Bathe Yourself with Money!by Muhammad Alshareef Have you ever seen someone run out of the masjid immediately after salah. In fact, the imam may barely have said salam, and this person is already standing up, getting ready to take off (you may have seen this after the Jumu’ah prayers). When we see someone in such haste, we know that there is some affair that pre-occupied the brother or sister and that haste is indeed a weighty matter.
But now let’s ask ourselves a question: who amongst us would jump like that because we delayed the paying of a voluntary sadaqah? Who? It is the most God-fearing person who would do so - RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam. In Saheeh Bukhari, Uqbah radi Allahu anhu narrates, “I offered the 'Asr prayer behind the Prophet in Madinah. When he had finished the prayer with tasleem, he got up hurriedly and went out by crossing the rows of the people to one of the dwellings of his wives. The people got scared at his speed. The Prophet came back and found the people surprised at his haste and said to them, ‘I remembered a piece of gold lying in my house and I disliked for it to divert my attention from Allah's worship, so I have ordered it to be distributed (in charity).’” If RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam attached such importance to sadaqah, voluntary charity, then what about zakah, one of the five pillars of Islam? In the year before the Farewell Hajj, RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam sent a group of Muslims on Hajj with Abu Bakr as their ameer. There were still some mushrikeen performing Hajj in Makkah, and some of them were circumambulating the Ka’bah naked. Abu Bakr’s mission, radi Allahu anhu, was to prepare Makkah for the Hajj of RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam. Allah’s Messenger sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam sent Surah Bara’ah (also known as Surah Taubah), the 9th surah in the Qur’an, along with Abu Bakr, instructing him that it was to be recited to all those performing the Hajj that year. Ali ibn Abee Talib was given the task of announcing the surah due to his position amongst the Quraysh. The surah, begins as follows: (This is a declaration of) Disassociation, from Allah and His Messenger, to those with whom you had made a treaty among the mushrikeen (the polytheists) (At-Tauba 9/1). Remember, the Qur’an was the Islamic state’s declaration of legislation. Ali ibn Abee Talib radi Allahu anhu continued to recite until he reached the words of Allah: But if they repent, establish prayer, and give zakah, then they are your brothers in religion (At-Tauba 9/11). In other words, it was not sufficient for them to simply repent; it was also compulsory for them to establish salah and zakah, and then only could they be considered to be within the brotherhood of Islam. Bukhari and Muslim report that Jaabir ibn Abdullaah radi Allahu anhu said, “I pledged allegiance to the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam in that I would establish the salah, undertake the giving of zakah, and that I would give naseehah (advice) to every Muslim.” After the death of RasulAllah sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam, the ummah was faced with some who claimed prophethood, men with huge tribes waiting to fight the Muslims. Then, to a lesser degree, there were tribes who still professed to be Muslim, but who had a ‘problem’ with giving zakah. The ummah needed to take action. While some of the Sahabaa felt that they should just leave the ‘we-are-Muslim-minus-zakah’ people, and focus on the armies instead, Abu Bakr radi Allahu anhu disagreed. “I swear by Allah,” he said, “I shall go to war and fight anyone who attempts to separate salah from zakah!” Upon hearing this, Umar radi Allahu anhu commented, “By Allah, at the moment when I saw that Allah had opened the heart of Abu Bakr to this war, I knew that it was the truth.” Allah made the giving of zakah on the wealth of believer compulsory for him as a test of his sincerity. The believer has full conviction that it is fard and knows that zakah is the third pillar of Islam, and not merely a virtuous option. Without zakah the deen of a believer will collapse. The believer delivers his zakah with an open heart, thanking and praising Allah for His bounty and for the very tawfeeq of being able to perform his duty. So while others bathe their bodies daily, it is possible for us to bathe our hearts with money. How? Zakah. In Arabic, the word zakah carries the connotation of cleanliness – to purify. In Shari’ah, zakah deals with the wealth Allah gave to His servants. It is the fard percentage one must impart to whom it is due. Allah ta’aala teaches us the virtue of zakah in the following ayah: Take (O Muhammad) from their wealth a charity by which it purifies them and causes them increase (At-Tauba 9/103). How do zakah and voluntary charity cleanse a person? 1. By cleansing the heart from the diseases of hypocrisy and doubt. 2. By cleansing the heart from the disease of stinginess. 3. By bathing the remaining wealth with barakah. 4. By bathing the good character of the one giving and increasing his or her wealth. As Rasul Allah sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam said, “Charity never decreases wealth.” “If I win a million dollars I’ll give half to the masjid!” Ever heard that du’a before? Allah ta’aala teaches us that the nature of humans is to attach themselves to coins of gold and silver. In fact, they pray day and night for it. In their prayers, they promise that if they are indeed blessed with the wealth, they will be unselfish with that gift. But when a test befalls them, they turn their backs: And among them are those who made a covenant with Allah, (saying), “If He should give us from His bounty, we will surely spend in charity, and we will surely be among the righteous.” But when He gave them from His bounty, they were stingy with it and turned away while they refused. So He penalized them with hypocrisy in their hearts until the Day they will meet Him - because they failed Allah in what they promised Him and because they (habitually) used to lie (At-Tauba 9/75–78). Yayha ibn Mu’adh rahimahullah commented, “I have always been amazed at someone who has wealth, yet is stingy. His Lord, who gave the wealth to him, requests that he loan part of it to Him and the stingy man says, ‘No.’” Zakah is an obligation connected to wealth. When someone delays the paying of zakah, that obligation directly chains itself to the individual’s neck. In order for them to repent, they must give what Allah made obligatory upon them. RasulAllah sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam taught us that when a people hoard wealth and do not give the zakah, they will be afflicted with a famine: “There was never a people that refused to give zakah except that Allah afflicted them with famine” (Bayhaqi). He, sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam, warned us of stinginess because of the destruction it brings: “Beware of stinginess for verily those who came before you were destroyed because of it” (Abu Dawood). And on the Day of Resurrection, the zakah that was not paid will be a means of punishment for the individual: And let not those who (greedily) withhold what Allah has given them of His bounty ever think that it is better for them. Rather, it is worse for them. Their necks will be encircled by what they withheld on the Day of Resurrection (A’le-Imran 3/180). In Sahih Muslim, Abu Hurayrah radi Allahu anhu narrates that RasulAllah, sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam said: “If any owner of gold or silver does not pay what is due on him, on the Day of Resurrection, plates of fire shall be molded out for him and heated in the fire of Hell. With it, his sides, his forehead and his back will be cauterized and branded. When the plates cool, (the process) will be repeated for a day whose extent is fifty thousand years. Then judgment will be pronounced amongst the servants, and he shall see whether his path is to take him to Paradise or to Hell.” -- Dr Benil Hafeeq K.P Consultant Nephrologist MIMS and IQRAA Hospital Calicut "An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity" --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Nor can Goodness and Evil be equal. Repel (evil) with what is better; then the enmity between him and you will become as if it were your friend and intimate! Visit: sultan.org Subscribe: [email protected] Post to group: [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
