فَصَامُوا وَأَفْطَرُوا...

فَصَامُوا وَأَفْطَرُوا، فَأَمَرَ، صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَسَلَّمَ، مُنَادِيَهُ فَنَادَى فِي الْمُسْلِمِينَ: أَيُّهَا الْمُسْلِمُونَ، زَكُّوا أَمْوَالَكُمْ تُقْبَلْ صَلاَتُكُمْ. ثُمَّ وَجَّهَ عُمَّالَ الصَّدَقَةِ وَعُمَّالَ الطُّسُوقِ.

When in the month of Ramadhan this holy verse was revealed: “Take charity out of their property in order to cleanse them and purify them thereby, (9:103)” the Holy Prophet (S) ordered his caller to call out, “O people, Almighty Allah has prescribed for you as an obligation to pay zakat just as He has prescribed for you performance of the prayers.

Hence, He is imposing on you (a proportion) of gold, silver, camels, cows, sheep, wheat, barley, dates, and raisins.” The Holy Prophet (S) announced this to the people in the month of Ramadhan excluding other items (from zakat taxation). However, he did not ask them to pay their zakat until completion of one complete year.

The next year, after they had observed fasting and broken their fast, He (S) ordered his caller to call out, “O Muslims, pay out the zakat from your assets so that your prayers may be accepted.” He then appointed a collector to collect alms and payments. [^1] According to another authentic narration, Abu-Basir reported the following tradition. Some wealthy men were in the presence of Abu-’Abdullah (Imam al-Sadiq (‘a)) in our presence.

As they mentioned the zakat , the Imam (‘a) commented: إِنَّ الزَّكَاةَ لَيْسَ يُحْمَدُ بِهَا صَاحِبُهَا. إِنَّمَا هُوَ شَيْءٌ ظَاهِرٌ، إِنَّمَا حَقَنَ اللهُ بِهِ دَمَهُ وَسُمِّيَ بِهِ مُسْلِماً، وَلَوْ لَمْ يُؤَدِّهَا لَمْ تُقْبَلْ لَهُ صَلاَةٌ. Payment of zakat is not a source of praise for the payer; rather, it is something apparent, due to which Almighty Allah saves the payer’s blood from being shed and grants him the title of Muslim.

Hence, the prayers of the person who does not pay it will not be accepted. [^2] The (‘a) planned the economic system of the virtuous community, based on the observance of Islamic precepts and common commitments to the Islamic state, because this community is meant to live within the Islamic state and Muslim society.

The Topic of Discussion In this discussion, we do not intend to thrash out the viewpoint of the on the economic theory of Islam comprehensively because this topic has been discussed elsewhere[^3] showing the ’s exclusive and genuine understanding of Islam in a way quite distinctive from the founders of other Muslim jurisprudential sects.

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