Zakat & How to Pay It

What is Zakat and how to pay it?

Islam is a religion that gives the message of love and peace. It wants its followers to live in peace and harmony in the world along with people of other religion and assist each other in making the world a better place. It is this motto of making the world a better place and helping others that Islam emphasizes on charity.

In Islam, charity holds such a great place that it is am obligation o Muslims in the form of zakat. In Islam, Zakat is one of the major pillars of Islam, and those who are wealthy enough, for them, is mandatory to give zakat, there are different misconception that is prevalent among Muslims. Below, discuss the importance of zakat in Islam and the general misconceptions people have regarding it.

Zakat

In Islam zakat is the fourth pillar. zakat refers to purification in general and purification of wealth in particular, therefore those Muslims who have wealth (NISAB) over a certain period, they are mandate to pay zakat on it and give it to those who are less privileged/needy and don’t have sufficient means to live their lives in a standard way.

Pertaining to the question of zakat, the skeptic ones ask the question that why do they have to pay from their earned money and wealth to the others? The answer to which it as follows.

Any charity you give is for your own good. Any charity you give shall be for the sake of Allah. Any charity you give will be prepared for you, without the least injustice. [Our. 2:272]

Importance of Zakat

Besides the fact that zakat is an obligation and fulfilment of it leads to a Muslim getting reward from Allah Almighty and international swerving from its leads to a Muslim receiving punishment from him, there are other reasons which one can find pertaining to the importance of zakat.

Help in building society

Zakat deserving people

  • The poor
  • The needy
  • The new revert
  • To free slaves/captive
  • In the cause of allah
  • For travelers
  • Zakat collection workers
  • To help someone pay debt

People who can be given zakat: in Quran. Allah Almighty says:

The aims are only for the fuqara (the poor) and al-masakin (the needy) and those employed to collect (the funds): and to attract the heart of those who have been inclined (towards Islam): and to free captives; and for those in debt: and for Allah cause, and for the welfare (a traveler who is cut off from everything): a duty imposed to Allah. And Allah is all-knowing, all wise (Qur. 9:60)

From the follow verse of the Quran, the following people who deserved to be given zakat can be extracted:

  1. The poor – these are the people who don’t have means to live their life properly and live below then line of poverty.
  2. The needy – These people are also poor, however, because of their pride and bashfulness, they don’t expose their poverty.
  3. The collectors – These are the people who are given the duty of collection of zakat from other people, however, they themselves can’t afford to live a normal life.
  4. The new revert – People who revert to Islam are also eligible zakat recipients.
  5. To free captive slaves – the money of zakat can also be spent on freeing the slaves as well
  6. To help someone pay debt – Those who are in debt and can’t afford to pay it off on their own are also eligible for zakat.
  7. In cause of Allah – Zakat can also be given to people who strive in the way of Allah, especially in the form Da’wa (propagating Islam)
  8. For travelers – Zakat can also be given to the travelers and wayfarers.

How to calculate Zakat

How to calculBesides the major misconception of zakat, Muslims off=ten find it difficult to calculate the amount of zakat due upon their possessions. There are many ways one can adopt to calculate the charity amount, however, the one which nowadays seems much reliable is to use a zakat calculator. Zakat calculator are often specially designed by taking all necessary measurements in control that help in knowing the amount accurately. If you are looking to calculate the total amount of personal belongings, you download the free zakat calculator developed by the QuranReading.com. It is one of the popular mobile phone applications which you can install on your smartphone to be able to calculate the amount of charity.ate Zakat

  • Accurately calculates zakat amount
  • Hassle free way to calculates charity
  • Saves your time
  • Gives charity on time

Misconceptions about Zakat

There are several misconceptions related to zakat that have become prevalent among Muslims. The lines below address those misconceptions and five the true value of them.

Zakat in Ramadan only

The first misconception the people have pertaining to zakat is that it is to be paid in the month of Ramadan only.  Although Ramadan is a month of being charitable, however, it in way means that a Muslim must pay zakat in this month only. Rather, the time when a Muslim become liable for paying zakat, a year from that time is the time frame within which zakat is to be paid. Therefore, the duration of year is what need to be kept in mind and not the month of Ramadan for giving zakat.

Zakat is gold only

The third misconception related to zakat is that it is only liable on gold. It is wrong. The gold mentioned in Quran and hadith is as a standard unit of measurement, therefore, anything whether its cash, silver, stocks, livestocks, property or another asset that is worth the same amount as the gold mention by islam, it is due for zakat.

Husband must be willing to pay Zakat

The general misconception is that it is husbands who are liable for paying zakat for the jewelry of their wife. It is wrong and as jewelry is the personal property of the wife, therefore she must pay it’s zakat and if she is unable to do then she needs to sell the jewelry to pay zakat or until the jewelry is below the level of being liable for zakat. However, if the husband wish to pay zakat on behalf of the wife, he can do so, but it is not mandatory on the husband.

Zakat purifies haram wealth

Zakat is only and only liable on the halal earnings of a person, therefore, there is no chance that zakat can be relied upon as a means of purifying the wrongly earned wealth. Hence it is only liable on halal earned wealth and should be paid on it only.

Zakat purifies haram wealth

Zakat is only and only liable on the halal earnings of a person, therefore, there is no chance that zakat can be relied upon as a means of purifying the wrongly earned wealth. Hence it is only liable on halal earned wealth and should be paid on it only.

Zakat is on excess only

The other misconception among people is that they think that zakat is liable only on the wealth that is in excess of the requisite amount of wealth. They believe that the requisite amount get exempted once one reaches it and anything in excess is zakat deductible it is also wrong, and all the wealth becomes zakat deductible once one reaches its requisite figure.

Zakat cannot be given to relatives

Some muslim think that they can not give zakat to their poor relatives as they are part of their family such as parents, spouse, children and siblings, are exception (in normal circumstances) any relative other than that is eligible for zakat and should be paid zakat.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, zakat is a mandatory pillar of islam and the objective of it is to help the society share the bounties of Allah and give a chance to the less privileged ones to have a better life. Therefore, every muslim must gain knowledge about zakat and ensure that it is paid to the deserving people