Omer El-Hamdoon – Taraweeh Reminder #17 – Understanding Zakat

			La Romana Rahim al hamdu Lillah wa Salatu was Salam ala rasulillah who Allah and he also having an
Euler by the respective brothers and sisters salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato. May Allah
Subhana Allah accept from us and from you the good deeds in sha Allah, Allah And may Allah Subhana
Allah allow us and enable us to do more of the good deeds in this blessed month. Today I want to
talk about a very important pillar of Islam which sometimes is misunderstood or confused. And that
is the pillar of
		

			Zakat is a pillar of Islam. We know that from the Koran we know that from the Hadith of the Prophet
salallahu alayhi wasallam It is part of the duty of the Muslim to pay zakat and as a cat is not just
a financial obligation, but it is also importantly it's an A bad it's an evidence you have to have
the right intention you'll be shouldn't be doing it with sincerity to get the reward as occur. So,
rather than your money just coming out or from your pocket or bank account, whatever, it is actually
something you'll be rewarded for insha Allah to Allah now, the cat means linguistically purification
or it means growth, because when you give us a cat, you are purifying yourself, you are purifying
		

			your wealth and you are in Sharla growing as you are doing that, now, essentially the cat is paid in
different categories of wealth, it is paid on the financial money that you own the cash if you like
the the Sterling, the dollar, the gold, the silver, whatever it is it you have to pay on wealth,
your accumulated wealth, this will include savings in your bank account, it will include money in
your pocket, it will include also debts if you have loaned somebody some money and you are
anticipating that this money will come back, this is all this all will pay the cash what does that
mean just to stop on that point, if you have given somebody 1000 pounds as a debt, and you is due to
		

			pay you back say even in five years now that 1000 pounds is yours isn't it is with somebody else at
the moment, but it is still yours. So you still have to pay this account on it. unless that person
is such severe debt crisis that you said it this, there's probably no chance I'm going to get this
money back then you can discard it from this account amount. All this is a cat is also paid on other
things which we will not discuss in detail because I don't think it's applicable. I don't think
there's any farmers amongst you here so paying Zakat on the fruits and the seeds and things like
that that are grown. Or some of you might be herdsmen, with your flock of sheep in your garden or
		

			the camels or or,
		

			or the cows or or the like and again, I was I don't think there's many of you like that. So we will
not discuss that either. There is another form of Zakat which is paid on, on
		

			things that you find any treasures that you find, again, I'm not going to discuss that. So with
regards to money and wealth, and then the other aspect is regards to stocks and shares. So if you
have money in your account,
		

			and that money is like essentially a savings of money, so it's been there for a whole year a whole
lunia and then you have to pay zakat on that which is equivalent to 2.5% of wherever you are and
this will also include
		

			like I said, the debts It will also include money that is essential assets. So it's something that
is there of value, this could be a savings account, it could be a pension account as well it could
be anything either if you have brought
		

			so in terms of finances, that's what it is. Yeah. Now, golden silver question on that especially for
women. Do I have to pay is a cat on my gold and silver that you know my jewelry. Now if you own gold
nuggets or all these gold
		

			bars, now that's obviously not jewelry, you're not going to be wearing a gold bar around your neck.
So that is actually like money. But if you are wearing if you have jewelry, earrings, necklaces, etc
that Maria Mr t amongst you with all this gold around his neck, now if it is something that you are
wearing, so the woman is wearing the jewelry
		

			so it is used.
		

			Then according to the majority of the scholars, you don't pay zakat on that so any jewelry that is
being
		

			used, you don't pay zakat.
		

			If however, there is jewelry, which is not being used, and it is only been war, it's only been
		

			bought for the sake of keeping as a treasure, you know, as almost like a saving. I know some women,
		

			probably not not in the UK, but maybe in the Middle East, and maybe in the south, South Asia etc.
They actually buy, you know, whenever they work, or they have some sort of money savings, they
change that rather than keep that money in the bank they buy as jewelry. So then they say, Well,
this is jewelry, I can wear it, but at the same time is gold, gold keeps its value is not going
away. Now, if you're buying the jewelry for the sake of just keeping it as a treasure, then you're
going to have to pay zakat on that. The other thing is, is that it has the amount of jewelry has to
be reasonable. And it has to be custom according to custom, what is acceptable for a woman in that
		

			society. So we know for example, women in India or Pakistan, they like gold, they wear a lot of
gold, but a woman maybe in the UK might not wear as much gold, you know, I have a couple of earrings
or one or two rings, not a lot of gold. And it's not so as customly what is acceptable. So if it's
customary if you are a like a Mr. or Mrs. T, and you customly wear all these gold chains around your
neck and is worth one. But again, I'll say Mr. T is an exception to the rule he's not you know, you
don't find people
		

			usually going around like that is not a norm. So it's about a custom that's the main thing if it's
not if it's, you know, probably one time you know, a person would think No, no, I'm gonna make sure
all my guys wore all my gold is worn. So I don't pay any as a Catholic any for all your, all your
gold and everything on you to try and avoid paying Zakat on there. So we have to be looking at the
customs in that regard. Another question that is usually raised is regard to, if I'm if I'm buying
and selling, I have stocks, I have shares, maybe I have property, etc. Now, if you have things which
are considered tools of your trade, you're a plumber,
		

			or Carpenter was at some time, sometimes you might have tools which are worth, you know, 5000, maybe
10,000. Well, you might have bought a van which is you need a part of your trade is not your
domestic van. So this, these kinds of tools, even though there might be worth, they're very
expensive. You don't pay zakat on them because they're considered tools of your trade. And in that
regard, as well, if you have bought a house, for the sake of renting the house only renting it, then
you don't pay zakat on that value. But say you bought a house for 200,000 pounds. And your your
purpose of that purchase is just to rent the house out and get that so this becomes like a tool now,
		

			so you don't pay zakat on them.
		

			However, if you buy a house, intending to sell it, meaning renovate it and sell it, now the house
has become like a like an item. It's like a trading item. Therefore, you're going to pay zakat on
that if that obviously if that how stays within your property within your portfolio for more than a
year. And similarly goes with anybody who has any businesses as well, you have to basically assess
how much value of stuff you have after a year, or whatever you assess the value of that you're going
to pay, according to that in Sharla, the amount of Zika.
		

			Now, going back to importance about Zika Zika is an A bad it's something that has rules and
regulations is not something that unfortunately some people have misplaced the whole concept of the
cat. And unfortunately I say this unfortunately but there are lots of LMR today who will also
		

			changed the categorization of the cat and have put a lot of things inside there's a cat category
		

			which again, is very, very
		

			I don't want to use the wrong word. But it's a question mark let's say at least a question mark. So
for example, the cat money cannot be used to build a Masjid it cannot be used to build a school. It
cannot be used to dig a well these kind of things is not where you would give Zakat money is a cat
money has specific categories which are clearly mentioned in the Quran in surah, a Toba and that's
where the
		

			money should be given. I know some people have entered the concept the consequence, the issue of
that hour and the card can be given for helping dour and etc and then they have just
		

			widen the scope very much and so you have to be Be careful what I say is that you know, if somebody
was a cat and they want to pay is a cat Then why don't they just give charity and it's not like it's
a big deal if you can if you got a you know you want to use 1000 pounds you want to give you are
only giving it as as a cat Why don't you just give give us some charity you know, so, either pass or
fail you can give however, you want. Similarly, we have seen organizations use the cat money to
sponsor activities, which again are not as accountable activities and that has to be a very
important aspect of a person takes into consideration when thinking about the whole concept of zeca.
		

			And remember, the cat is a band so it is an intention. So you give
		

			if you give a charity to somebody say you somebody asked you some money, you gave them 100 pounds as
a charity and then after you went home and you said oh actually you know I need to pay my car. I'll
just count that $100 as a car No, doesn't work like that. Because a car is a charity and a bad and a
bad has had the intention accompanying it at the beginning of it or at least close to it. So you
have your intention has to be I'm giving this as a car. The moment that you give that as a car for
that to be a correct. I hope that's been useful. If you have any questions on the car, please do,
send them through inshallah, we hope to ask