ZAKAT—THE PRESCRIBED CHARITY

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. According to a Hadith reported by Ibn Abbas: Zakat-al-Fitr is an atonement for the fasting person’s inadvertent idle talk and to provide food for the needy. Discharging this duty before the prayer is very important. Zakat-al-Fitr perfects the fast of Ramazan and purifies the fast of any indecent act or speech. It is obligatory on all Muslims: young, old, male and female. Every Muslim who possesses over and above what is needed as basic food for the duration of one day and night must pay Zakat-al-Fitr for himself and his dependants and distribute it amongst the poor and needy. The earlier it is given the easier it is for them to make arrangements, so that they may also take part in the celebrations of Eid without any difficulties. o Comprehensive Principle All individuals be they literate or illiterate, able-bodied or handicapped, whether of one class or another, are certain at all events, of their own likes and dislikes. What is required of them is they should follow the principle that whatever behaviour they want from others, they should themselves accord to others. Conversely, whatever behaviour towards themselves they abhor in others should likewise be eschewed by them. Society should be so ordered that people fortunately placed in life come to the assistance of their less fortunate brothers, in the knowledge that they will ultimately be rewarded by God.