Zakah – Purification of Wealth
Studying Zakah, the third pillar of Islam, is an essential duty of every Muslim. The ideal way is to study it via wisdom and precise understanding of great scholars. Sheikh Abdurahman ibn Sa’dy was one such great scholar alhamdulillah. He compiled a brief but invaluable Fiqh (jurisprudence) book called, Manhaj-us-Salikin [rough meaning: Code of the Believers]. The following pdf is an english translation, commentary with more detailed Quranic verses and hadith annotation, compiled by Sheikh Aslam AbuIsmaeel, who was a small time student of Sh Ibn Utheimin, the student of the student of Sheikh Abdurahman Sa’dy. This commentary on the chapter of Zakat is aptly titled, ‘Zakah – Purification of the Believer.’ You can download it from the following link.
There is another pdf booklet with fewer but Arabic and English hadith texts in the other booklet on this page, titled ‘Sharing is Caring – The Essential Fiqh of Zakat’, also by Sh Aslam AbuIsmaeel [That booklet will be made available here very shortly, inshaAllah].
All Praise is for Allah and may the peace and blessings be on the Prophet,
his followers and all those who follow him in his guidance till the Last Day.
Meaning of a Zakath
Zakah in Arabic means namaa wa ziyaadah, i.e. growth and increase. When
a person pays the zakah due on his or her wealth, their wealth infact grows
in blessings and increases in the good that comes from it. Even the person
who is paying the zakah grows spiritually and increases in their Iman (faith)
and consequently in good righteous deeds. It makes the person less
attached to the wealth that he worked so hard for such that he attaches
himself increasingly to the eternal good of the Hereafter.
Another word used for Zakah more or less interchangeably in the Quran is
Sadaqah. This word comes from the three letter root saad, daal and qaaf.
Its root meaning centers on honesty. A person who gives sadaqah (charity)
is proving his or her honesty in claiming faith and sincerity for Allah for at
times none or few can see in order to reward the person paying charity to
the poor from his hard earnt wealth – none except Allah.