Zakat (Charity, Alms) or Zakah

Zakat (alms) is the name of what a believer returns out of his or her
wealth to the neediest of Muslims for the sake of the Almighty Allah.
It is calledZakatbecause the word Zakat is fromZakaawhich means,to
increase, purify and bless.
Who Should Give Zakat
The obligation of Zakat is mandatory on every Muslim who possesses the
minimumNisaab, whether the person is man, woman, young, old sane or
insane. Because the proof of Zakat in Al-Qur'an and Sunnah is general
and does not exclude young or insane. Allah (SWT) stated that:
"Of their goods take alms so that thou mightiest purify and sanctify
them..." ( Surah 9: Verse 103)
Imam Ibn Hazim said that every Muslim young or old sane or insane
needs to cleanse his or her wealth with Zakat because of generality of
the evidence. Anas bin Malik reported that the Messenger of Allah
(saws) said:
"Trade with the money of the orphan, lest it is eaten up by Zakat."
(At-Tabraani)
In another Hadith `Amru bin Shuaib related from his grandfather that
the Messenger of Allah said:
"Whoever is entrusted with money of an orphan should trade with it and
should not leave it sitting to be used up by charity." (Tirmidhi)
The point of reference in these reports is that the Messenger (saws)
urged the trustee on the estate of people who due to age or other
reasonscannot manage their own financial affairs, to invest it in a
business that will yield a return and make it grow until they are in a
position to do so themselves. For, if proper investment is not made
with an ophan's inheritance, it will be depleted by charity, thus
leaving the orphan with little or nothing.
The Nisaab
The Lawgiver, Allah has prescribed theminimum amount that is
obligatoryfor Zakat in different ranges of properties, and that
minimum amount is known as nisaab. The reason for nisaab is to ensure
that no one is forced to give Zakat out of what he or she does not
have, and that no wealth goes without Zakat.
Nisaab is also an insurance against the tyranny of the state to tax
the poor and or the neediest as is the case in many countries. Nisaab
is areference pointfor the average Muslim who is not sure whether he
possesses the minimum wealth on which Zakat is obligatory. The wealthy
need not worry about the Nisaab. Zakat is obligatory on theirentire
wealthand must be paid out at the end of financial yearthat they set
for their Zakat.
Conditions for Nisaab
1.The amount that has reached Nisaab must be the excess or surplus
known as "faadil" from one's essential needs such as food, clothing,
housing, vehicles, tools and machinery that is used in business. The
essentials for living are exempted from Zakat.
Although what constitutes nisaab may change from one country to
another, the amount that is needed for the basic needs of living in
different countries is very similar, because the market place
determines the prices, whether it is an official market or a
non-official market. In the poorest countries people do without or
live below the poverty standard, and that is why many go hungry or
without basic essentials.
However, we must realize thatZakat is an act of worship(ebadah) like
Salaat. Theelement of intention (niyyah) is necessary, and we should
not overly rely on state agencies to determine for us the requirements
of our religious duty.
Nisaab eliminates the possibility of injustice or unfair treatment of
the Zakat payer. To suggest that if we do not follow the rules of
International Monetary Fund or the arbitrary figures of social
security administration or department of agriculture we will be doing
injustice to the Zakat payer is ludicrous.
2.Nisaab must mature, that is the money is not liable for Zakat unless
it has remained a full year in the possession of a person. This is the
understanding of the majority of the scholars. Imam Abu Hanifah (raa)
said: "What should be considered is the existence of nisaab at the
beginning and the end of the Zakat year set by the payer". It does not
matter if the nisaab money increases or decreases during the calendar
year.
How To Give Zakat
Zakat may be assessed and returned in two ways:
1.Make a record of all money earned, either daily or monthly, which
has reached the nisaab and remains in the treasury. The Zakat of that
money would be due one year later on the same day the money was earned
and reached nisaab. This means every month's income must be set aside
and assessed for Zakat and so will be the case for the rest of the
months.
2.The best way is to set a day or a month, preferably Ramadan, for
your annual Zakat return calendar, say Ramadan 1st. One year later on
the same day of Ramadan, your Zakat is due and payable. Whatever is in
the savings is due for Zakat, regardless of whether all the amount in
the savings reaches a year or not. This method is the best because it
is easy to assess, meets one's obligation and relieve one's
conscience.
The Recipient Of Zakat
Knowing who qualifies as recipient of Zakat is an important aspect of
Zakat collection in Islam. Fortunately, Allah (SWT) has been merciful
to us in that He Himself spelled out the people eligible to receive
Zakat. In Surah Tawbah He stated:
"Alms are for the poor and the needy; and those employed to administer
(the funds); for those whose hearts have been (recently) reconciled
(to truth); for those in bondage and in debt; in the cause of Allah;
and for the wayfarer: (thus is it) ordained by Allah, and Allah is
full of knowledge and wisdom." ( Surah 9: Verse 60)
In this verse Allah enumerated the people who deserve this divine
welfare, and they are as follows:
*.The poor and the needy:These are individuals, and those under their
care, to live on. By the poor and needy is meant the people whose
income or salaries, or whatever material goods they have, fall short
of the cost of living in a given environment and economy.
*.Those who administer the Zakat department:Assigning people for
collecting, bookkeeping, making lists of people eligible for Zakat,
and a financial calendar.
*.The new converts to Islam:Whose hearts we want to harmonize into the
fold of Islam, either because their faith is weak or we are afraid of
their being harmed, should be given Zakat to strengthen their Iman or
until we no longer fear their harm.
*.The bonds personwho has contracted with his master to buy himself
out of bondage deserve Zakat and should be given enough to pay off
their debt to the master and be freed themselves; similarly, Muslim
prisoners of war if their freedom is tied to monetary payment, deserve
Zakat sufficient enough to secure their release.
*.The people in debt
*.Zakat can be given in the path of Allah.
*.The wayfarer.This is the traveller who in a strange land runs out of money.
It is, however, permissible to give Zakat to a wife or family member,
provided it is not part of their daily living expense money, but is
needed to pay off a debt for one's wife if she can not pay it. So is
the case for one's parents if they can not pay their debt.
Zakat moneymay be given to members of the familyfor their expenses if
one is not obligated to take care of them financially. The wife can
pay off a debt of her husband with Zakat money, because he may be
among the eight eligible recipients and she is not obligated to spend
on him as he is on her.
The eligible recipients of Zakat can be denied theirright to Zakat
without prooffrom Al-Qur`an or Sunnah. In a hadith reported by Ibn
Masud, his wife Zaynab heard the Messenger of Allah order women to
give Zakat, so she asked the Messenger (saws):
"O Messenger of Allah, you commanded us to give Zakat, and I have
jewellery that I wanted to assess for Zakat, but my husband Abdullah
bin Masud claimed that his son deserves it more than anyone." The
Messenger replied: Your husband Ibn Masud is right. Your son deserves
your charity more than anyone."
In another hadith reported by Salman bin Aamir, he said the Messenger
of Allah said:
"Charity to the poor is only charity, but charity to the rest of kind
is charity and maintenance of relations (sillah)." (Nisaee)

Basics of Hajj

The ritual of Hajj is performed in themonth of ZulHijjah, thetwelfth
and last monthin the Islamic lunar calendar. In Arabic, the word hajj
literally meansgoing to a place for the sake of visiting; and
according to the terminology of the Islamic Sharee'ah, it implies to
the act of going to the Baitullah in Mecca to observe the necessary
devotions related to pilgrimage. The hajj is mandatory upon all able
Muslims, men and women, at least once in a lifetime.
Apart from worship of Allah (SWT), the command for hajj offers Muslims
theopportunity to interact with their brethren from around the globe.
The command concerning the hajj is found in several Qur'anic verses,
among them:
"And when We assigned to Ibraheem the site of the Sacred House
(Ka'bah), saying 'Do not associate with Me anything, and purify My
House for those who circumambulate the Ka'bah, and those who stand up
and prostrate and bow in prayer. And proclaim the Pilgrimage among
men, and they will come to you on foot and mounted on every kind of
camel, lean on account of journeys through deep and distant mountain
highways." [Surah Al-Hajj: Verse 26-27].
The verse above confirms that Prophet Ibraheem (a.s.) worshipped at
the Sacred House of Allah SWT (Baitullah - another name of Ka'bah)
long before the advent of Judaism or Christianity.
For that matter, some Bibilical historians say that he lived in the
first half of the second millennium B.C, that is prior to the
establishment of the Indus civilizations of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro;
hence, prior to the birth of Hinduism. By virtue of it being thefifth
pillar of Islam, the hajj literally makes Islam the oldest religion on
earth.The hajj today is thelargest gathering of human beingson earth.
Besides this annual ritual, there is a lesser hajj known asUmrahthat
can be performed at any time during the year except on the days of the
greater hajj, specificallyfrom 9th till 13th of ZulHijjah.
On the benefit of hajj, Abu Hurairah (r.a.) narrates that he heard the
Prophet SAW say:
"Whoever performs Hajj and does not commit any Rafath (obscenity) or
Fusooq (transgression), he returns (free from sin) as the day his
mother bore him." [Bukhari]
There are three categories of hajj:Tamattu', Qiraan and Ifraad. In brief,
*.Tamattu'refers to the act of performing umrah in the month of hajj.
*.Qiraan, on the other hand, refers to a pilgrim who performs hajj and
umrah jointly;
*.Ifraadmeans that a pilgrim wears the ihraam for hajj only and he/she
performs his umrah only after completing the greater hajj.
The most beautiful aspect of hajj is theuniformity. All the pilgrims
have to do exactly the same acts at the same sites around Mecca on
four days consecutively. All wear theihraamgarb, a great majority of
which iswhitein color.
Once the ihraam is donned and the intention for hajj uttered, male
pilgrims are prohibited from wearing stitched clothes, shoes that
cover the anklebone, a hat or turban or anything that covers the head.
Women are prohibited from wearing the veil that covers their faces
(burqaa) and also gloves.
Both men and women are prohibited from wearing any kind of perfume or
hair oil, cropping or shaving hair on any part of the body, cut the
nails, have sexual intercourse, hunt and kill animals, or to be
involved in any form of marriage proposal.

Our On Going Test

Nothing on earth is created in vain, but rather with wisdom.
Understanding this fact depends on the wisdom of people themselves.
One whose faith and consequently whose wisdom and prudence increase,
will happen to grasp this reasoning much better in time. One of the
most important precepts is that we are beingtested throughoutour whole
lives. Allah tests our sincerity and our faith on different occasions.
He may give favours to test whether we are grateful to Him or not. He
may create difficulties, for us, to reveal whether we behave with
patience or not:
"Every soul shall have a taste of death: and We test you by evil and
by good by way of trial. To Us you will be returned." ( Surat
al-Anbiya, 21:35)
Ways to Test
We are to be tested in various ways. This is explained in the Qur'an
in the verse below:
"Be sure we shall test you with fear and hunger, someloss in goods or
lives or the fruits (of your toil), but give glad tidings to those who
patiently persevere." ( Surat al-Baqara, 2:155)
Our lives have indeed been planned with the mystery of our being
tested. First of all, we are being tested in our physical beings. The
Qur'an states that
"Verily We created Man from a drop of mingled sperm, in order to try
him: So We gave him (the gifts of) hearing and sight." ( Surat
al-Insan, 76:2).
Consequently, everything we hear and see is actually apart of the
test. In all kinds of situations, we will be tested to see whether we
behave in accordance with the Qur'an or with our own vain desires.
Allah tests thesteadfastnessof the believers with variousdifficulties.
One of the most important of these is theoppression of the believersby
the unbelievers. All these misdeeds, like verbal attacks, mocking,
physical oppression and even torture and murder attempts, are only a
means of trial for the believers. In one of the verses; it is said:
"You shall certainly be tried and tested in your possessions and in
your personal selves; and you shall certainly hear much that will
grieve you, from those who received the Book before you and from those
who worship many gods. But if you persevere patiently, and guard
against evil, then that will be a determining factor in all affairs."
( Surat Aal-e- Imran, 3:186)
Special kind of Test
The most important point to comprehend is that all of these
deprivations and misadventures are created by Allah as aspecial kind
of test. One who does not understand this will become very
superficial. The Qur'an cites a pertinent tale of certain Jews.
"Ask them concerning the town standing close by the sea; when they
transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath. For on the day of their
Sabbath, their fish did come to them, openly holding up their heads,
but on the day they had no Sabbath, they came not: thus did We made a
trial for them, for they were given to transgression." ( Surat
al-A'raf, 7:163)
Only the individual who has wisdom can realize that he isbeing tested,
and can succeed in these tests by again using his wisdom. Therefore, a
believer should not forget that he is being tested throughout his
life. These tests cannot be passed or the heaven cannot be attained
simply by saying 'I believe'.
"Do men think that they will be left alone on saying 'We believe', and
that they will not be tested? We did test those before them, and Allah
will certainly know those who are true from those who are false." (
Surat al-Ankaboot, 29:2-3)
And in another verse Allah says:
"Did you think that you would enter Heaven without Allah testing those
of you who fought hard (in His Cause) and remained steadfast?" ( Surat
Aal-e-Imran, 3:142)

Women site, - The audacity of faith

The Prayer Has Never Been this Hard
Libraries are like studios. No sound goes unheard. No noise passes
without someone looking up or, in this case, a librarian hissing and
excitedly shushing the disturber of the peace, silencing the noise
polluter.
Nervously flitting and creeping about the bookshelves, I was
endeavoring to be as quiet as such can be.
Every footfall, every little brave breath was carefully measured to an
exact decibel level, no more, no less.
The only dynamics that I failed to control were the thumping of my
heart and a much more subtle tone that somehow made it past all my
enacted sound barriers, my mental matrix-built firewall, my muffled
mind. It was similar to a flute in that it was both soft and gentle.
Yet at the same time, it was piercing and bold, a constant anthem
striking out through my internal environment. It was my soul, my
little life-giving charge.
It was calling to me, chanting a sweet Athaan that only I could hear
in this muted world of books. And oh how I loved it, yet dreaded it!
I had to find a place to make prayer, somewhere in this college
library, in my first term ever of a higher education. But I was so
afraid to do so, so shy to bow my face in the presence of others, so
worried about the impression of expression. What if some malicious
person attacked me? What if I was held in contempt because I was
"fanatical," a loon? Newspaper headings flashed through my mind's eye:
Terrorist Plot in University Campus Exposed! Homicidal Ritual Offered
in Campus Library! Al Qaeda's Hand Reaches the Countryside! And
Librarian Tasers Student Fanatic.
Passing the atomic clock on the wall no less than 10 times, the minute
hand began to drive into my mind, each tick sounding like a deafening
beat on a kettledrum. The situation was getting desperate. I could not
miss my Prayer. But what about the people? What about all the possible
pain, the potential outcomes, internal and external?
I felt as though I had to breathe. I had to go make Prayer. It was a
bodily function. I silently battled on, pretending to read random
books on politics. If the librarians could hear my insides now, what
with all the furious debating and intense fracas going on, they would
probably eat me alive. How bad it was, this predicament of mine.
Dragging myself just in time, I found a relatively secluded,
undisturbed spot and began to perform my Prayer. Every noticeable
motion was a huge movement, a draining operation for me. I felt as
though my waist, that corporal hinge that enables us to bend and bow
down, was rusty. I really needed some spiritual WD-40.
This was a ground-shaking test, at least to me. I've been reflecting
on it all week. It took all my will to simply make Prayer, to express
my piety, my gratitude to God the Magnificent Being behind my organic
architecture, my magical physique, my creative expression, my artistic
passion—my nafs, that invisible soul that makes me who I am. And now,
fire-tested and gauged, I realize that my soul, the gift from its
Crafter, has not been thanked for properly, in the right fashion in
the wrong situation.
I look at the creation around me—the horses and the birds, the trees
and the falling snow, the little springs and hills —and know that I
have seen authentic, whole worship. Flapping, loping, growing,
falling, bubbling up, all these creatures worship their Creator in
their own unique, prescribed ways. The bird flies and fulfills its
Prayer, its bodily functions. Our equine companions thunder about the
plains around the world.
They fulfill their purpose, express their worship, and provide
momentum not only to their graceful forms, but also to their tender
souls. The trees reach into the heavens. The rills gurgle from the
earth. Everything worships Allaah Almighty.
One creature among all creations that live in the world, we are in no
way exempt from fulfilling our functions to completion. Being
creatures composed of minds, souls, and bodies, we must satisfy all
these individual aspects to remain healthy, to possess that spunk,
that bounce that keeps us in full blossom, at full tilt, if you'll
pardon the idiom.
We eat, drink, exercise, make love, and many more things to meet our
bodily needs. In order to quaff our intellect, we go to school, read
instruction manuals, take on mathematical concepts, and memorize.
But what do we do for our spirit, our internal core that inspires all
the other parts of our body? We make Prayer. A simplistic answer? I
think not.
Worship opens our entire being to a refreshing breeze from the
outside, cools our hot interiors, and inspires the mind, the body, and
the soul. Would you live in a house of stifled air? Would you swim in
a stagnate marsh, no spring or current to wash it clear? Would you
have your wings clipped?
The Prayer to us has become an outstanding act, a massive struggle,
five battles a day. Floating about the stratosphere of modern secular
life in our hot air balloons, it is tempting to just throw those
canvas sacks of Prayer, those weighty responsibilities, overboard.
For in the eyes of my rising generation, the Prayer has been demoted
to spiritual baggage, to an audacious act of faith. But without it,
how can we be healthy?
Now, if we have to fight ourselves on something as basic as the
Prayer, with what might must we strive simply to survive? Worship
should be a thing to be proud of not to boast, but to be full with.
The Prayer that we know—this Prayer of Islam—is the ultimate paradox,
the real irony, for it brings us literally down to earth and makes us
humble. Yet at the same time it elevates us just as unambiguously to
the heavens and, behold, we metamorphose into sublime beings, better
than the angels. And that is something worth not fighting for.
Surrender.