Zakat - 3rd Pillar of Islam and Cornerstone of Islamic Policy

As Ramadan comes to an end, many Muslims choose to pay their Zakat, a tax levied on wealth and distributed to others each year. After believing in Allah and the Prophet Muhammad and offering 5 daily prayers, it is interesting to note that Zakah, an economic principle, forms the next most important pillar of Islam. No Muslim can be Muslim without believing it and it is a miraculous system that distributes excess wealth in a majestic way. Unfortunately, there is limited scholarship on this area in a contemporary world without a real, functioning Islam State. Because it has been that way for some time, it is hard to make sense of a contemporary economy in lieu of understandings shed by classical ulama writing before many modern industrial, technological and economic innovations. Nevertheless, studying zakah and elaborating on it in relation to a contemporary economy not only would help to explain to Muslims how to complete their obligations to Allah, but would also pose very real solutions to contemporary social and economic issues.

At- Tabarani (260-360A.H.) related in al-Awsat and As-Saghir, on the authority of Ali, that the Prophet (saws) said, "Allah has enjoined upon rich Muslims a due to be taken from their properties corresponding to the needs of the poor among them.  The poor will never suffer from starvation or lack of clothes unless the rich neglect their due. If they do so, Allah wi surely hold them accountable and punish them severely."  Accroding to at-Tabarani: "It was reported only by Thabit ibn Muhammad ibn Zahid." Of Thabit's credibility, al-Hafiz in turn says: "Thabit was honest and trustworthy. Al Bukhari and others related from him, and the rest of the narrators in the chain are considered as accepted authorities."

Alijah 'Ali Izetbegovic in his book Islam Between East and West relates,

Every social solution must include a human solution. It should change not only economic relations, but also the relations between men. It should bring about the just distribution of goods as well as proper upbringing, love, and sympathy.

Poverty is a problem, but it is also a social sin. It is not solved only through a shift in the ownership of goods, but also through personal striving, aim, and goodwill.  Nothing would be done in the true sense of the word if there were change in the ownership of goods, but hatred, exploitation, and subjugation remained in men's souls. This is the reason for the failure of Christian religious revolts and socialist revolutions. 

Today many millions are destitute while global wealth rests in the hands of a few.  Because the final ten days of Ramadan usually involve contemplation on lessons learned during the month, alongside plans to alter behavior and maintain improved worship into the future, not to mention a time when brothers and sisters sit down to calculate and determine zakat amounts owed (usually with great difficulty), we wanted offer a resource in English that does a great deal to connect the personal obligations of salat to the community and in a way that analyzes the contemporary reality. While many people do not agree with Shaikh Yusef Qaradawi in many issues, few would argue that his book Fiqh al-Zakah is superbly well researched and thought through. In order to facilitate and revive increased discussions around zakah and its implications on policy and society in general, we have posted Dr. Qaradawi's book in English below. Readers may use it to calculate their dues or read from a chapter or two in these final days of Ramadan in order to get a better grasp on the communal nature of worship in Islam.

Fiqh al Zakah vol.1 Yusef al Qaradawi