"The Power of Zakat in Ramadan: "Understanding Why Charity Matters"

The Power of Zakat in Ramadan: Understanding Why Charity Matters

الحمد لله وصلاةً وسلاماً على نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه وسلِّم اللهم تسليماً كثيراً، أما بعد.

All praise be due to Allah and his praise and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. One of the common acts of worship that we do in Ramadan is to give our zakat and to give charity — and that's just adding goodness to the goodness of Ramadan. You add more khair, more reward to the reward that you accumulate through fasting and through prayer and reading Quran.

A lot of people choose the month of Ramadan to give out their zakat. The zakat is the obligatory donations — the obligatory charity — that you must give on your wealth in Islam, and it is one of the pillars of Islam. It's not just a recommendation or just an obligation; it is one of the pillars of this religion. As the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, this religion is based on five pillars, and one of these pillars is the zakat.

Three Inseparable Pairs in the Quran

Ibn Abbas radiallahu anhu said:

Three verses were revealed, and in each one of them there are two things connected to each other — you cannot separate them from each other:

• Number one: Obey Allah and obey the Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam — أَطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُوا الرَّسُولَ
• Number two: Perform salah and give the zakat — أَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ
• Number three: Be grateful to Me and to your parents — أَنِ اشْكُرْ لِي وَلِوَالِدَيْكَ

These are three couples that must always be together. That is why Ibn Mas'ud radiallahu anhu said:

Those who do not give the zakat, there is no salah for them — their prayer is not acceptable.

The Severe Warning for Withholding Zakat

Allah shows us how severe a sin this is:

And those who hoard gold and silver and will not give the obligatory charity from it — this doesn't mean that you are not allowed to possess gold and silver. No, but you are not allowed to possess them without giving the obligatory charity from them. Gold and silver, or today's money — it is the same — without spending from it for the way of Allah. Give them tidings of a painful punishment on the day when it will be heated in the fire of hell and they will be burned with it — their foreheads, their flanks, their backs — and it will be said: "This is what you hoarded for yourselves, so taste what you used to hoard."

And that's just one of the narrations and one of the verses that came regarding the severe punishment prepared for those who will not give the zakat. But believe it or not, I don't think that fear alone was the motivation for the early generation to give the zakat and to spend for the sake of Allah. They were motivated even more by the love of Allah, the love of God for those who give for His sake.

The Love of Giving: Following the Attributes of Allah

Because one of the special qualities of Allah is that He is a giver — He gives so much, He gifts so much, He likes to help so much. And Allah likes those who try to emulate Him and act according to the virtue of God, taking that virtue as a virtue for themselves. Also, our Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was kareem — a very generous man, a very generous prophet — and his religion is all based on generosity. His lifestyle, his teaching, and his way of life were always based on giving and helping sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

Unfortunately, today we invest a lot of our money with interest — we look for interest rates, returns, savings — but we do not know that even though interest is forbidden in Islam, the best "interest rate" you will ever get is the rate you will receive from Allah when you give that goodly loan for His sake, when you donate for His sake.

Who will give a goodly loan to Allah, and Allah will multiply it for him in many, many multiplications.

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam gave the example of a newborn horse — small when born, but after a while it becomes so big, it has multiplied. That is the example he gave of your charity: when you give it, by the Day of Judgment it will have been multiplied many times over.

I'll tell you one thing about sadaqah — it never has to deal with inflation. The money you give will never be subject to inflation; it is always increasing. Your money that you keep is subject to inflation, but not the sadaqah that you give. It's not like the stock market — it doesn't go down and red. When it comes to what you give for the sake of Allah, it is always green, always up, always elevating you.

The Blessings and Protections of Sadaqah

Sadaqah takes away Allah's anger and wrath. It is a burhan — a proof — that you are a true believer. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that every day two angels pray for you when you give your zakat:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1442; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1010)

"O Allah, give the one who spends a replacement, and give the one who withholds destruction." So if you give your zakat in Ramadan, for the whole year two angels are praying for you. But if you do not give your zakat, these two angels pray against you every single day of the year.

Also, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: no people will hold back their zakat unless Allah holds back from them the rain — and rain is the cause of life; water is the most important element for living. He also said sallallahu alayhi wa sallam: everyone on the Day of Judgment will be in the shade of their sadaqah.

I remember one of the brothers who said to me that he wants to be rich — and he said: "Because I want my shade on the Day of Judgment to be thick and big and huge." And that is something to motivate many people to give. That is what led those people to give their wealth day and night, morning and night, in secret and in public.

Allah described those who give in the same way He described the shaheed on the battlefield — there is no fear for them, and they shall have no regret, no fear, and no sadness. The sadaqah also protects you from an evil death and all these sudden evil deaths that befall people. The people who give sadaqah are protected from them. As Imam al-Hakim reported that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said:

(Al-Mustadrak 'ala al-Sahihayn, Imam al-Hakim)

"Charity extinguishes the evil death." And that is why you will see the competition in goodness from the time of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam going all the way down to our time, alhamdulillah.

The Example of Abdullah ibn Ja'far

Abdullah ibn Ja'far ibn Abi Talib radiallahu anhu — a woman came to him and asked him for help, so he gave her a very large amount of money. It was said to him: "You don't even know her. She wouldn't be happy with a little, and she doesn't know how rich you are."

He said: "I don't care if she knows me or she doesn't. I don't give based on her — I give based on me. What I am capable of. If she is happy with a little, I am not happy with a little. I want to give and give so much if I can. And if she doesn't know me and doesn't know my status and what I am capable of — I know what I am capable of. And based on that, I deal with my donations."

This man was so generous that if he had the wealth of the entire world and gave it all for the sake of Allah, he would still feel that he should do more. The Prophet's family in history are the most generous people. He used to bring iftar for fasting people to all his neighbors. He put food outside for people to eat and take from on the road. He is one of the greatest generous figures ever known.

He was asked: "What is generosity?" He said: "It is to give from your wealth and to give before you are asked." And I'll give you an example from the first day of Ramadan. The first day of Ramadan, one of your community members — and I guarantee you he is not the richest, or even close to the rich category — he is the first one to step forward and say: "I want to be the first one to donate." A check of $600, before being asked. That is someone who gives before he is asked. Yesterday, a young man in his 20s came and said: "Sheikh, count me in for $5,000." That is generosity — when you don't even need to ask.

When Ibn Umar saw something that he loved in his wealth, he gave it for the sake of Allah. May Allah make us among those who give their zakat and their sadaqah, who love to give and love to help.

How to Calculate Your Zakat

When it comes to the zakat, it becomes obligatory upon you when you have an amount of wealth that reaches the nisab. You look at your income and your bank account and see how much cash you have. If you are in business, you look at the worth of the items you sell — not the office, not the value of the company itself, but the items you sell that you own outright, not in debt. Also stocks that you own and have full access to. As for amounts you do not have full access to — such as a 401k or investments where you can only access 80% or 50% — we are talking about what you have full access to right now.

You add all of this together. If this amount is more than the equivalent of 85 grams of gold — which is approximately $8,300 today (though this fluctuates with the gold price) — then you have zakat due on you. You choose one day in the lunar calendar as your zakat day. If you choose to use the Gregorian calendar because of your fiscal year, the zakat rate in the lunar calendar is 2.5%, and in the Gregorian calendar it is 2.577% — because there is an 11-day difference between them. The closest to the way of the Prophet is to tie it to the lunar calendar. You can do it in Ramadan, you can do it outside of Ramadan — it is all good, alhamdulillah.

Can you choose two days for your zakat? No, you cannot. But you can choose two separate occasions to pay out the zakat, because the amount can fluctuate from one time to another. So you choose one day — for example, the 25th of Ramadan, or the beginning of Ramadan — as your zakat day. But you can pay it out in installments over a month, a week, two weeks, and so forth.

Zakat and Debts

As for the debts you carry — these are of two types. A long-term investment debt, such as a mortgage, does not prevent you from giving zakat, unless you take your cash and pay off the debt in full. If you go and pay off the $200,000 remaining on your home, then there is no zakat on that money. But if you are paying it off over 30 years, then the money you have is still subject to zakat. However, the monthly payment due in the month you are giving the zakat can be deducted before calculating zakat.

What if you have given someone a loan? Do you give zakat on it? According to the majority of the scholars (fuqaha), when you receive the loan back, you give zakat on it for one year.

Zakat on Gold Jewelry

Regarding the gold that women wear — even if they did not wear it that often, or wore it only once in their lifetime — the majority of the fuqaha say there is no zakat on it. However, the Hanabilah and some scholars say there is zakat on it. So if you wish to give the zakat on gold jewelry, the calculation is based on the 24-karat equivalent. If it is 21-karat or 18-karat, convert it to 24-karat to see how much 24-karat gold you effectively have, and give the zakat on that amount. If you need help with that calculation, I will be happy to assist you, insha'Allah ta'ala.

The Eight Categories of Zakat Recipients

Zakat must be given to the eight categories mentioned in the Quran:

It is not simply for anyone you choose. An orphan, for example, does not automatically deserve zakat unless the orphan is poor — there are orphans who are richer than you and me. Also, just because you used to give someone zakat every year does not mean they are still eligible — make sure they are still eligible. That is why in this masjid, alhamdulillah, we do our due diligence when we give to organizations and to individuals, to ensure they are eligible for your zakat.

Also, you cannot dictate or control the zakat unless the poor person asks you specifically. For example, you cannot say: "I will only give you this zakat to pay your tuition." But if he asks and says: "Please give me your zakat to pay my tuition, to pay my debt" — that is fine. You cannot dictate it, because once given, that is his money, not yours anymore.

Giving Zakat to the Masjid and Da'wah Organizations

I would like to say that giving zakat to the masjid — any masjid that is active in da'wah, in education — is permissible, because that falls under the category of fi sabilillah, in the way of Allah. The Islamic Fiqh Council has agreed that al-jihad fi sabilillah includes da'wah to Allah, education, and efforts to protect and preserve the identity of Muslims. When we take your zakat, we make sure your money is used in this field.

It also goes to organizations that defend Muslims and defend the rights of Muslims — organizations like CAIR and others who protect the Muslim identity and rights. They also deserve zakat. Organizations that care about protecting our children, like private Islamic schools — Iman Academy and others are examples. Dar al-Arqam is also well-known for providing Islamic education. I am just giving examples; please do not think I am advertising. These are all non-profit organizations and I am sure they do good work — these are simply well-known examples in our community.

So be smart in how you give and invest your zakat and your money. In our masjid, one of the things we do when we receive donations is ensure that part of your money goes to wells, to orphans, to poor people, to paying people's debts, to helping students with education, to helping organizations that defend the rights of Muslims, and to projects we have vetted within those organizations to ensure your zakat is effective. That includes the masjid itself and the activities it carries out during the year.

That is why I encourage each and every one of you to give your zakat and make it count. I know there are many great causes around the world, and great need in Palestine, in Syria, in many places, in Pakistan — and they deserve part of your zakat. But the scholars agree that zakat is first and foremost for the local community, and then it also goes to your relatives and your own people. Do not give everything in one direction — make sure it is a combination of help across the needs.

A Final Appeal

May Allah reward you all. And do not forget about Zakat al-Fitr, which is an obligation on every Muslim — insha'Allah, next Jumu'ah we will talk more about it.

At the end, I plead to you — as I do every Jumu'ah at the end of my khutbah, this is the time I do it every year — please be generous with the masjid. Please do not just walk out and think that someone else will carry the tab. This masjid needs a lot of help and a lot of support. Make sure that you are generous when you give. And if you want to give it as a form of zakat, just put a note that this is your zakat.

O Allah, accept from all of us. O Allah, correct our children, our progeny, our spouses, and our wealth, and make us safe in our countries, our communities, our families, and our wealth. O Allah, we ask You to lift the darkness from the oppressed and to relieve the worries of the distressed everywhere, especially our brothers in Palestine. O Allah, hasten their relief. O Allah, hasten their relief. O Allah, hasten their relief. O Allah, turn off the fire of war among the Muslims everywhere, and liberate their countries and preserve their lands. O Allah, bless our community and our mosque, and provide for those who have spent on us, and forgive them and have mercy on them, and send blessings and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad and his family.