5 Pillars Made Plain
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Pillar 3: When do we give Zakat (Almsgiving)?
When you have to give Zakat depends on two factors: 1. the type of wealth or commodity and 2. the amount of time that wealth or commodity has been in your possession. Sh. Abdullah breaks down how to calculate the amount of Zakat required per commodity by time elapsed.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon you all. Welcome, I'm Abdullah Oduro. When do we pay zakat? When do we pay zakat? Well, that varies based on the commodities or based on the actual product. As we mentioned from the products of zakat are gold and silver and what derives from that, crop yields or what comes out of the earth from agricultural products or minerals and treasures, livestock from camels, cows, goats and sheeps and also business inventory. These are the four things. Generally, when we talk about the majority of them from gold and silver, there is a lunar year that must elapse. In the lunar year, we're talking about the Islamic Hijri calendar, not the Gregorian calendar, not January to January, but rather Ramadan to Ramadan. And this is important because the lunar calendar differs from the Gregorian solar calendar by 11 days. It is approximately 11 days less. So you will see Ramadan shift every year. So it's very important to calculate and start from the lunar calendar. Once that surplus wealth that you have has elapsed, a lunar year has elapsed on that surplus wealth you have, then you take 2.5% of that. Now, there is also something called the Nisab or that is the ultimate threshold, as we mentioned. And Zakat is an obligatory amount of your surplus wealth once it reaches a certain threshold or a certain amount. So gold in particular is 85 grams of gold and silver roughly is 595 grams. This is rough, between 85 and 87 grams of gold and silver the likes, 595 grams roughly. If you have what is equivalent to 85 grams of gold
and that has sat for a lunar year, then you take 2.5% of it. So we see here roughly today, gold is roughly 85 grams of gold is around $4,190. So let's say it's $4,190, 85 grams of gold. If that is sat in your bank account being cash, which is a derivative of gold being cash, if you have $4,190 in your bank account that has sat from the first of Ramadan till the first of Ramadan the next year, you take that amount and you multiply it by 0.025, or they say 2.5%, or you can divide it by 40. So if we were to look at today on our calculator, the amount of 85 grams of gold in cash is roughly $4,190. If that $4,190 has sat in my bank account for a lunar year, let's say the first of Ramadan till the next year, the first of Ramadan, then I would take that $4,190, multiply that by 0.025, which would come out to roughly $140. I would take that $140 and I would give zakat accordingly. And the same goes for silver. Whatever the amount is, at the day of you giving zakat, you take that amount and if it is in cash to the equivalent of 595 grams of silver, you would take that, multiply that by 2.5, and you would pay the zakat on that. So a lunar year is a condition for the zakatable amount. Concerning crop yields, it's a little specific. If there is irrigation-induced labor, then one would take 5% of that. And if it's non-irrigation-induced labor, there's no labor but you still have the crop yields,
then it would be 10%. Now the amount which is considered the zakatable wealth or the threshold is roughly around what they call khamsat awsuk, five awsuk, which is roughly around 653 kilograms. Now a lunar year doesn't have to elapse on that. Once it reaches that, then you would take the 5% or the 10% depending on if there is irrigation-induced labor. As far as animals, it gets a little more descriptive, and we're not gonna get into all of that here, but just to give an example, or really the general rule is that depending on the animal, once they reach a certain number, that is the actual zakatable amount. So for instance, goats and sheep, once they reach 40, then you have to give one sheep. So when we talk about animals, depending on the animal, it will change. And camels, for instance, if it reaches five, once you reach five camels, then you have to give one sheep, not a camel. So seeing that there is difference and a little more explicit, and it gets a little more, once the number increases, then you will have to give more of a certain animal. And this sharia even gets a little more descriptive when talking about the type of animal that is given, to where it may transition from one calf to what is called a bint makhad, where it'll be a female, young female cow. So what we see here roughly, when giving zakat, there is a certain timeframe. Once it reaches and that timeframe has elapsed, then you would take 2.5% or divide by 40 from that amount. Or if it is a certain amount from your crop yields or that which you have found from treasures, you would take 20% or 2.5, depending on which opinion you may follow, and you would pay zakat accordingly. So in conclusion, when looking at the wisdom of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, and taking from your surplus wealth, and taking an amount of your surplus wealth,
not the surplus, but taking a specified amount from that. When we look at this, on a yearly basis, the community is providing for one another. And that's exactly what the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, he mentioned to one of the companions when he was talking about buying and selling. He said, let mankind provide for one another. Da'am nasa yarzuq ba'duhum ba'duhun. Let mankind provide for one another. The more the dollar bill goes through the hands in a local community, the more we are investing in our local businesses, and dare we even say to a degree, national businesses, and even on an international level, we can invest globally. But when the dollar bill circulates through the hands of the people, firstly the immediate community, then after that, that is benefiting the general community. Which, when you think about it, makes us more like a family, that we're spending on each other, that we look after each other. As we will learn, zakat is not only for the poor. Zakat is for people that are not eligible to pay zakat. So if you're not a person that is eligible to pay zakat, you are a person that is eligible to receive zakat, and it's not a condition that you are poor. So we ask Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la to make us of those that are truthful with ourselves and with Allah when it comes to paying this charity, or paying this money, or means of helping our society, and empowering those that need to be empowered. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Thank you.
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