A Practical Guide to Human Rights in Islam

Haqooq ul Ibad

 

 
 Chapter 9

Zakat (alms or poor dues)

In our previous chapter we discussed about Rights of God, which are necessary for our personal training. Like Prayers and fasting should be done by us in time so that we should not forget the real essence and teachings of Islam and God. The rest of the pillars of Islam are not obligatory. Performance of human rights is not an obligation like prayers and fasting which can be excused in certain conditions, such as for women during their periods or if someone is sick or old.  If one recovers from such shortcomings, then you have to offer the qada.

For Hajj pilgrimage and Zakat orders are different.

They are obligatory only if you have the capacity to perform these.  For example pay zakat only when, after fulfilling your household responsibilities and dept, you still have the amount of money left at the end of a year to pay zakat.  It helps in preventing the avarice of wealth and all factors causing it.  It is because of this that in society all evils take birth.  Man gets powerless and emotionless in clutches of greed of wealth. We start to take advantage of other's problems. This is what is happening in our world. What are its drawbacks? Rich gets richer and poor gets poorer. At present only twenty nine organizations are running the economic system of world. Their MDs are paid in millions whereas a common man doesn’t have enough to eat. Every country is in their claws as all leaders are elected by them and are forced to work as their agents.

Here it is important to mention one thing that spendthrifts are called Satan's brothers. You should have enough savings by the end of a year so that you do don’t become a borrower. Here you have to decide what is important and what is not important. For example, nowadays in our country, people spend lavishly on dresses and parties on weddings.  Bridal dress to be worn for one day by a bride costs about a hundred thousand rupees.  This is totally un-Islamic. The expense of Bridal dress still has a merit as it is to be worn by the bride though only once in their lifetime. But what about other women whose dresses are sometimes more expensive than the bride's and are usually not worn again. Same goes with the jewelry.

We have adopted many of the customs from Hindus making them a part of Islam. As at the mehndi ceremony, the singing competition.

Not only this, for every day there are separate meals with a variety, about which one has to think what to eat and what not. Even if you put one spoon from all the dishes you would need a  large platter. Do you not think that these expenses are unnecessary? Allah has clearly mentioned all this in Surrah al’asr, and  other surah in qur’an if you have time, do read it.  One who spends lavishly is a brother of Satan. There should be how many rooms in your house, is between you and your Allah You know your needs; if you build a Taj Mahal for a small family and don't pay your zakat, as you have loans on you. Don’t you think that it is like the excuse (heela) of the previous nations?  IF you keep your spending in limits and all Muslims if pay zakat regularly, it will be hard to find a person on earth who is in need of zakat.

Send questions or comments to M. Rafiq & S. Pervaiz