103. What is charity and what is
the Islamic concept of charity?
Charity in Islam (zakat) is the giving of alms out of one’s own private means at a minimum fixed rate. This money is given in the name of God and is to be spent on worthy causes and on meeting the needs of the poor and the helpless. Charity is a reminder to a person that everything he possesses belongs to God.
A person himself plays only a very small part in obtaining whatever he owns in this world. Were he not to have the benefit of God’s endless bounty, he would neither be able to grow grain, raise cattle, set up industries nor accomplish any other work of a useful nature. The system of life created for him by God, meeting as it does all of his requirements from those of his inner being to those of external environment, is one of greatest perfection. Were God to withdraw even a single one of His blessings, all of man’s schemes would lie in ruins and all his efforts would be in vain. All productivity would come to a grinding halt and life itself would come to a standstill. Charity is a way of acknowledging this fact of life. Islam desires that private wealth should be considered as belonging to God.
In so doing, no one should consider that he is conferring a great favour upon those less well-endowed than himself and should in no way be condescending to the recipients of his charity. When a man gives alms to others, he should do so in the knowledge that they have a rightful share in his wealth, for this is as God has ordained. He is doing no more than give others their due.
Everyone is required to recognize the rights of others, just as everyone is expected to sympathize with those afflicted by adversity. This feeling should be so well developed that one has no hesitancy about sharing one’s possessions with others, or coming to their assistance, even when it is clear that nothing can be expected in return. Even where there are no ties of friendship, one should wish others well and guard their honour as if it were one’s own. According to a hadith:
Charity (zakat) should be collected from their rich and distributed among their poor. (Sahih al-Bukhari, hadith no. 1395 and Sahih Muslim, hadith no. 19)
One unfortunate aspect of human relationships is that people tend to give to others only when they hope to gain something in return. Money, they feel, should be returned with interest. When such an understanding becomes a factor in our social organization, exploitation becomes rampant; everyone is ready to plunder everyone else. This results in society falling a prey to oppression and disorder.
Society should be so ordered that the ‘haves’ are able to assist the ‘have-nots’. Believers have the assurance of God that if they give to others, whatever they give will be returned to them many times over in the next world; their trust in God’s promise is complete. In a society ordered in this way, feelings of antagonism and indifference are not allowed to develop: people are not bent on exploiting one another. There is never an atmosphere of mutual resentment and dissatisfaction, for everyone lives in peace with his neighbour. Such a society, in short, is a haven of contentment and well-being.
