Understanding The Essence Of Performing Zakat

By Author: Salvatore Andrea
Total Articles: 6240
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Islamic faith is built of five different pillars and Zakat is one of the most important one of them. All the devoted Muslims pay this duty once an year. If you want to pay this form of duty, you need to have Nisab, or a a minimum amount or property which an individual must have to be eligible to pay Zakat. In one Hijri year, the amount of money suppose to be paid is 2.5 percent of the yearly savings. Thus, a person should have a steady Nisab for the whole of the year. If your annual income falls short of the Nisab, then the person does not require paying the money. There is a certain rule for calculation of the money to be paid based on your assets and property earned from trade.

The amount of zakat to be paid is calculated after the individual has saved enough for his family’s fundamental necessities, fixed cost, duties and unpaid loans. You should never consider this special duty as a form of charity. In the same way it should not be though that all the Muslims out there pay this duty. It is for the rich and affluent who can consider themselves for paying this ...
... duty for their poor fellow Muslims so that they can enjoy some basic necessities of life. It is also believed in Islam that whatever property or wealth you own actually belongs to Allah and you are protecting it from going into wrong hands.

The other name for Zakat is zakah. The Muslims generally choose to pay it in the holiest month of their calendar, the month of Ramzaan. This also helps them to keep in mind that the duty has to be paid which they may otherwise forget in their busy lives. They also feel that paying in this time of the year will help them get more blessing from Allah.