Zakat: The Third Pillar of Islam.
Zakat is one of the pillars of Islam and is an obligatory act upon all qualifying Muslims and is the undertaking of submitting a set percentage of his or her wealth to charity. As the third pillar of Islam, it follows Salat (prayer) in importance and throughout the Quran, Allah repeatedly mentions the two together.
“And establish prayer and give zakat, and whatever good you put forward for yourselves – you will find its reward with Allah.” [Quran 2:110].
It is important to remember Zakat It isn’t an optional act of charity but rather it is a compulsory act that Muslim who own an amount of wealth, known as Nisab, must pay to those who are eligible to receive Zakat.
Nisab is defined as 625g of silver or 87.5g of gold but we have calculator to help you with this.
The eligibility criteria is outlined by Allah in the Quran and there are 8 categories on whom Zakat can be spent. These are:
Zakat reminds us that our wealth is given by Allah, and by spending in the way of Allah, we fulfil the responsibilities of our privilege, and that our excess wealth is redistributed to those who are struggling to survive.
In fact, The Arabic word ‘Zakat’ or ‘Zakah’ literally means ‘to cleanse’ or ‘that which purifies.’ So when you pay Zakat, you are cleansing your wealth. Therefore, the spending of Zakat helps the giver more than the receiver by giving every person the opportunity to cleanse their wealth and maximise its barakah (blessings)
Learn more about Zakat and use our Zakat calculator to work out how much you should pay. Remember you can still pay the Zakat due for previous years if they were missed for any reason.
At ILM, we know the importance of Zakat and take the responsibility of handling your Zakat very seriously, which is why we are very careful about the disbursement of Zakat funds. The Zakat we receive is utilized exclusively on genuine zakat eligible recipients and this is regularly checked by scholars.
Act now and fulfil your Zakat obligations today.
