ZAKAT: THE PRESCRIBED CHARITY

the needs of the society in which one lives. Zakat is a perennial reminder that a selfish stance is a wrong stance, and that others must be given their rightful share of our earnings. Zakat gives a clear indication of what one’s responsibilities to others should be. Everyone is required to recognize the rights of others, just as everyone is expected to sympathize with those afflicted by adversity. This feeling should be so well developed that one has no hesitancy about sharing one’s possessions with others, or coming to their assistance, even when it is clear that nothing can be expected in return. Even where there are no ties of friendship, one should be a well-wisher of others and guard their honour as if it were one’s own. One unfortunate aspect of human relationships is that people tend to give to others only when they hope to gain something in return. Money, they feel, should be returned with interest. When such an understanding becomes a factor in our social organization, exploitation becomes rampant; everyone is ready to plunder everyone else. This results in society falling prey to oppression and disorder. No one—no matter whether they are rich or poor—can be at peace in a society stricken with this malaise. Believers have the assurance of God that if they give to others, whatever they give will be returned to them many times over in the next world; their trust in God’s promise is complete. In giving to others, he knows for certain that he will not be denied by God at the Last Reckoning. In a society ordered in this way, feelings of antagonism and indifference are not allowed to develop; people are not bent on exploiting one another. There is never an atmosphere of mutual resentment and dissatisfaction, for everyone lives in peace with his neighbour. Such a society, in short, is a haven of contentment and well-being. In its external form then, Zakat is an annual tax. But in its essence, it is the principle on which God and his creatures have a right to a share in one’s property. The Ramazan Charity Zakat-al-Fitr is specifically related to the month of fasting and is given before the special Eid prayer. The reason for this Zakat is two-fold. Society should be so ordered that people fortunately placed in life come to the assistance of their less fortunate brothers.