2.5%.
Given to the poor by the rich.
That's all you need to know about zakah right? Anything more than that and it's too complex -and it's a pillar of Islam, it's not meant to be complicated right? WRONG! One thing this course made me feel was guilt. Yes it's one of the five pillars of Islam and percisely because a fifth of the deen is based on it is why there is so much to it. After all how vast is the study of tawheed? And fiqh of salah - need I say more?
In fact the first two statements are two of the biggest misconceptions about zakah that were refuted in the course i.e. not only 2.5% and not only given to the poor, and even if a portion is given to the poor it's not always the definition of "poor" that we commonly perceive. Alhamdulillah I'm so glad I did this course but I came out with deep concern that a vast majority of Muslims just don't know about zakah. And that's extremely worrying for so many reasons.
It was a good weekend alhamdulillah, albeit tiring. What is an AlKauthar course without tiredness and lack of sleep though. It felt good being at an AlKauthar course AND actually doing it after just babysitting for Umm Maymo at the last two. It was very interesting being at an AlKauthar course with my good friend whom I pretty much picked on her all the way through. But come on, she practically danced up and down when she saw the planes taking off and landing on the runway opposite the river just outside the uni lecture theatre, she mumbled and laughed in her sleep (she says she was awake but yeah right), and she put up her hand when she didn't understand something and said, "I'm lost!" (her Manc accent sounded very sharp against all the Londoners) and giggled! Oh my goodness. The brothers were chuckling and the Sheikh was grinning.
Anyway please check out the POW (Pearls of Wisdom) on the AlKauthar forums and don't worry - POWs tend to be non-technical so you don't have to worry about your head hurting. It was a challenging course but it would be boring if it was too easy. And it was anything but boring. I hope everyone who reads this and hasn't done the course definitely makes it a priority to do it if it is repeated in the future. It definitely makes sense why the sheikh said it is fard 'ain knowledge, thus the regulations of travelling with a mahram not being so stringent.
Insha'Allah I'm going to put some notes up in the future. Watch out for them.
5 comments:
Ok i read on AlKauther that Zakat should be given in the country you live in is that true? And seems that this is the only way to contact you, its seems like everyone is blogging and not txting ehem ehem.....
Saabirah!!!!! Was that about alkauthar or roz? I was gona blog it until I read the rest!
What do you mean you were gonna blog it? Hey most of it wasn't about Roz - come on though you know what she's like, how could I NOT write about her after spending four days with her.
Farzana - indeed our own country of residence is more deserving of zakah. People erroneously believe that an affluent country like the UK doesn't need zakah money and other countries are more needy. But this is wrong for two reasons: 1) "Needy" and poor is relative to the customs of the land. And 2) this belief comes from ignorance of who Allah legislated are the recipients of zakah. It's amazing how such little people know zakah should be kep within the country we live in. All four mathhabs agree on this! Amazing huh? Some imams even go as far as to say that if we give zakah to a country outside of our own land while our own land is in need of it then it invalidates the zakah. It's not all our fault I suppose. Most charity organisations still ship zakah money overseas.
hhm interesting.. the bit about how zakat money should be given in our contry of residence, that is, although reading about Roz's escapades is always interesting too:)
i think the mentality for sending money overseas is that one's family is the most deserving of one's charity (obviously not family you have to support such as ones wife etc) but if you have distant relatives back home and they meet the criteria for receiving zakat, then they are entitled to it from you more then anyone else??
No like I said ones' own conutry is more deserving of our zakah. If we have needy relatives overseas then send sadaqah by all means but zakah should strictly stay in our own country. SubhanAllah if the people "back home" were paying and distributing zakah correctly also then there wouldn't be this problem.
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