ZAKAT 2024
ZAKAT
Donation
Make a Difference with Your Zakat this Ramadan,
Your Zakat, Our Community’s Strength
IMPORTANCE OF ZAKAH
After the affirmation of the Oneness of God and Messengership and the establishment of Worship, Zakah is the most important tenet of Islam. At over seventy places in the Qur’an, the establishment of Worship and the observance of regular charity have been spoken, side by side, in such a way as to show that their place and position is almost identical.
There are three aspects of goodness in Zakah,
One, The way the bondsman makes known by his tongue, body and soul, in Qiyam, Ruku and Sujood during salah, his servility and humbleness before the Lord ﷻ so that he may earn His ﷻ pleasure, by paying Zakah he offers his monetary tribute to the Almighty ﷻ with the same object and gives a practical demonstration of the fact that he does not consider his worldly possessions his own, but the Lord’s ﷻ. For this very reason, Zakah is regarded as an act of worship.
Two, Help and service is rendered to the needy and indigent bondsmen of Allah ﷻ by means of Zakah. It, at once, makes Zakah a most important branch of ethics.
Three, Zakah is a highly efficacious remedy against the excessive fondness for wealth which is a grievous sin. It purifies the soul from the filthy effects of greed.
When this verse was revealed: “And those who hoard gold and silver,” the Muslims were grieved about it. Umar said: I shall dispel your care. He, therefore, went and said: Prophet of Allah, your Companions were grieved by this verse. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Allah has made zakat obligatory simply to purify your remaining property, and He made inheritances obligatory that they might come to those who survive you. Umar then said: Allah is most great. He then said to him: Let me inform you about the best a man hoards; it is a virtuous woman who pleases him when he looks at her, obeys him when he gives her a command, and guards his interests when he is away from her.
Using Zakah money for students in an Islamic School?
The Sharĩ ah stipulates that zakāh money be given over to the poor and needy, and they be made owners of it. The nisab of zakāh is 52% tolās of silver or 7% tolās of gold. or cash equal to that, or goods over and above one’s basic needs. If the children who attend the school are majors (baligh) and they themselves do not own nisab, then zakah can be given to them even if their parents are wealthy. It is not necessary to state that the money which is being given is zakāh money. In fact, zakah can be given in the name of ‘idi, a gift, a stipend, etc. When giving zakāh, it is necessary for the poor to be made owners of it.
If the children who attend the school are minors, and their parents are poor and do not own nisāb, zakãh can be given to such children under any name [whether you refer to it as zakāh or something else]. However, if children are minors and their parents own nisāb, zakäh cannot be given to them. Children who are eligible for zakāh must be given the zakāh as owners of it, and then an amount from it can be collected as fees from them.