ایمان اور نماز کے بعد زکوٰۃ

Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Noble Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) sent Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) to Yemen (as governor) and said: "You are going to a people who are People of the Book, so first of all invite them to affirm that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. If they accept this, then tell them that Allah has made five prayers obligatory upon them by day and by night. If they accept that too, then tell them that Allah has made zakat obligatory upon them, which is to be taken from their wealthy and distributed among their poor. Then if they accept it, (when collecting the zakat) avoid taking the finest of their wealth, and guard against the supplication of the wronged, for there is no barrier between his supplication and Allah (that is, it is answered at once and is not rejected)."

This narration sheds light on several important matters: Whoever is appointed governor or ruler by an Islamic government, his foremost duty is to invite people towards Allah, the One who has no partner. In a non-Islamic government the basic responsibility of a governor is to keep order and administration in place; contrary to this, in the Islamic system of government the first task of every functionary, great or small, is to call people towards the path of Allah. A government whose first task is to invite the creation of God to the truth will fill its realm with the mercy of Allah. This hadith shows that wisdom must always be kept in view in presenting the religion to people; whatever people we invite towards the faith, it is necessary to have regard for their psychology. Then, rather than presenting the whole of the religion at once, the basic matters should be presented first, in order. This makes the religion easier to understand and to accept. After faith in Tawhid and Messengership, the first thing is prayer, and after prayer the second thing is zakat. Zakat is an important religious obligation and act of worship; it is the third fundamental pillar among the five pillars of Islam. The importance of zakat can be well gauged from the fact that in the Holy Qur'an its emphatic command comes eighty-two (82) times, and in twenty-seven (27) verses of the Glorious Qur'an prayer and zakat are mentioned together. The obligation of zakat is among those definitive teachings of Islam, the denial of which puts a Muslim outside the fold of Islam. In view of this very importance of zakat, the first Caliph, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him), during an extremely turbulent period for the Muslims, ordered jihad against those who denied zakat. Emphasizing the establishment of a collective system of zakat exactly in the manner of the Prophetic era, he said: "By God, I will surely fight those people who differentiate between prayer and zakat, for zakat is a due upon wealth. Those people used to pay to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) whatever they paid; if they withhold from it even the young of a goat, I will fight them." (Bukhari) The primary purpose of zakat is the purification of the very one who gives it: the purification of his inner self and of his wealth. Purification of the inner self means the removal of miserliness, greed, love of wealth and the like, and the creation of sympathy, compassion, cooperation and the spirit of spending towards the poor and the disabled. Undoubtedly zakat is also an important pillar of the Islamic economy. Through it, that weak and helpless class of the nation which is unable to provide for its own needs is also nurtured. Through zakat, orphans, widows, crippled and disabled men and women, and the poor and needy are supported. But all this is its secondary purpose; the first and most important purpose is the purification and cleansing of the one who gives zakat, as Allah says: "Accept from their wealth a charity (zakat) by which you make them pure (outwardly) and purified (inwardly), and invoke good upon them, for your supplication is a source of reassurance for them, and Allah is Hearing and Knowing." (Al-Tawbah: 103) In another place Allah says: "And whatever zakat you give seeking the pleasure of Allah, it is those givers who multiply their own wealth by it." (Al-Rum: 39) That is, through paying zakat a person's wealth becomes lawful and pure, and the soul too is purified of all sins and evils. Along with that, its payment increases not only wealth but reward and recompense as well. The one who withholds zakat, where he becomes a cause of economic ruin, does not purify his own wealth and becomes an obstacle in the circulation of capital, there too the general creation of God is deprived, through the misfortune of his evil deeds, of the divine blessing of rain, as the Noble Messenger (peace be upon him) said: "And when a people withhold zakat, rain is withheld from them from the sky, and were it not for the animals, not a single drop of rain would fall." (Ibn Majah) On another occasion he said that the wealth and property of those who do not pay zakat is ruined and destroyed. (Tabarani) Besides this ruin and destruction in this world, regarding the punishment such people will be given in the Hereafter, Allah says: "Give the tidings of a painful punishment to those who hoard gold and silver but do not spend it in the way of Allah. A day will come when this very gold and silver will be heated in the fire of Hell, and then their foreheads, sides and backs will be branded with it (and it will be said): This is the treasure you hoarded for yourselves; now taste your treasure." (Al-Tawbah: 34) In the light of the verses of the Qur'an and the ahadith, it is not at all difficult to gauge how necessary it is to believe in the pillar of Islam that is zakat and to pay it. Those who show any kind of laziness or negligence in paying it should themselves realize to what an end they are exposing themselves. May Allah grant all Muslims who possess the nisab the ability to pay it with sincerity of intention. Ameen!