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Friday 22 October 2010

Five Pillars Of Islam: Zakat

Zakat

Zakat is the compulsory giving of a set proportion of one's wealth to charity. It is regarded as a type of worship and of self-purification. Zakat is the third Pillar of Islam.

Zakat does not refer to charitable gifts given out of kindness or generosity, but to the systematic giving of 2.5% of one's wealth each year to benefit the poor.

The benefits of Zakat, apart from helping the poor, are as follows:

  • Obeying God
  • Helping a person acknowledge that everything comes from God on loan and that we do not really own anything ourselves
- And since we cannot take anything with us when we die we need not cling to it
  • Acknowledging that whether we are rich or poor is God's choice
- So we should help those he has chosen to make poor
  • Learning self-discipline
  • Freeing oneself from the love of possessions and greed
  • Freeing oneself from the love of money
  • Freeing oneself from love of oneself
  • Behaving honestly

The 2.5% rate only applies to cash, gold and silver, and commercial items. There are other rates for farm and mining produce, and for animals.

Source: BBC - Five Pillars Of Islam: Zakat (charity).

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