Zakat “Charity”
In the glossary of The Noble Quran[1] the term Zakat is defined as follows, “A certain fixed proportion of the wealth and of every property liable to Zakat of a Muslim to be paid yearly for the benefit of the poor in the Muslim community. The payment of Zakat is obligatory as it is one of the five pillars of Islam. Zakat is the major economic means for establishing social justice and leading the Muslim society to prosperity and security”. Continue reading
The third pillar of Islam is the alms-tax (Zakah). The word in Arabic implies “purification” and it is understood to mean that a person “purifies” his holdings of wealth from greed and stinginess.
It is a tax on wealth, payable on various categories of property, notably savings and investments, produce, inventory of goods, salable crops and cattle, and precious metals, and is to be used for the various categories of distribution specified by Islamic law. It is also an act of purification through sharing what one has with others. Continue reading
Question:
I would like some information explaining what is meant by ongoing charity (sadaqah jaariyah) and encouragement to do it.
Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.
Allaah has created man to worship Him. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“And I (Allaah) created not the jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me (Alone)”
[al-Dhaariyaat 51:56] Continue reading
Question:
We have a weekly lesson here and every week we try to encourage the sisters to make sodaqa for some of the very poor muslims living in other countries .If you could provide ahadith and sayings of the scholars about the rewards on the day of judgement and in paradise for those who give sodaqo that will help us in encouraging the sisters and raising more money inshaallaah Continue reading
The difference between ongoing charity (sadaqah jaariyah) and other kinds of charity
Question:
Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allaah and his blessings. May Allaah reward you with good on behalf of Islam and the Muslims. Is there any difference between charity and ongoing charity? If there is a difference, we would like to know some examples of charity and some examples of ongoing charity. If an ongoing charity is destroyed – such as if a man builds a mosque then this mosque is destroyed – will he have the reward of that mosque until the Day of Resurrection? May Allaah reward you with good. Continue reading
Question:
Is there any particular reason why zakaah is prescribed?
Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
It should be noted that Allaah does not prescribe anything that is not for the best reasons and does not achieve the best interests. Allaah is the All-Knowing, Who encompasses all things by His knowledge, and He is the All-Wise Who does not prescribe anything except for a reason. Continue reading
Riba (Usury and Interest)
According to Quran and Sunnah
Defining the Problem
Riba (Usury) is of two major kinds:
.Riba An-Nasia – Interest on lent money.
Riba Al-Fadl – Taking a superior thing of the same kind of goods by giving more of the same kind of goods of inferior quality, eg.,dates of superior quality for dates of inferior quality in great amounts. Continue reading
1) Hindering Human Power:
Usury hinders the productive human power as it encourages people to neglect their works and to be lazy, and human life gets advanced and civilized only when people pool their physical and intellectual efforts towards construction and development. Usurers who find it easy to increase their money through usury get used to laziness and hate forced labour and anything that requires hard working. The thing that deprives people of their livelihood; as it is well known that construction, crafts, and trade are the pillars of people’s life. Continue reading
Usury, when blights economy, spreads like cancer, and as doctor failed to cure cancer, men of intellect, politicians and economists fail to cure the plague of usury. What is astonishing is that some people believe that usury is good for people. In this, they are exactly like those who think that the body swelling that results form certain disease is a good sign for health while not every swelling in the body is a sign for health.
