ভূমিকা
“Verily alms are for the poor and the needy, and the officials (appointed) over them, and those whose hearts are to be reconciled, and to free the captives, and the debtors, and for the cause of Allah, and (for) the wayfarer. (This is) a duty ordained by Allah; and Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.”*** The words /sadaqah/ (alms) and /sidāq/ (dowry) are derived from the words /sidq/ (truthfulness).
Giving alms is a sign of truthfulness in the Faith to Allah, and dowry (or nuptial gift) is a sign of love to the wife. The Arabic term /faqir/ is derived from /faqr/ (poverty). It is rendered to a person whose indigence is going to crash his bones. The Qur’ānic term /miskin/ (indigent) refers to a person who, because of indigency, sits at home, and is called ‘a stay-at-home one’.
According to some Islamic narrations, /faqir/ (a poor person) is a needy person who usually does not ask people for help; but a /miskin/ (an indigent one) is a person who, because of intensity of indigency, in general, asks others to give him money. Some Islamic traditions indicate that if the rich paid their alms tax to the deserving needy persons of the society, there would not exist any poor person.
A tradition cited in Wasā’il-ush-Shi‘ah says: “Verily Allah has fixed, in the wealth of the rich, some amount for the poor to solve their difficulties. And if He knew it was not sufficient for them, He would increase it.… And if people paid the poor’s rights to them, they could live very well.” The Purpose of ‘Alms’ Is ‘Poor-rates’ Poor-tax is one of the certain necessary duties of the religion of Islam. That is why the Qur’ān in the above verse says that it is ‘a duty ordained by Allah’.
This phrase means that poor-tax is a certain obligatory commandment of Allah. So, according to this holy verse, this poor-tax must be spent in the same eight positions which are said in the verse, and in other sites it is not permissible. Full majority of Islamic jurisprudents, of course, believe that poor-rates can be spent for all the eight mentioned instances, and it is not obligatory to divide it among them.