5 Pillars Made Plain
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Pillar 3: Why do we give Zakat (Almsgiving)?
Giving Zakat (almsgiving) is obligatory, but it is not given from the money you need to survive. Sh. Abdullah explains why we give from our money and how to seek blessings from this act of worship.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon you all. I'm Abdullah Oduro and welcome back. Why do we pay zakat? Well, the zakat, as we know, has been accompanied with the salah in the Qur'an more than 10 times when Allah orders the prayer. He also orders zakat. We see that it is definitely important, but understanding when we look at this beautiful verse of the Qur'an, chapter number 9, verse number 103, where Allah tells Muhammad, take from their wealth as a means of purification for them and causing them increase and pray for them for verily your prayer serves as a reassurance for them. And Allah is the all hearing and all knowing. Let's look at this verse real quick and it will really explain to us why we pay zakat. Firstly, he tells Muhammad to take from their wealth. So this is an order which shows and exemplifies and implies that it is obligatory. And if it's obligatory, it shows the importance of doing that action. So take from their wealth that which is surplus. You see, Islam considers that which is surplus as wealth. And that's important because many times we will think that such as our income tax, it takes from our yearly earnings. But Islam takes from your yearly surplus. That which you need to survive is yours, but that which is surplus that is set for a lunar year, that is what you give from your wealth. And that's considered wealth. So Allah tells Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, to take from the wealth of the people that were around him as a means of purification. So that's the first thing. When you give zakat, as we as we learn linguistically, it means purification and Islamically or technically,
it is a purification of your money because if there is surplus, that that money or that amount is really not even yours. When we understand the concept of Allah being al-Razzaq, the ultimate provider, which is one of his names throughout the Quran, he provided and gave that to you and he wants you to give back as a means of purification. Just as you would prune a tree and take off dead leaves from a tree or you would have to cut off a part of the tree in order for it to grow and flourish and go beyond the shape and size that it was to help you and help others. This is the exact concept with zakat. So it means a purification and increase. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, he said that charity does not decrease one's money. You see, when we're doing actions of worship for Allah, we cannot only rely on the tangible. As we pray five times a day, it is detaching and relying on the intangible, things that we cannot see in touch. So when we look at zakat, yes, we give from our belongings, but we should have in our hearts and know that if I give for Allah, number one, Allah is going to provide for me. And when I do that, he will cause an increase for me to give more. It is when you invest in something, when you invest, you want to see the return. You're expecting a return. It's the same concept, but on a much greater spiritual level. When you give to someone that's in need for the sake of Allah, which is an exemplification of your spirituality, Allah will increase in that money and even increase you in whatever he wills and that which is better for you. Then he says, take from their money, take from their money as a means and increase and purification for them and pray for them. As a prophet, Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, when he would take the zakat from the people that were eligible, he would pray for them and ask Allah to increase them and to place in their money barakah.
Now, this word is very important. The word barakah means blessings. Blessings. What does it really mean? It is the attributes of God to descend upon that thing. So if I ask God to bless you, I'm asking him from his names and attributes to protect you, to honor you, to keep you away from any sicknesses or anything that's harmful. So when the prophet would pray for them to be blessed, this is definitely purification and increase. And then Allah says Allah is all hearing, the all knowing. Allah is all knowing of what you do and he is all hearing of what you say when you give the zakat. And when the prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, would make dua for them and pray for them. So when looking at why we give zakat, we have to remember that it is primarily because Allah told us to. And Allah is the all knowing and the all hearing. We have to remember that relationship that we have with Allah. When it comes to giving to what giving back what he has given you, just as you feel that you have to pay homage or show respect to those that have raised you, that have given you something. When we look at the one that is giving you sight, hearing, all of your faculties and can easily take that away. We remember the fact that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, if he requests or demands something from us, what is our response? When we look at this, we give zakat also to show that we have control over our money and money does not control us. Our belongings do not control us. Our phone, our iPad, our car, our car, our currency does not control us. Rather, we control it. We dispense of it when we need to and when we want to, hopefully for a better cause. So we give zakat ultimately for the pleasure of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, because we trust and know that he will give us in return what is better for us, serving as a means of barakah, blessings and purification.
May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala bless you all in knowledge of this religion, to increase you in your worship of him in a way that is befitting to all of us. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon you all. Thank you.
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