Spend Beyond Zakat, to Win Back the Favour of Allah for Believers
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Spend Beyond Zakat, to Win Back Favour of Allah for Believers
Most of us stop "giving" or spending (money on others) at zakat; we feel relaxed for the next one year. Are we right in doing so?
Will Allah Empower Us in Lieu of An Obligatory Charity?
Now that during Ramadan you have paid your Zakat, the obligatory charity, let us examine if there is more expected from us. May Allah accept your good deeds during Ramadan, and bless you with the best of His rewards! I would like to draw you kind attention to an extremely important aspect of our life which affects the world of islam in a big way.
Most of us stop "giving" or spending (money on others) at zakat; we feel relaxed for the next one year. Are we right in doing so?
Zakat is for purification of wealth only. Is it not? Once we have paid the zakat, we have purified our wealth, and become its rightful owners. Now, spending should start here, right? Does it not end here, in reality? This is a very critical situation wherein believers feel that the problems that we are facing (azaab) is because of the fact that many of us don't pay zakat. However, I feel the major problem lies in the fact that we stop spending (charity) at zakat – we spend no more than zakat. Imagine we were living under a real Islamic government in which zakat would be (forcibly) taken from us (as we now pay tax in most countries). Then, the commandments of Allah relating to charitable spending would most certainly apply to our wealth that remained with us. This is why scholars say, zakat does not belong to us at all. It is the wealth remaining after disposing of the zakat that belongs to us (legal wealth), and that's what would help us achieve the favours of Allah.
Why zakat payment must not be the end of charitable spending by believers, but the beginning of spending to please Allah? Because Quran refers to spending in hundreds of verses (click here for one example of collection of such verses. Because, when the believers were ready to spend their jaan-o-maal (whatever they had), ready to shed their sweat, blood and tears, they were blessed with highest honours in this world, and were rewarded with the most coveted desire – authority over others (power). They were made the rulers in almost the entire world. Imagine the sahaba who left in Makkah whatever wealth and property they had, when they migrated for the sake of Allah, did their lust of wealth or property stop them? Also recall that when they conquered Makkah, they did not sit on their Makkan wealth there, but came back to settle in Madinah.
Some ulema call zakat as SCUM (dirt) of wealth – remove it so as to purify your wealth. Do you really believe you can bring about any transformation in the society using the scum? Do you love the scum for yourself? If you do, then it is ok, because there is condition on what you must spend for Allah (in the way of God), what you call as charity. Read the following verse and its explanations over and over again.
You can never attain piety unless you spend (in the way of Allah) of what you love; surely Allah will have full knowledge of what you spend. [Quran, 3:92]
Remember that even the richest among the sahaba-e-karam went out to fight against the enemies, without fearing for life, even though they had given their entire wealth to the cause! Can we be expected, today, to be ready for that kind of sacrifice?
Imagine rich people coming out to fight against the army of kuffar (disobedient) today? They would not spend their maal even, beyond the zakat; and coming out to the front line to fight (defend against the attacking mob) is well-nigh unthinkable! The values of Islam have eroded so much that we do not even think in these terms, and always expect someone else – government agency or another organization to do it for us – while believers have been sent to this world with special responsibility of leading the world out from depths of darkness to light (min-az zulumaat ilan noor), as representatives of Allah.
What does Allah ask us to spend to achieve perfection of eiman; what should be the quality of spending?
...... virtue is that one should sincerely believe in Allah and the Last Day and the Angels and the Book and the Prophets and, in spite of love for it, spend of one's choice wealth for relatives and orphans, for the needy and the wayfarer, for beggars and for the ransom of slaves, and establish the Salat and pay the Zakat .... [Quran, 2:177]
Why does Allah ask to spend our earnings/ wealth in so many different areas, before He commands us to pay Zakat in the above ayah? Doesn't wisdom dictate that paying zakat is also important, but NEVER the ONLY item we are commanded to spend!!
Before paying the zakat, our wealth is not ours (can we keep impure assets with us?). In the above verse, Allah has used "spending what we love", separate from zakat. Can we love our impure wealth or possession? It is high time believers started participating wholeheartedly in all noble deeds with their self while they are healthy, with their pure wealth, and spend in the way of Allah whatever Allah has blessed them with.
O Believers, spend of the wealth We have bestowed upon you (in Our way) before the Day comes when there shall be no buying and no selling: when neither friendship nor intercession will be of any avail. Those, who adopt the way of disbelief are indeed the wrongdoers. [Quran, 2:254]
Quran is full of such verses wherein Allah urges us to spend, And, we understand fully well that whatever we have in our possession came from Allah as a test – we must prove our faith in the Lord Almighty by spending the wealth in the way of Allah (making deen of Allah the way of life, raising the respect for Allah's deen in the eyes of non-believers). Serving His creation (the best of creation being humans), by all means – using to the fullest, our knowledge, skills, wisdom, time & money and our physical strength – is like serving Allah.
It is extremely important to think beyond the basics, do above the basics, spend our time and money beyond the bare minimum required from us, otherwise we cannot expect to win back the glory of islam, and would only be doing lip-service as servants of Allah. Doing just lip-service is an insult of Allah (please refer to the verse below).
Who Should Get Zakah? Explanation from Quran, Part 1 of 2
Who Should Get Zakah? Explanation from Quran, Part 1 of 2
O you who have believed, why do you say that which you do not do? Most hateful it is in the sight of Allah that you should say that which you do not do. Allah indeed loves those who fight in His Way in ranks as though they were a solid wall. [Quran, 61:02]
... ... .... Hadith and Seerah Collection