pay the zakat on
silver, one dirham out of every forty dirhams; and there
is no zakat if three are 190 dirhams, but when it reaches
two hundred, there are (to be paid) out of it five
dirhams (of zakat). (Tr-Msh.6 : 1.)
13
Ibn `Umar said:
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, said:
"Whoever acquires wealth,
there is no zakat on it until a year has passed over
it."4
(Tr-Msh. 6.)
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4
Zakat is paid annually after calculating the
savings of that year.
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14
Umm Salamah said,
I used to wear ornaments of gold. So I said, O Messenger of
Allah! Is this hoard? He said:
"Whatever reaches the limit that thou
shouldst pay zakat out of it, and the zakat is paid thereon
it is not hoarding."5
(AD-Msh. 6 :
1.)
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5
Umm Salamah was the Holy Prophet's wife. The hadith
shows that zakat must be paid on gold and silver
ornaments, whether they are actually worn or not.
The reference in the word kanz used in this hadith
is to the following verse:
"Those who hoard up gold and
silver and do not spend it in Allah's way, announce
to them a painful chastisement" (9 :
39).
Thus gold and silver may be
hoarded only if zakat is regularly paid
thereon.
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15
Samurah reported,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, commanded that we should pay zakat out of that which we
provided for trade.6
(AD-Msh. 6 :
1.)
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6
Zakat was paid on camels and sheep which were kept
for trade purposes, and therefore there is no
reason for excepting trade goods. But while there
is a natural increase in the case of animals, out
of which zakat is paid, the capital involved in
goods for trade may sometimes lie dormant. There is
no reliable hadith to show how zakat was calculated
on merchandise; a reasonable course would be to
take as the basis of calculation the profit which
is gained by trading.
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16
`Amr ibn Shu`aib reported on the authority of his
grandfather,
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him,
addressed the people and said:
"Beware! Whoever is the
guardian of an orphan who has property, should trade with
it, and should not leave it (undeveloped), so that the
zakat should consume it."7
(Tr-Msh. 6.)
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7
Zakat being a tax on hoardings or possessions must
be paid by every owner of property even though he
happens to be an orphan. The guardian of the orphan
is, therefore, enjoined to carry on trade with the
capital, so that the capital itself may not be
consumed.
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17
Abu Hurairah said,
When the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be
on him, died and Abu Bakr became (his successor), who those
of the Arabs who would disbelieve disbelieved, `Umar said,
How dost thou fight people (who profess Islam), and the
Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on him,
said : "I have commanded to continue fighting against people
until they say, There is no god but
Allah;8
whoever says this will have his property and his life safe
unless there is a due against him and his reckoning is with
Allah." (Abu Bakr) said, By Allah! I shall fight those who
make a difference between prayer and zakat, for zakat is a
tax on property; By Allah! if they withhold from me even a
she-kid which they used to make over to the Messenger of
Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, I shall fight
against them for their withholding it. `Umar said, By Allah!
Allah opened the heart of Abu Bakr (to receive the truth),
so I knew that it was true.9
(B. 24 : 1.)
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8
For what this means, see H. xix : 17.
9
Zakat was the most important source of revenue of
the Muslim state, and during the Holy Prophet's
lifetime zakat was collected in the government
treasury. When the Holy Prophet died, many of the
Arabian tribes which had just entered Islam
rebelled against the Caliph and apostatized. There
were others whose rebellion consisted only in
refusing the payment of zakat into the public
treasury. It is these tribes that are spoken of in
this hadith, as the words of Abu Bakr show : "If
they withhold from me even a she-kid." Making a
difference between prayer and zakat also meant the
same. They did not apostatize but they refused to
pay the zakat, and this was a refusal to admit the
authority of the central government. Abu Bakr's
action on this occasion shows that zakat cannot be
distributed according to the will of the individual
who pays the zakat, but it must be collected and
distributed by a central organization.
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18
Abu Humaid said,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, appointed a man from among the Asad to collect the
zakat of Banu Sulaim--he was called Ibn al-Lutbiyyah--so
when he came to him, he called him to account for
it.10
(B. 24 : 67.)
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10
This collector withheld a part of what he had
brought, saying that that part of his collections
was presented to him. The Holy Prophet decided that
no one who was appointed as a collector could
receive personal presents. This is mentioned in
detail in B. 51 : 17.
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19
Sahl reported,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, said:
"When you have formed an
opinion, then take (the zakat) and leave one-third; if
you do not leave one-third, leave
one-fourth."11
(Tr-Msh. 6 :
1.)
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11
One-third or one-fourth of the zakat may be left
with the owner for distribution according to this
choice.
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20
`Abd Allah reported,
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him,
said:
"In (the produce of) lands
watered by rain and springs or in what is watered by
water running on the surface of the ground is one-tenth,
and (in) what is watered by wells
one-twentieth."12
(B. 24 : 55.)
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12
Agricultural produce was taxed on a different
basis. This was the land revenue of the Muslim
state, and it is only a fraction of the land
revenue under the British rule in India. Under
non-Muslim rule, when land revenue goes to the
state, zakat should be calculated only on the
savings of the year.
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21
Abu Hurairah reported,
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him,
said:
"....................In
treasure-trove (or minerals) one-fifth (shall be taken by
the state)."13
(B. 24 : 66.)
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13
The one-fifth taken from the treasure-trove is not
zakat in the proper sense, as it is taken only
once.
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22
Ibn `Abbas said,
Amber is not treasure-trove; it is a thing which the sea
casts forth.
And Hasan said, In amber and pearls
one-fifth (shall be taken by the state).14
(B. 24 : 65.)
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14
`Umar took one-fifth from amber, and Hasan's view
is generally upheld.
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Hadith
Section
> A
Manual of Hadith
> Chapter 16: Charity and Zakat (Hadith -- The
Traditions)
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