It tells the poor not to be worried, and advises the bankrupt to try again.

It tells the poor not to be worried, and advises the bankrupt to try again. It says to the traveler not to be afraid of the lack of money in the way. It tells the employed that his share is preserved. It gives promise of freedom to the captives. It furnishes the field of godly services, and attracts the hearts of others to Islam.

But, multiplication of wealth causes some ungodly things, such as: negligence from the remembrance of Allah, exploitation from people, hard-heartedness, disobedience, and revelry, the remedy of which is poor-tax. Besides wiping deprivation, poor-tax has some more merits. It increases attraction to Islam, or, at least, it causes persons not to cooperate with the enemies of Islam.

Some ordinary people believe that Islam has limited the increase of wealth and income for Muslims, while from the point of Islam’s view, human beings must be relatively free so that they enjoy the nature by effort and originative faculty and they develop. But paying tax is also necessary.

From the arrangement and order of the sites of spending alms tax, and that the poor and indigents are mentioned prior to other aspects; perhaps, it can be said that wiping poverty from the society is in precedence. The existence of the law of alms tax in Islam does not mean that Islam wishes to have always some poor Muslims who take poor-tax and some rich ones to pay it; but it is a way by which an outward real problem of the society can be solved.

Sometimes, the rich also face with some afflicting events such as: theft of property, fire accident, traffic accident, war, and captivity. Therefore, in an Islamic system, there should exist a financial source for social security. The ordinance of alms-tax was revealed in Mecca, but because of scarcity of the Muslims and the money of alms-tax, people paid it themselves.

But, later, after the formation of an Islamic government in Medina, the idea of taking alms-tax from people with the purpose of paying to the treasury of the Muslims, and its centrality by the Islamic ruler, came into being. One of its evidences in the Qur’ān is recited: “Take alms out of their property…” (Surah At-Tawbah, No.

9, verse 103) It is not necessary that the alms-tax be divided equally among all the eight aspects, but it can be divided under the control of the Islamic judge and as much as it is needed and according to the necessity of the circumstances.