ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Sublime Purification: Zakat, 40 Ahadith Foreword The Islamic Education department of The World Federation is to be commended for publishing yet another booklet in the series of forty traditions, this time on the topic of Zakat.

It is particularly pleasing to note that the compiler has included at least five traditions[^1] on the ratio legist of this prominent Islamic injunction, traditions which consistently re-iterate one of the significant purposes of this practice to be the alleviation of poverty. This rationale is entirely in accord with Qur’an 9:60, a verse which enumerates the different recipients of Zakat, the first two being the ‘fuqara’ (poor) and the ‘masakin’ (destitute).

More importantly however, being creatures blessed with intellects, humans are naturally inquisitive creatures, forever questioning, and being satisfied only when an intellectually convincing response is given. Thus these five traditions serve to respond and satisfy such questions especially with respect to the legislation of Zakat. At times there can appear to be a degree of angst and misconception within the Twelver Shi’a Muslim community regarding the payment of Zakat.

This is because the Ja’fari Shi’a law seems to have explicitly limited the items, [^2] which qualify for the Zakat levy.[^3] Thus, in the modern era where some economies may have diversified away from being dependent on agrarian, livestock based or mineral based economies, the applicability of Zakat may seem suddenly redundant![^4] This apprehension is understandable in light of the great emphasis on Zakat both in the Qur’an and in the Sunnah[^5] as well as it’s coupling with Salat, the daily ritual prayer, and with the notion of piety.[^6] The arising debates and questions are to be welcomed wholeheartedly as they result in sorely needed clarifications from the scholars and an opportunity to educate the masses.

But perhaps this apprehension with regards to Zakat is misplaced due to the following reasons. The concept of Zakat in the Qur’an and the Sunnah is considerably more expansive than the limited strictures of the law and may be understood at several levels. Arabic dictionaries offer two basic meanings for the tri-literal verb ‘z k y’ from which the noun ‘Zakat’ is derived.