Zakah (Obligatory Charity)

This page gathers Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-‘Uthaymeen’s teaching on zakah from his explanation of ‘Umdatul-Ahkaam, the Book of Zakah, together with Shaykh ‘Abdur-Rahman ibn Nasir as-Sa’di’s explanation of the verse that names zakah’s recipients, so a beginner can learn what zakah is, who pays it, who receives it, and what Zakat al-Fitr at the end of Ramadan is.

What Zakah Is

The Shaykh begins with the word itself, then with what it means in the Shariah:

“Az-Zakâh In The Language: growth, purification, refinement of something.”

“Az-Zakâh In The Shariah: An obligatory portion of a particular wealth for a specific group or purpose.”

Three things stand in that definition. It is obligatory, not a free choice to give or to leave. It is a portion of a particular wealth, so it is not taken from everything a person owns. And it is for a specific group, the recipients Allah named, or a specific purpose, so it is not given anywhere the payer likes.

Its Obligation, and the Warning Against Withholding It

The Shaykh explains that zakah was made mandatory in Makkah before the Hijrah, and that its obligations, its people, meaning those who receive it, and how it is distributed were clarified in Madinah. It is one of the Pillars of Islam. Whoever denies its obligation is a disbeliever, because he has disbelieved in Allah and His Messenger. Whoever accepts its obligation but refuses to pay it from miserliness or laziness is given the tidings of a painful torment, and the verses he quotes for that are the ones about hoarding:

“And those who hoard up gold and silver [Al-Kanz: the money, the Zakât of which has not been paid], and spend it not in the Way of Allah: announce unto them a painful torment. On the Day when that (Al-Kanz: money, gold and silver, etc., the Zakât of which has not been paid) will be heated in the Fire of Hell and with it will be branded their foreheads, their flanks, and their backs, (and it will be said unto them): ‘This is the treasure which you hoarded for yourselves. Now taste of what you used to hoard.’” (Surah at-Tawbah 9:34-35)

The hadeeth makes the same warning personal. Abu Hurayrah narrated:

“If Allah gives a person wealth and he does not pay Zakâh on it, his wealth will appear to him on the Day of Resurrection in the form of a bald-headed (aqra’) venomous snake with two fangs (zabeebatan) in its mouth which will encircle him on the Day of Resurrection,”

“It will coil around his neck and strike at his cheeks saying, ‘I am your wealth. I am your treasure.’”

“Then he recited, ‘And let not those who covetously withhold of that which Allah has bestowed on them of His Bounty (Wealth) think that it is good for them (and so they do not pay the obligatory Zakâh).’”

The book’s footnotes explain the snake’s two marks: it is bald-headed from the abundance of its poison, and its two fangs are two pieces of flesh on its head, where horns would be, that store the poison. The hadeeth is reported by al-Bukhari (4289) and Muslim (988). The wealth a person refused to purify by paying its zakah returns to him as his punishment, and it names itself: his wealth, his treasure.

The Wisdom Behind Zakah

Under the heading “The Wisdom Behind Its Obligation”, the Shaykh writes:

“The religious and worldly benefits which are derived from it (or a result of it) for Islam, the payer of Zakâh, and the society, such as the purification of the payer of Zakâh, the increase of his wealth, the sending down of blessings upon him and the benefit to Islam and the Muslims.”

Zakah is not money lost. It purifies the one who pays it, it increases his wealth and brings blessings down on it, and it benefits Islam and the Muslims around him. That is why its name means growth and purification at once.

Taken From the Rich and Given to the Poor

The first hadeeth of the Book of Zakah sets the order of the call and the direction of the money. Ibn ‘Abbaas narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to Mu’adh ibn Jabal, when he sent him to Yemen:

“You are going to a people from Ahl Al-Kitaab. When you come to them, call on them to testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. If they obey you in that, then tell them that Allah has made the five prayers obligatory for them every day and night. If they obey you in that, inform them that Allah has made charity (sadaqah) obligatory upon them, to be taken from the rich amongst them and given to the poor amongst them. If they obey you in that, then exercise caution and do not take their best properties and fear the Du’aa of the oppressed as there is no screen between it and Allah.”

The hadeeth is reported by al-Bukhari (1425) and Muslim (19). Ahl al-Kitaab means the People of the Book, the Jews and Christians. The call comes in order: the testimony of faith first, then the five prayers, then the charity. And the charity has a direction: taken from the rich amongst them and given to the poor amongst them. The Shaykh’s benefits of this hadeeth add that part of the wisdom of zakah is to satisfy the need of the poor, that it is regulated for the poor of the area where it was collected, and that all of the zakah may be given to just one of the eight categories of recipients. He also draws two warnings to the collector out of its closing words: do not take the most valuable of the possessions, because that is oppression to the ones paying, and do not take the cheapest either, because that is oppression on those who deserve the zakah. The basis is the middle wealth. The collector stands between the payer and the poor, and neither side may be wronged.

The Recipients of Zakah

Who receives it is not left to guesswork. Shaykh al-‘Uthaymeen’s book refers to the verse that names the recipients without printing it, and develops one of its categories at length, so the verse and its explanation stand here in Shaykh as-Sa’di’s Tafsir, which is also in my library. Allah says:

“Zakâh [alms] is only for the poor and those in need; those who work to collect it; those whose hearts are to be won over; for the freeing of slaves; for debtors; for the cause of Allah; and for wayfarers. [Thus it is] ordained by Allah, and Allah is All-Knowing, Most Wise.” (Surah at-Tawbah 9:60)

“What is meant here is that zakâh (obligatory charity) is only for the categories mentioned in this verse, and is not for others, because Allah has limited it to these categories, of which there are eight.”

Shaykh as-Sa’di explains the eight one by one. The poor and those in need are two different categories: the poor are in greater need, finding nothing at all or less than half of what they need, and those in need find half or more but not everything they need, and both are given until they are no longer poor or in need. Those who work to collect it are everyone involved in working it out, collecting it, guarding it, carrying it and recording it, and they are given a share as payment for their work. Those whose hearts are to be won over are a leader obeyed among his people who it is hoped will become Muslim, or whose evil is feared, or who it is hoped will grow stronger in faith, or through whom others like him will become Muslim, and they are given whatever achieves that purpose. The freeing of slaves covers the slaves who are buying their freedom, and freeing Muslim captives is included in it and is even more important. Debtors are of two types: the one who took on a debt to reconcile between two groups, who is given from zakah even if he is rich, and the one who went into debt and then fell on hard times, who is given enough to pay his debt off. The cause of Allah is the voluntary fighters who are not on the official army rolls, given what prepares them and maintains them and their families, and as-Sa’di also reports that many of the scholars of fiqh counted under this heading the person who is able to work but devotes himself to seeking knowledge, since the Muslims benefit from his knowledge. Wayfarers are strangers cut off in a foreign land, given enough to reach their homeland. As-Sa’di closes the verse by saying the eight come back to two: people given zakah because of their own needs, and people given it because Islam benefits from them.

The one category Shaykh al-‘Uthaymeen’s book develops at length is those whose hearts are reconciled, in its Sixth Hadeeth. ‘Abdullah bin Zayd bin ‘Aasim narrated that when Allah gave His Messenger the spoils on the day of Hunayn, he divided them among the people, giving to “those whose hearts he wanted to reconcile”, and gave the Ansaar [the believers of Madinah who aided the Prophet ﷺ and the emigrants] nothing; the hadeeth is reported by al-Bukhari (3792) and Muslim (1845). The Shaykh explains that among those who received were leaders who had recently embraced Islam, whose hearts needed reconciling so that faith would become firm in them, so the Prophet ﷺ gave them a generous portion because of the general benefit. His benefits of the hadeeth name the knowledge of the ones whose hearts need rectification, and that they are given enough to win their hearts even if it is a lot, and the book itself marks those two benefits as the hadeeth’s relevant points of evidence. So this category is not closed in the Prophet’s ﷺ time: the verse names it, and the book’s own example shows it being given generously where faith is being made firm.

The Nisab: The Minimum Amount

Zakah is not taken from small amounts. Abu Sa’eed Al-Khudri narrated:

“No sadaqah is due on anything less than five awaaq. No sadaqah is due on less than five dhawd (camels). No sadaqah is due on less than five awsaq.”

The hadeeth is reported by al-Bukhari (1340) and Muslim (979). The Shaykh explains that zakah is obligatory only on the wealthy, the one who can afford to have a portion of his wealth taken from him, so the Legislator set a limit for it, which the people of knowledge call the nisab [the minimum amount of wealth at which zakah becomes obligatory], and there is no zakah below that limit. In this hadeeth the nisab is five awaaq for silver, five dhawd for camels, and five awsaq for grains and fruit. Awaaq are a weight of silver, and awsaq are a measure of volume. For what comes out of the earth, the book’s footnote quotes the Shaykh’s Sharh Al-Mumti’: the zakah is on a specific type and a defined amount, and grains and fruit are only liable when they can be measured by volume and can be stored. This book names the thresholds in the hadeeth and the wealth they belong to. It does not set out a table of rates for every kind of wealth, and this page does not add one.

Wealth Zakah Is Not Taken From

What a Muslim keeps for his own use stands outside it. Abu Hurayrah narrated:

“The Muslim does not have to pay sadaqah on his slave or his horse.”

And in another wording: “…except zakat al-Fitr for his slave”

The hadeeth is reported by al-Bukhari (1394) and Muslim (982). The book’s footnote quotes an-Nawawi: this hadeeth is a foundation that there is no zakah on personal wealth, and no zakah on a horse or a slave that is not used for business, and the scholars of the earlier and later generations agree on it. So the exemption is for what a person has specified for his own use. The second wording keeps one duty in place even here: the slave’s Zakat al-Fitr is still paid, and the Fitr section below returns to it.

Wealth Held for Business

What is held for trade is judged differently, because the owner’s goal in it is not the item itself but its value and its profit, as the book’s footnote on the hadeeth above explains. From that, the Shaykh’s benefits of the same hadeeth state the obligation of zakah on the slave and the horse used for business. An-Nawawi, quoted in the book at the Fifth Hadeeth, says some of the scholars extrapolated the obligation of business zakah from that hadeeth, and that it is the opinion of the majority of the earlier and later scholars. So the same animal or item carries no zakah while it is kept for personal use, and carries zakah when it is held as stock for sale.

Buried Treasure (Rikaz)

One kind of found wealth has its own fixed portion. Abu Hurayrah narrated:

“The ajmaa (animals) are a loss, the wells are a loss, the precious metals are a loss, and there is a fifth on buried treasure.”

The hadeeth is reported by al-Bukhari (1428) and Muslim (1710). Its first clauses mean that harm done by an animal, or by a well or a mine a person has dug, carries no compensation. Buried treasure, rikaz, is wealth that was buried in the days before Islam [jahiliyah]. The Shaykh’s benefits state that the finder owns the treasure, that a fifth of it, one part out of five, is owed for zakah immediately, and that the fifth is given to the people deserving of zakah, the recipients named in the verse above.

The Collectors, and the Three Who Withheld

The book’s topic for its Fifth Hadeeth is the ruling of sending out collectors for the sadaqah. Abu Hurayrah narrated:

“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent Umar for the Zakâh and it was said: Ibn Jamil, Khalid bin Al-Walid and Al-Abbas bin Abdulmatalib, uncle of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ withheld it. The Prophet ﷺ said: ‘Noting is causing Ibn Jamil to be vindictive except that he was destitute and Allah made him rich. As regards Khalid, you are unjust to Khalid,”

“for be reserved his armors and weapons for the sake of Allah, And as for ‘Abbas, I shall be responsible for it and an equal amount along with it. And he again said: ‘Umar, bear this in mind, the uncle of a person is like his father.’”

The hadeeth is reported by al-Bukhari (1399) and Muslim (983); its opening word “Noting” stands as the book prints it, for “Nothing”. Each of the three is answered differently. Ibn Jamil had no excuse: he was destitute and Allah made him rich, so his withholding is ingratitude. Khalid had not withheld at all: his armors and weapons were already reserved for the sake of Allah. And for al-‘Abbas, the Prophet ﷺ took responsibility for it upon himself, and an equal amount along with it, and reminded ‘Umar of the uncle’s standing. The collector’s report is heard, and then each case is judged on what it actually is.

Zakat al-Fitr

The Book of Zakah closes with its own chapter on Sadaqah al-Fitr, the charity of breaking the fast, which is zakah’s second form in this book. The Shaykh opens the chapter in his own words:

“Sadaqah Al-Fitr: Saa’ (unit of volumetric weight) of food given to the poor at the end of Ramadan.”

“Sadaqah al-Fitr was obligated along with the fast in the second year after the hijra. The performance of it is a worship for Allah, a purification for the one who pays it, a cleansing for the one who fasted from bad speech and evil actions, and food for the poor to enjoy on the day of Eid just as the rich do.”

It was obligated in the same year as the fast itself. ‘Abdullah bin ‘Umar narrated:

“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ made Sadaqah al-Fitr (or he said Ramadan) fard (obligatory) for the Muslims: enslaved and free, male and female, young and old, a saa’ of dates or a sa’ of barley.” He said: “Then the people equated it to half a sa’ of wheat for the young and the old.”

And in another wording: “That it be paid before people went out to the prayer.”

The hadeeth is reported by al-Bukhari (1504) and Muslim (984). Its amount is one saa’, a measure of food, of dates or of barley, for every Muslim: enslaved and free, male and female, young and old. The Shaykh then gives the reason it is owed by everyone who fasts, even the poor person:

“The reason for Zakâh al-Fitr is that it is a purification for the one fasting from bad deeds and evil speech. Therefore it is obligatory upon every fasting person that possesses the ability, or a poor person who finds they have extra subsistence since its reason is for purification and every person that fasts is in need of that, so if they share in the reason then they also share in the obligation.”

So ability here is modest: a poor person who finds he has extra subsistence beyond his need still pays it, because its reason, purification for the one who fasted, belongs to him as much as to the rich. That is also why it is paid on behalf of the slave, as the earlier hadeeth’s second wording stated, even when the slave is not used for business.

It is given as food, not money. The explanation states that Zakah al-Fitr is food and not money, that no proof is found that it can be given as money, and that pronouncements are quoted from the people of knowledge that Fitr paid as money is not acceptable; it quotes Imam Malik, Imam ash-Shafi’ee, and an-Nawawi’s words that the majority of the scholars of fiqh do not allow its value to be paid. The chapter’s benefits repeat the point: giving out non-food items such as money is not permissible for Zakah al-Fitr. On wheat, the book records an honest difference: some equated wheat to half a saa’, as the hadeeth above mentions and as Mu’aawiyah held in the hadeeth below, and the Companions differed over its amount; the weightier opinion in the book is a full saa’, because of the general wording of the hadeeth. Abu Sa’eed Al-Khudri narrated:

“In the time of the Prophet ﷺ we used to pay out the zakat al-Fitr with a sa’ of food, a sa’ of dates, a sa’ of barley, or a sa’ of raisins. When Mu’aawiyah came and the samra (wheat) came, he said, ‘I think that one madd of this is equal to two madds.’” Abu Sa’eed said: “As for me then I still pay it as I did in the era of the Prophet ﷺ.”

The hadeeth is reported by al-Bukhari (1437) and Muslim (985). Abu Sa’eed held to the full saa’ and rejected the half measure for wheat. The book’s benefits add that the amount is one saa’ of food even if the type and value of the food differ, and that all types of food that humans eat are permissible for Zakah al-Fitr; the four types in the hadeeth were named because they were the food of the people at the Prophet’s ﷺ time. As for its time, the hadeeth’s own second wording above fixes it: paid before the people go out to the Eid prayer, and the book’s benefits state the obligation of distributing it before the Eid prayer, and that the best is to do it on the morning of the Eid.

And Allah knows best.

References

Arousing the Intellects with an Explanation of ‘Umdatul-Ahkaam: The Book of Zakah and Fasting, explanation by Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-‘Uthaymeen, Maktabatulirshad Publications, First Edition Sha’ban 1434 / June 2013, ISBN 978-1-4675-7948-3, the Book of Zakah translated by Ihsan ibn Gerald Gonsalves: printed pp. 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 32, 34, 36, 38, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 57, 65, 67, 70, 71, 72, 76, 77, 78, 82.

Tafsir as-Sa’di, Vol. 4, by Shaykh ‘Abdur-Rahman ibn Nasir as-Sa’di, International Islamic Publishing House (IIPH), English Edition 1, 2018, translated by Nasiruddin al-Khattab: printed pp. 105, 106, 107.

The books print the divine name as “Allaah”. It is written “Allah” throughout this page, in quotations as well, following the site’s spelling decision; the rest of each quotation stands exactly as printed.