I went to the masjid a few days before Eid to pay Zakat al-Fitr and the amount on the box said that it was 10 dollars per person. I found that to be too little, and I also found it to be disproportionate to what I make. It didn't make sense to me that a person making minimum wage should be paying the same as a person who makes a good salary or a person who makes a million dollars.
It also didn't make sense to me that we should be calculated the amount based on the cost of one saa` of dried dates, one saa` of barely or grain (a saa` صاع is four double handfuls.) People's needs are different nowadays.
The amount of Zakat al-Fitr was not mentioned in the Quran. In the hadith, the amount seems to be mentioned as a suggestion. I don't think it should be taken literally.
Ibn `Umar reported that the Prophet (PBUH), made Zakat al-Fitr compulsory on every slave, freeman, male, female, young and old among the Muslims; one saa` of dried dates or one saa` of barely. [Sahih Bukhari - Arabic/English, vol. 2, p. 339, no. 579]
Abu Sa'eed al-Khudree said, "On behalf of our young and old, free men and slaves, we used to take out during Allaah's Messenger's (PBUH) lifetime one saa` of grain, cheese or raisins". [Sahih Muslim - English transl. vol. 2, p. 469, no. 2155]
People tend to be afraid to rewrite the rules because they consider religious decrees to be sacred (even if the evidence and/or indications are flexible).
Being aware of this thinking style is necessary if we want to guarantee that religion does not stand in the way of creativity, productivity, aptness and effectiveness.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
You've brought up a great point. I always felt the amount to be small. In fact, in Toronto, Canada the amount was $8 (!). Although, I've compensated in others.
Keep up the great work! I love your blog.
I am confused, I was lead to believe that zakat was a percentage of your yearly income (3%) if I am remembering correctly; which, I may not be.
Post a Comment