Tahir Anwar – The Hanafi Fiqh of Ramadan
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I begin in the name of Allah, most
gracious, most merciful. I bear witness that there's
none worthy of worship except Allah and that
his beloved Nabi and prophet Muhammad
is his last and final messenger.
We begin today by praising Allah
for all of his
blessings upon us, expressing our gratitude to him
and asking Allah
for his blessings upon all of us.
Inshallah,
in the brief time that we have today,
we will be going through the fith of
Zakah.
Contrary
to
many of my previous lectures,
this weekend or during the course of this
week or even last weekend,
this session is more to do with the
fiqh
of fasting,
rather than simply a Ramadan
preparation lecture. So it's gonna be a bit
different in terms of format.
And the reason I say that is that
it's not gonna be a lecture. Rather, it's
going to be a class.
And what I am going to do
in
the brief time that we have
is,
go through some portions
of a Hanafi
fiqh,
text called Marathi yu Sadaat,
which is by Allama Shuram Bolali, rahmatullahi
a'layhi.
I have, an English translation called Ascent Felicity
in front of me,
which has been translated
by our,
own,
sheikh Faraz Khan, and,
I'm going to follow that essentially and hopefully
get through,
the
portion on fasting,
today and then cover some elements of zakah
as well.
The portion on zakah, I'm not going to
cover from the book,
rather cover from my notes, which is sort
of a collection
of what happens to be in the various,
different books.
So with that said, we get started.
Bismillahir
Rahmanir Rahim,
fasting,
Psalm.
By the way,
Marathi al Sadat happens to be a relatively
smaller,
treaties manual,
quite a quite a bit more simple than
some of the other texts.
The text that's taught at Zetuna College, for
example,
to the students there is Nurul Ibar, again,
by the same author, but it's a much
lengthier text.
And then there's other texts, of course, that
are far more lengthier than that.
Because of the nature of the session that
we're having and the time that we have,
I'm I've actually chosen for the,
the smaller and the more simpler,
text, Insha'Allah.
Muneer, if you are if you can hear
me and if you can, just let me
know that the sound is okay and that
I am
actually speaking to everyone and not just just
to myself,
that would be awesome.
Bismillahir Rahman Al Rahim, fasting som. The legal
definition of fasting is to withhold
from eating,
drinking,
and *
during the daylight hours
with an intention of fasting
performed by one capable
and required
to do so. There's a lot that our
author, may Allah have mercy on him, is
mentioning here.
First of all,
what is fasting? The legal definition of fasting
is to refrain from eating, drinking, and *
during the daylight hours.
There's a lot that can be said here,
but, essentially, in a nutshell, that's what we're
doing. We're simply talking about the 5th here.
Right? Yesterday in one of the lectures, I
talked
about refraining from other things as well,
in terms of good you know, acquiring good
habits and,
getting rid of evil habits, but we're simply
gonna focus on the 5th and the text,
today.
So refraining from eating, drinking, and * during
the daylight hours.
The daylight hours,
specifically refer from dawn to sunset.
Contrary to
what many people sometimes mistakenly
tell others
that Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset.
We don't fast from sunrise to sunset, rather
we fast from dawn to sunset.
And dawn happens
a little before sunrise, an hour and a
half before or a little under that,
before
sunrise,
and that's when the fasting actually begins.
I'm gonna come back to this, in a
minute with the intention of fasting.
So an intention
is required.
An intention
is the resolve that an individual
has
to fast.
This intention
can be done at night before you go
to sleep,
that tomorrow is an obligatory day of fasting,
and I will be fasting tomorrow.
This intention
can be made at suhoor, at the time
of suhoor,
when we are having our suhoor.
In fact, many of us wake up for
suhoor
simply because we're going to fast for the
rest of the day.
That in and of itself, that resolve in
and of itself
can be an intention as well
or can actually be the intention can be
made even if we wake up late and
the fasting has already begun.
We'll come to the intentions in a little
while because there are some fasts in which,
the the intention can be made up to
midday
for the fasting,
and then there are some other fasts where
it is required for the intention to happen
before
dawn. The fasting of Ramadan
happens to be in the earlier category
where the intention can be made up until
midday,
but, you know, having a resolve that we're
going to fast. By the way, there is
no specific du'a for the intention of fasting.
There is no specific du'a
for the intention of fasting. While some calendars,
have
this phrase, wabi soomihradin
nawaitu min shahri Ramadan,
that's not found in any of our traditions
anywhere.
That just simply means that I intend
for the fasting of Ramadan tomorrow in Arabic.
And you can say that in any language
or not say it for that matter and
have a firm resolve in your heart that
you're fasting the obligatory fast of Ramadan, and
that would suffice, insha'Allah,
Performed by one capable and required to do
so,
where,
the one who is capable, one who is
healthy,
one who is a resident and is not
traveling,
one who happens to not be pregnant,
one who is
not in the state of menstruation
or postnatal bleeding, hail or nifas.
That's a that's a capable individual,
and, of course, these are the people that
are required
to fast. A child would not be required
to fast. An adult is someone who is
required
to fast.
As far as daylight hours, there's something that
I have been sharing and I will actually
share here as well. There's a hadith of
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam that is grossly
misunderstood
by many of the masses.
The prophet, sallallahu
alaihi wasallam, says, if one of you hears
the call to prayer while his drinking vessel
is in his hand,
let him not place it down until having
fulfilled his need from it. In other words,
if you hear the call to prayer
and your drink of water is in your
hand, the prophet, sallallahu
alaihi, wa sallam, says that finish your need.
Go ahead, and if you desire to drink
water,
go ahead and drink water.
What ends up happening is that many of
us hear the call for prayer
on our computers or on our phones, and
we continue drinking water
while the adhan is happening.
This hadith is grossly misunderstood.
This hadith
what is meant by this hadith or the
call to prayer, as is mentioned in this
book in the footnotes,
is the hadith of Bilal.
K. Listen to this. The hadith of Bilal,
which used to be given well before true
dawn
so as to alert people that dawn was
approaching.
It does not refer to the call of
prayer at dawn, the adhan of Fajr, which
used to be performed by ibn Ummi Maktoum.
I keep that in mind,
that the adhan that the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam referred to was an adhan that
used to happen before
the adhan for the Fajr prayer in order
to inform the people that dawn was approaching
and the time for Fajr was about to
come in. This this hadith, this statement of
the prophet
was referring to that pre dawn adhan
and not the adhan at dawn for salatul
fajr.
There is another narration that reminds us that
the Sahaba, the companions of the prophet Muhammad
used to stop eating before dawn the time
it would take to recite about 50 verses
of the Quran.
Now understand, these are sahaba. They used to
take their time to recite the Quran.
Do your own math. How long would it
take you to recite an average verse of
the Quran
and times that by 50? Right? At the
very, very least,
5 minutes.
So just a reminder to ourself
that
dawn when we say that we are fasting
from dawn to sunset,
we are required
to stop eating a few minutes before dawn
and not carry on all the way until
dawn because this is what the prophet
reminded the Sahaba, and this happened to
be their practice.
Now keep in mind also,
the time some people in some cultures, and
I say this because this is fairly prevalent
in the
culture of the Indian subcontinent,
that people continue eating and drinking all the
way until the adhan is complete.
That is extremely wrong and incorrect
because the fasting begins at dawn. There's that
line that says this is where fasting begins.
In other words, any eating or drinking that
you are going to be doing needs to
be complete until here onwards.
Adhan can only begin from this point onwards.
Once the adhan has begun, you have entered
into the time of fasting. And if you
continue to eat or drink while in the
state of fasting,
then naturally, you have invalidated
your fasting.
Then, also, there's the issue of the,
the calculation
of the time of fajr between 18 degrees
and 15 degrees.
Basically, what that means and I will pull
this up on my phone really quickly.
If most of us have our,
prayer time set up on our phones,
the time that Fajr came in today
or, sorry, that Fajr will come in tomorrow
is at 5:10
AM. This is according to the 15 degree
timetable.
If you were to take the 18 degree
timetable,
Fajr comes in tomorrow
at 4:48.
There's a 20 to 22 minute time difference
in regards to the calculation
of the time of Hajr.
Most of our calendars
in the United States
and most of the calendars that are sent
out by the masjids that many of us
follow are on the 15 degree timetable.
In other words, the 5:10
AM timetable,
keeping in mind that there is a valid
opinion. In fact, in many of the ulama
we find here in the West, they actually,
begin their fast at the 18 degree timetable,
which happens to be at 4:48,
20 minutes before that. While
I I wanna mention this and be very
clear about this, it is perfectly
valid
to use the 5:10
AM timetable, the 15 degree timetable.
It is a valid opinion.
It is one that is, practiced mostly
mostly practiced by all of us here in
the West, and it's perfectly fine. But the
reason I mentioned this is that there is
another opinion of 20 minutes before that. So
if we are going to use the 15
degree timetable and use the later time, then
for the sake of Allah, let us not
continue all the way until 5:10 or push
it to 5:11 or 5:12 as sometimes many
of us do while the adhan is continuing.
Rather,
knowing that there is an opinion around 4:48,
then let's at least, at the very least,
stop at 505
and, go from there onwards. Now I also
want to mention another hadith of the prophet,
sallallahu alaihi, sallam. The prophet reminds us that
delay,
you know, make make suhoor. Do suhoori in
the morning.
There's barakah in it. In another narration, the
prophet says, delay your suhoor. And now sometimes
people think now I've I've had this use,
you know, someone argued with this hadith or
questioned me with this hadith yesterday and said,
but the prophet says, delay your suhoor. Absolutely.
But what is understood by this hadith is
don't have your suhoor at 12 AM or
1 AM or 2 AM. No. Delay it
so you're having it around 4 AM, 4:30
AM
closer
to the time of beginning the fast so
that the energy the the the energy that
we consume,
that we acquire from the food that we
consume can carry on for the rest of
the day, and you will be fasting
that much shorter. So that's the way that
hadith is generally understood.
And then we continue.
Fasting has 7 types. There's 7 types of
fasting,
the obligatory fast, the mandatory fast, the sunnah
fast, the recommended fast, the voluntary fast, the
the
prohibitively
disliked fast, and the mildly,
disliked fast. These are all there's various different
fasts that we do, and I'll I'll give
you a quick example of all of them.
But, specifically,
let's we'll mention and go through the obligatory
fasts.
The obligatory
fasts are the fasts of the month of
Ramadan.
The obligatory
fasts are the makeup of the month of
Ramadan.
In other words, if for a valid reason
you were not able to fast in the
month of Ramadan
and you decided to make up that and,
of course, you are required to make up
that fast later on, Whenever during the course
of the year you are making up that
fast, that is still an obligation, and it's
considered to be an obligatory
fast. Of course, it's it's, you know, it's
delayed. It's for a valid reason.
It's not. It's not done on time, but
it's still considered to be an obligatory fast.
The fasts of expiation,
kafara,
we may get to this, are considered to
be obligatory fasts. Any vowed fasts,
mandur from nidr, that we make
we take a vow. Oh, Allah, if so
and so need of mine is fulfilled, I
will fast 3 fasts. I will fast 1
fast. That fast is also considered to be
an obligatory,
fast. Then you have the mandatory fast, wajib.
This is a voluntary fast that you had
started, but for some reason, you broke the
fast, becomes wajib for you to make up.
The sunnah fasting is considered to be, for
example, the fasting of Ashura in Muharram.
The mandub, the recommended
fasts, which can also fall into the category
of the sunnah fast, are the 3 fasts
of every month and the Mondays Thursdays and
the 6 days of Shawwal.
The voluntary fasts are eddy fasts. Other than
that, the prohibitively
disliked fasts, makrutahareem,
are those fasts that an individual may do
on the days of Eid, Eid al Fitr,
Eid al Abha, and the Ayyan Muktashrif, the
11th,
12th,
and, 13th of Dhul Hijjah, the days following
Eid, the days of Hajj. The mildly
disliked fasts are to single out,
certain days of fasting,
such as a Saturday specifically or a Friday
specifically to continue to fast on those days
and consider it to be
mandating it on yourself
or fasting on a day on which,
happens to be,
a religious day of people of another faith.
And, there could be shuba, there could be
doubt that, you know, you are fasting to
celebrate that specific day and and some other
categories or fasting for your entire laugh life.
Salmuddahr fasting for your entire your the entire
life.
Those would be
mildly disliked.
The fasting, we go back to the first
category. The the fasting of Ramadan
happens to be happens to fall in the
category
of obligatory
fasting. It is a fast that is required
by Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
By not fasting, you are committing a major
sin. By not fasting and not having a
valid excuse, of course, you are committing
an individual is committing a major sin,
and there's an expiation for it as well,
which is why,
while many of us in our communities continue
to do many voluntary fasts and sunnah fasts,
the month the fasting of the month of
Ramadan is taken very, very seriously
for all of us by the father of
Allah.
May Allah,
accept it from all of us.
Intention.
All types of fasts
require an intention. Every fast, be it a
voluntary
fast, a sunnah fast,
an obligatory fast, a wajib fast, all of
these require
an intention.
As far as the intentions,
that
require that are referred to in the books
of fiqh as tabiit,
to make the intention
at night. In other words, to make the
intention
before dawn,
to make the intention
before
5:10
AM. I'm only using 5:10 as an example.
This would, of course, not be the case
every single day. We're using 510 because that's
the time of pleasure today, and we're using
that simply as an example. But making the
intention before 510, making the intention before
dawn,
making the intention at night, there are certain
types of fasts in which that is a
requirement.
Those are the makeup fasting of Ramadan.
In other words,
one fine day,
you wake up at 8 or 9 o'clock,
and you decide that, oh, it's a short
day. I'm home from work. Maghrib is gonna
be at 4:45,
and I have a fast that I need
to make up from Ramadan.
Let me just use this day to make
it up. It would not be valid.
The makeup fasts of Ramadan, tabeed, making intention
before dawn, is a condition. Now this doesn't
mean you have to wake up at dawn
to make the intention. You could have gone
to sleep at night with the intention that
I'm going to fast tomorrow.
Right? So you're going to sleep assuming you're
sleeping at 11 o'clock. When you go to
sleep at 11 o'clock at night, you have
made the intention that you're going to fast.
Fajr came in at 5:10 AM.
Of course, you were not awake at that
time. You woke up at 5:30 to pray
Fajr. It's already past dawn. Right? It's already
past dawn. But since you made the intention
at night that this day, tomorrow,
I'm going to be fasting a makeup of
Ramadan,
then that would be fine.
Any makeup fast for a voluntary
fast that was ruined also requires tawid, intention,
the night before.
The fasts of kafarah,
of expiation,
which, by the way, are an obligatory fast,
require an intention from the night before.
Unspecified
vows. Right? An intention makes
an an individual makes an intention that if
so and so need of mine gets fulfilled,
I will fast one day. You haven't specified
the date. Then in that case,
intention from the night is a requirement.
Intention before dawn
is a requirement. Now on the contrary, and
we'll come to this in a second, but
if an individual made an intention and said
that,
if so and so work of mine gets
done, then I will fast
next Monday. You've already specified the day. Then
in that case, when you wake up on
Monday at 5:30,
for example,
you have already made the intention, and you
don't have to make the intention,
again, because you've already made that intention.
Now there's 3 types of fasts
in which you can make the intention
up until
midday.
Okay? Made the previous night
before Fajr.
Rather, the intention may be made any time
from the previous night until before.
Right?
In other words, midday. Right? All the way
until midday. What's midday? Zawal time,
the time when Zuhr
comes in. There's 3 types of fasts, the
Ramadan the fasting of Ramadan ada'an, the one
that's being done on time. In other words,
if you went to sleep in Ramadan
at night, late o'clock you came home with
a message very late,
you know, 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock, you ended
up going to sleep, and you ended up
missing your sukoor.
And let's just assume even for a moment
that last time you ended up missing your
fajr and you woke up at 7:30, and
you hadn't made the intention.
As far as it's it's in the month
of Ramadan, it's an adapt fast that's being
done on time, then you can make the
intention all the way until midday. You can
as soon as you wake up, make the
intention and say, I I intend to fast
today for, the month of Ramadan.
Specified vows, I mentioned this a few moments
ago. You've made the you've made a vow
to fast on a specific day.
And then, of course, voluntary
fasts, k, any voluntary fasts.
The crescent moon.
Again, this is a very long chapter.
The beginning of the month the beginning of
any
month
in Islam and the end of any month
is done by the sighting of the crescent.
The prophet
very beautifully reminds us, sumo liro'yatihi
waftiro
liro'yatihi.
Fast when you see the moon
and break the fast. Make iftar. In other
words, celebrate Eid, right, your ending fasting.
When you see the crescent. And then the
Nabi
has reminded us
that if you do not see the crescent,
then complete the 30 days of Sharban,
and then begin your Ramadan
the day after.
That's all that needs to be said here.
There's,
there's a lot of other things in terms
of, you know, how many people need to
see the crescent and so on and so
forth, but we're not gonna go
into that. What we basically understand that all
of our books of 5th remind us and
which has been the practice for generations
and still remains the practice
is that to begin the month of Ramadan
when you see the crescent
and end the month of Ramadan,
when you see the crescent.
The only thing I will say here is
that if there are people who follow a
different or another criteria,
then so be it,
because historically,
in Islamic and Muslim lands,
people used to, in different places,
used to, end up beginning Ramadan
on different days. It could have been cloudy
in one area, and it might not have
been cloudy in another area. By the way,
in the chapter of moonsighting, the issue of
it being cloudy, Fa'in
is, is brought up many a times. So
it's very possible
that the people of a certain town,
did not see the crescent, so they completed
the 30 days of Sharban,
And the people of another town saw the
crescent. It was not cloudy there, and they
began the month of Ramadan.
Now,
again,
you know, a lot of times people will
say, well, they did not have the means
of communication
to communicate with each other.
The people of the past,
they were not
as backwards as we think,
they used to be. They had their modes
of communication, and they had the ability
to communicate
through sounds and through light at night and
so on and so forth.
So with that said,
it it has historically,
people have
begun and end Ramadan,
ended Ramadan on varying days,
and that's a practice that will continue.
You know, we we applaud everyone who follows
the sunnah of sighting the moon, and then
we applaud everyone who desire for everyone to
celebrate Ramadan and Eid together.
And, you know, there are other people who
follow other criterias. You know, masjids in our
neighborhoods who follow other criterias.
Inshallah, we find that, you know, Allah will
accept everyone's Ramadan,
and let this issue
not be an issue where we spend a
lot of time and efforts,
talking about varying, you know, differences of opinion
and so on and so forth. Know clearly
that anyone that follows
the, sunnah of sighting the moon is Aqrabb
ila sunnah. Aqrabb ila Nabi
is closest to the sunnah of the prophet,
is closest to the method of the prophet
Muhammad
Just, bear with me.
Okay.
Things that
invalidate the fast. This is a fairly
lengthy chapter.
There are the things that break the fast,
and this is usually a big one for
a lot of people,
usually falls into 4 different categories,
things that break the fast and require a
makeup as well as an expiation,
things that make up, require a makeup without
an expiation,
things that require nothing. In other words, the
fast was broken and nothing is required,
and things that require nothing yet are
considered to be disliked.
As far as the,
expiate well, we'll come to this just really
quickly if you can just bear with me.
Things that require a makeup as well as
an expiation.
If anyone eats or drinks anything,
or even if it happens to be for
medicinal purpose
or has relations
with their spouse,
and all of these things are done on
purpose.
This could be one of 2 ways. Either
this could mean that one just never fasted
and continued eating or drinking
or that someone began to fast,
and while they were fasting,
they purposefully,
right, purposely
with not this is not forgetful. The forgetful
category is coming later.
Purposely
decided to drink,
purposely ate without any valid excuse.
Okay? Now it's very possible
that someone became so thirsty, so so thirsty.
Now being very thirsty is not a reason
to break your fast. Being very hungry is
not a reason, valid reason, to break your
fast, but it can become a valid reason
if someone fears
harm to their health, that if I don't
drink something now, if I don't eat something
now, then, my health is going to become
very, very bad, and it's gonna be very
detrimental to me. Of course, in that case,
if someone eats on purpose or rather than
eating or drinking on purpose, it would it
would be preferred for that individual to break
their fast and immediately eat or drink so
that their health remains, intact. And then, of
course, they would make up the fast later
on if they were able to do so.
But if someone ate or drink ate something,
drank something, had relations with their spouse,
and did it on purpose,
then
that fast requires a makeup. In other words,
whatever number of fasts in which you did
that, an individual does that, it requires a
makeup. It also requires an expiation,
a kafala, a penalty that must be paid.
What is the penalty?
The penalty is that and by the way,
you can't choose which of the 3 penalties
you want to do. Right? In Islamic law,
according to the Hanafi School, you have to
do it in order. The first one if
the first one is not possible, then the
second one. And if the second one is
not possible,
then the third one. The expiation
is to free a slave.
If one is unable to free a slave,
then one is required to fast for 60
consecutive days, 60 consecutive.
This means that if someone made it to
day 58 or day 59,
right, and somehow did not missed a day
of fasting, you would be required to start
all over again.
The only exception
is for women,
who are who would not fast in the
days of their menstruation.
So they would fast for whatever number of
days, and then the days they're menstruating, they
would not fast, and then they would continue
fasting. Days of menstruation, they would not fast,
and then they would continue,
fasting.
So the women who are doing an expiation
through fasting 60 consecutive days will get a
break in between. As far as men, we
are required to do 60 consecutive days. And
if an individual is genuinely
unable to fast for 60 days, then that
individual
must feed 60 poor people,
right, 60 poor people,
or
give a half a saw of wheat or
its equivalent monetary
value to each person.
Okay?
A half a saw of wheat, half a
saw.
A saw was an
an instrument of measure.
It comes to about
2.2
kilograms
or 3 and a half pounds, £3.5.
So if an individual cannot free a slave,
if an individual cannot pass for 60 days
consecutively,
then that individual is required to give
3 and a half pounds of wheat,
wheat atta, wheat flour,
or its equivalent monetary value
to,
60 people,
okay, to 60 people. Either feed 60 people
or give the monetary value to 60 people.
Not very difficult, actually.
The reality is that,
1 pound of wheat
comes to about
50, 55¢,
and you would probably pay be paying under
$2,
for 3 and a half pounds of, wheat
times that by,
60, and that is what needs to be
given. This is the expiation.
Now
I'll just mention this as, you know, an
FYI.
If any of us have in the past
not made our
you know, not fasted
on purpose
or broke our fast on purpose, then we
should, at the very least, make the intention
of making up those fasts
and,
give the make the intention of doing the
kafara.
And if we have if we have been
delaying the kafara
because you just haven't found the time or
the strength or the energy
or the resolve to do, 60 consecutive days
of fasting,
continue to keep that resolve, but in at
the very least, at least give the 3rd
form of kafala.
So in some way, shape, or form, we
have,
paid, the expiation.
Now
if anyone
does any of these above acts
by mistake,
forgetfully as someone in some of us may
do on the 1st or second day,
then there the fast remains intact and nothing
is required of that individual.
Right? In fact, the prophet
reminds us that if you see someone eating
or drinking, then you should remind them that
you are fasting.
But the Nabi alayhis salatu wasalam also mentions
that if you see that that person
is in dire need of drink or food,
then don't remind them. Let them be. Right?
Don't remind them. Let them be. You see
a person who's extremely parched and thirsty
and does not recall and doesn't remember that
they were fasting. It was the 1st day
and got a glass of water and just
started chugging it down. And you realize this
person is in a lot of pain and
a lot of thirst, leave them be. But,
otherwise, if you see someone who's fasting,
remind them that, you are fasting. And if
it was done forgetfully,
then nothing is required of that individual.
Fasts,
those, the things that require
a makeup without
any expiation.
Requires a makeup,
but no kafar.
You with me so far? Requires a makeup,
but no kafar. It's very it's very weird
and difficult speaking to a camera. I'm alone
in a room speaking
into a camera. I don't see people, and
I don't see their expressions. It's actually very,
very difficult.
Using of a suppository,
something someone may eat something that is not
normally eaten,
like dirt.
Just giving an example. In other words, put
something in their mouth that's generally not eaten
and swallows it. Still requires a makeup, but
no kapara, no expiation.
Accidentally swallowing the water while rinsing the mouth.
Brothers and sisters, yes, in Ramadan, if you
are brushing your teeth or you're standing in
your shower and you got your head up
like this and you're gargling, and somehow that
water goes inside your throat and you can
feel it right about here.
That water has gone in. Believe it or
not, you are required to make up that
fast. No kafara,
but definitely the fast needs to be made
up.
Being coerced or forced to break one's fast,
and then there's other categories
we won't need to
go to. But these are generally the things
that will
require
the makeup of the fast. There is a
category here that says
*
due to touching or kissing,
any form of foreplay. And if someone ejaculates,
this is not *, but just *,
then that would require
the makeup of the fast, and there is
no
kapha.
Then you have the 3rd category, which is
that require nothing. In other words, if you
did any of the following actions, you don't
it's there's no,
there's no makeup of the fast required, and
it's not disliked.
It's not disliked.
Cupping, hejama. You know, people who do cupping
and then
letting blood.
So so long as it does not weaken
anyone, it's allowed.
Using the miswak
doesn't break your fast. In fact, using the
miswak at the end of the day, in
other words, closer to the evening hours,
is a sunnah of the Nabi
Some people
are a little confused. You know, there's a
hadith, the prophet reminds us that the the
smell, the odor that comes out of a
fasting
person's mouth is very beloved to Allah
Now that doesn't mean that we walk around
with odor full and smelly breaths.
That's just as an encouragement that if that
is happening to you, Allah is aware that
it's happening to you. And there's a great
reward
for you as a result of your staying
hungry for the sake of Allah
But that does not mean that we walk
around with smelly breaths because we want to
be close to Allah
Rather, we find that it's the sunnah of
the Nabi
to use the siwak, especially at the end
of the fasting day, to keep the mouth
clean.
Rinsing
rinsing the mouth or nose
without any water going through
is allowed, and it's not disliked.
Placing a wet garment
on one's body
on a hot day, for example,
is allowed, and nothing is required.
That which requires nothing. In other words, if
you do the following actions, nothing is required
of you but is considered to be disliked,
something that we should refrain from. If one
tastes
some food or chews on it. Right? If
someone
fears
that,
as a result of my cooking,
you know, there may be
ramifications
from the spouse.
You know, I would say just really quickly
add to that. I would fear for a
law for that spouse who would get angry,
at their spouse
for too much salt or too less salt
or the food being too spicy
as a result of them not being able
to taste it, which is why the have
given permission
that if an individual
fears the wrath of 1 spouse,
that spouse has the permission to taste the
food, but not eat it. They can put
the their finger in the, in the food,
put it on their tongue, taste it, and
see if it tastes okay, and then
spit it out. If you have a young
child and you need to chew a little
bit of food for them so that you
can put it in their mouth, then that
would be allowed, but it would be
disliked.
And then we'll continue.
We don't have a lot of time, and
I've been asked to cover some elements of
zakah as well, so I'm going to continue.
The things the following actions are considered to
be mustahab,
preferred when one is fasting.
To have the suhoor,
even if it's just a sip of water.
K? So in other words, waking up before
5:10. And in our case, if we're doing
going by the recommendation
to wake up at 505
and
having
a sip of water,
to delay the suhoor
until a little before
fajr enters. As I mentioned,
not having your suhoor at 1 or 2
o'clock in the morning. By the way, if
someone had their sukod at 1 or 2
o'clock in the morning and then just straight
up woke up for you know, fajr goes
out, fajr, for example, went out at about
6:25
today, and you woke up at 6:15 to
do your fajr, that doesn't mean that your
fast is invalid. It doesn't mean that your
fast is not accepted. It does not mean
that your fast is ruined. It does not
mean that your fast is not a complete
fast. No. These are just recommendations,
and the prophet
made these recommendations
to make our life easy for us. The
prophet didn't want us to suffer as a
result of fasting. He wanted us to go
through a little bit of Allah wanted us
to go through a little bit of difficulty,
but not suffer. Suffering was not, and that's
why. So if someone did not make their
sukhoor, there's no reason to,
you know, guilt trip,
people in our family,
if they're not able to wake up for
suhoor. Different people have different schedules, and different
people do different things. It's a recommendation. It's
a sunnah of the nabi saaslan. If you
did it, you got rewarded. And if you
didn't do it and you had some valid
reason for not doing it, Allah knows
our, intentions.
To hasten in breaking one's fast. In other
words, as soon as the sun sets and
we're we have made sure that the sun
has set, immediately break your fast. Now this
doesn't mean for example,
Maghrib today, if I may
just bear with me.
Maghrib today was at 7:50
PM.
Sunset was at 7:47,
and most of the calendars probably have a
minute or 2 or even up to 3
added to it. Now so if someone,
you know, at 7:47,
the sunset and, generally, we find that the
recommendation from the ulema is that we delay
it by a minute or 2 just to
make sure that the sun has set,
but do it at that time. Delay means
to delay it by 10 minutes or 15
minutes or 20 minutes, thinking that the longer
that I fast, the more reward there is.
And then there's, you know, other
theologies,
other types of people out there, Muslims,
who say that, you know,
the fasting should continue longer.
So in order to
remind us that that is not correct, the
sun sets. You have the the sun has
set. The night has begun. You,
break your fast.
Exemptions
from fasting. Who is exempt,
from fasting? I'm looking at my phone because
I'm supposed to be receiving,
questions there as well. So, I, ask for
your forgiveness as I
as I go through my okay. Exemptions from
fasting.
An ill person is exempt from fasting,
someone who fears that their condition will worsen.
Many of our parents, for example, as a
result of them having
diabetes or high blood pressure, and they need
to have their medication during the course by
the way, medication breaks your fast. Some people
are under this impression that if you take
a tablet, put it in your mouth, and
use your saliva
to swallow it, it will not break your
fast. No.
Tablets, pills, capsules, whatever, dawaii
will actually break
your fast. So in that case, you're completely
exempt from fasting,
and one should not feel guilty for not
fasting because
that is a mercy that Allah
has given to you. So an ill person
is exempt from fasting. A pregnant or nursing
woman
is,
is exempt from fasting if she fears that
there will be harm to herself
or to her child.
One who is undergoing
severe
thirst from which he fears death.
Right? You know, there's a
a a slave,
may be forced to work in the middle
of the day in the heat with a
120,
125
degrees, as, by the way,
we find in many,
you know, Muslim majority countries,
unfortunately.
In all you know, if a person fears
that, you know what? If I fast and
I'm not able to have water and I'm
forced to be out there underneath the sun
and working, I will faint, I may potentially
die, then in that case, this person would
be exempt from fasting.
Or a traveler, a person who's traveling is
exempt from fasting.
Now there's 2 things here under the travel
that I want to mention.
First of all,
you know, you're you're a traveler in 2
ways. 1, you're a traveler, and you're in
the state of travel. You are actually physically,
formally traveling.
Of course, you are exempt from fasting. Now
in the Hanafi school, you remain a traveler
as long as you have traveled
more than 48 miles
and you're going to be there for 14
days or less. In other words, I may,
for example, decide
that I need to go to
Dallas, and I'm gonna be in Dallas for
2 days, 3 days, 5 days, 7 days,
or whatever it is.
And,
I choose to not fast on the day
that I am traveling to Dallas. That's perfectly
fine. While let's just assume for a moment
I'm gonna be in Dallas for 7 days.
It's more than 48 miles. It's less than
14 days.
If I choose, I can choose to not
fast the 7 days that I'm going to
be there. But the ulema remind us and
recommend us that if you in your place
as you are journeying,
if you're gonna be in one place and
you have the ability to fast, then the
recommendation
is to fast because,
of course, there's lots and lots of barakah
for fasting in Ramadan. Though, if that said,
if someone chooses to not fast, that's perfectly
fine. You know, normally, when I travel in
the month of Ramadan, I I go to
Boston,
once a year,
in the month of Ramadan.
And,
of course, I'm not going this year.
But, you know, I I fast on the
way to Boston. I normally catch a 7
or 8 AM flight out of San Francisco
into Boston. It's a nonstop flight. When I
arrive in Boston,
I'm 3 hours ahead. So when I'm making
Iftar there at 8 o'clock or 7:45,
it's actually
4:45 or 5 o'clock here. So my fast
is actually shorter. But and and then on
the way back, I I choose to fast
on the way back as well. The only
reason I choose to fast on the way
back is because I would much rather fast
in Ramadan. But when I'm making my suhoor
at 4 AM there, it's 1 AM California
time. So when I'm on my way back,
my fast is 3 hours longer. Now I
could choose to not fast. That's perfectly fine.
I like to generally tell a story that
once, I was flying from New Jersey to
Bombay
in Ramadan.
When I boarded the flight at Newark International
Airport, I boarded the flight, made Ithar.
I woke up 2 hours later, made sukhor.
I made Ithar, and then I landed in
Bombay. All of this, Ithar, sukhor, Ithar happened
in a period of about 15 hours. But
dare I fast on the way back? Of
course, I did that fast on the way
back because my fast would have been,
over 24 hours with the time difference and
so on and so forth.
So these are people who are,
exempt from fasting.
If you are,
if you if you have not fasted in
Ramadan,
you cannot simply give a fidya. You are
required to make up that fast. You
fast making up the fast is actually a
requirement.
While the preference is that we make up
the fast before the next Ramadan, it's not
a requirement.
You can it's it's it's it's it's due
upon you to make that up before you
die. Now, naturally, we don't know when we're
gonna die, so the sooner we make it
up, the better it is. Now if someone
chooses
to make up the fast in the shortest
days of the year, in other words, there's
someone, a traveler, a woman who's in the
state of menstruation,
an ill person who has not fasted this
Ramadan, And let's just assume they need to
make up 5 fasts, and they say, you
know what? I'm going to wait until December
when I'm on winter break, and that's when
I'm gonna make up my fast because they're
gonna be the shortest at that time. Perfectly
fine. There's no harm in doing so,
as long and they don't have to made
up be made up consecutively. You can make
up one today, one a few days later,
a few months later, or a few years
later, for that matter, but the sooner we
make it up, the better it is. Now
for an individual who has not fasted,
an individual who has not fasted
and has the ability later on, either
becomes better,
comes home and has the ability to fast,
they are required to make up the fast.
You cannot give aphidya. You cannot give aphidya.
The only people that are allowed to give
aphidya
is, for example, an elderly person
who has not fasted due to an illness,
and they're not gonna be able to ever
have the strength to make that fast up.
Right?
Not never being able able to make up
the fast is what will,
make it valid for them to give a
FIDIA payment. The FIDIA, once again, is the
same as the kafara
amount, a half asar of wheat, 2.2
kilograms,
3 and a half pounds of wheat
for each day, k, for each day. Now
we find varying opinions around this because,
the prophet
also calculated
based on dates and based
on, raisins and based on barley.
The prophet
when he gave counted based on dates or
barley, he dates or raisins, he said one
slot, which would come to £7,
but, I'm not gonna get into the technicality,
of that.
And then lastly,
aartikaf.
The sunnah, there's there's multiple types of aartikaf,
but I only cover one of them. The
sunnah muakaddah
iatikaf
is the is the iatikaf of the month
of Ramadan. Right? Iatikaf of the month of
Ramadan, the last 10 nights of Ramadan,
in the Masjid and in the house of
Allah
Now some of the iatikaf that we see
where people go to the Masjid to spend
the night there and then at at at,
during the daytime, they go to work, that
would be a voluntary iatikaf. That would not
be a sunnah mu'ak. There's great reward for
it, no doubt, but that would not be
that would not fall under the category of
the sunnah muqa the iatikaf
as done by the Nabi sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam. The sunnah muqa the iatikaf of the
prophet
was to enter the masjid
on the evening of 20th Ramadan before 21st
began at sunset
and then remained there until the,
the Hilal, the crescent for,
Eid was sighted.
And then eartikaf
is about khalwa. Eartikaf is about seclusion. Eartikaf
is about being cut off from the matters
of the dunya. Eartikaaf
is about being in conversation with Allah
So for those of us that are going
to be in eartikaaf,
then, we should make minimum use
of,
technology,
phones, text messages, WhatsApp, social media, because all
of that distraction
is considered to be contrary
to the spirit
of iatikaf.
And we make du'a to Allah
this year that while we were hoping and
praying and anticipating
that our masajid would have opened up before
Ramadan, clearly, that's not going to be the
case. We pray to Allah to alleviate us
of the difficulty that we happen to be
in, and Allah allow us to open up
our masajid
for the last last 10 nights of Ramadan.
I'm going to,
stop there on the fasting part.
I have been asked a number of questions,
so I will go through the questions and
answer them, and then I will cover some
portions of zakat as well.
There is a lot of dust in my
room that is only noticeable when the sun
shines.
If I breathe it in, does that break
the fast?
Breathing in dust
will not break your fast. It's probably not
good for your health. You may want to
clean up that dust.
Also, does breathing steam break my fast? Breathing
steam will not break your fast.
Will fast be broken by using a Vicks
inhaler?
There's differences of opinion around this,
but the preferred opinion is that one not
use,
an inhaler while they're fasting,
especially that of Vicks,
unless you're just really, really sick. And if
you happen to be really, really sick, then
you don't fast on that day.
Please confirm we can brush our teeth with
a brush and toothpaste.
Yes. While it is considered to be disliked
and,
it is allowed.
And especially
for those of us that are gonna be
out in the workplace and fear
the odor coming out of our mouth, if
we were gonna use it, yes, we can
do so. But we have to be careful
so that the taste
the taste doesn't go down our throat. So
use a little less toothpaste,
be a little less aggressive,
and use it before suhul, you know, before
dawn.
Please confirm
please also confirm our fast is good if
we accidentally
drink
water.
Yes, I can confirm that if you accidentally
drink water,
your fast is still valid.
Will a pack smear break a woman's
fast? Also,
will checkups at the gynecologist
when a woman is pregnant affect the fast?
As far as a checkup
at the doctor's
office,
will not break the fast,
and I don't think that a Pap smear
should break the fast either, but I would
need to confirm. I don't see any reason
for the Pap smear to break,
one's fast because there's nothing,
going up
the passage
into the stomach,
and so a Pap smear should not break
the fast.
Does the PHYDIA or expiation
penalty
apply
apply if you skipped a fast for a
reason, such as an exam for school,
business travel, etcetera,
but not a situation when one starts a
fast and breaks it intentionally?
An exam at school
is not a valid reason to not fast.
Now, by the way, either breaking,
breaking a fast after you have started it
or not fasting will both fall in the
same category.
As far as,
skipping a fast
for an exam at school
is not a valid
reason to break a fast or to a
valid reason to not fast. And I know
in fact, it
this this is one of those,
light bulb moments that have happened for me
in my life. I didn't realize that it
was such a big deal, but it's happened
so happens that there are some cultures out
there,
ethnic cultures,
that had convinced their children
that,
on a day in which you're fasting or
you have PE or certain things, you're not
required to fast.
Actually,
sorry to say, but you are required to
fast, and none of those are valid reasons,
which means that you have to make up
the fast and pay an expiation.
K? You're required to make up the fast.
If you didn't fast as a result of
business travel, then you're required simply to make
up the fast
nor a phidya
nor an expiation. You have to make up
the fast. Now let's assume that you did
not make up the fast and you became
so old
that you can't fast anymore, let alone make
up fast, you can't even do the fast
of Ramadan on time,
then you would be allowed to give a
fidya. But up until you have the strength
and the ability to make up any missed
fasts,
you cannot give a fidya. The reason I
say this is because sometimes people are under
the impression that, oh, I happened to be
pregnant,
of Ramadan in 2015, for example. I missed
30 fasts. I'm just gonna give a fidya
for 30 fasts. Nope.
You have to make up 30 fasts.
You are required to make up 30 fasts.
Whether it happens a year from now, 2
years from the pregnancy, 10 years from the
pregnancy, 20 years from the pregnancy, 30 years
from the pregnancy, you're still required to make
up the fast. Afidya would not be valid.
The only time phyphidia would be valid is
if you,
after the pregnancy, you didn't fast and you,
did not have the physical ability to fast
forever and ever and ever. Now
it being hard, assuming let's just assume for
a moment a woman,
had 3 pregnancies
and ended up missing 3 Ramadans as a
result of the pregnancy. So she has to
make up 90 days, and she finds it
difficult
to make up 90 days and decides to
give aphidya. That's not gonna be allowed. You
have to make up 90 days.
K? That's the majority opinion. Now
the only way
aphidya would be valid is if this woman
hit the age of 80, for example, or
whatever, an elderly age and became ill and
is not able to fast anymore.
Then in that case, she can give a
fidya, but otherwise, she needs to make them
up. You know, I a few years ago,
I came across an individual who had missed,
who had chose you know, there was a
point in their life where they did not
fast for many, many years.
And later on, Allah guided them, inspired them
to fast. And they had I can't remember
how many, but maybe 10, 15
years of fasting that they needed to make
up. And so, you know, the number was
a large number. It was in the few
100.
And I still remember this person called and
asked and said, you know, do I need
to make up the fast? And I responded,
of course, you need to make up the
fast. Of course, it was very difficult. I
said, you know what? Why Why don't you
just begin by fasting one day a week?
Let now let's just assume if I and
my I could I could stand corrected, but
I recall maybe, you know, 20 years of
fasting, so 600 fasts needed to be made
up. I said, why don't you start with
1 fast a week? That's 50 fasts a
year.
Right? You'll be done in 12 years.
Your age is 45 or 50 now. By
the time you're 60, 62, or whatever it
is, you'll be done. You slowly. Right? One
step at a time. Now, subhanAllah, Allah
inspired this individual to begin the fasting, and
one fast turned into 2 days a week
and then 3 days a week and so
on and so forth. I still actually remember
this individual calling me one day, and I
took the call and said, of all the
fasts I needed to make up, today happens
to be the last one that I'm making
up. And after this, I'm completely done. Now
this individual still needed to give a kafarra,
an expiation.
You don't have to give one expiation for
every broken or missed fast if you did
it,
if it fell into the category
of those fasts. Now because this person had
voluntarily,
purposefully
chosen to not fast, they had to give
an expiation.
They just needed to give one expiation.
Right? For all the 600
fasts that they missed,
they needed to make up 600 fasts and
give 1 kafar. Now
let's just assume that this person made up
the 600 fasts,
did the kafar,
right, the penalty.
And after the penalty,
one day, once again, they purposefully
decided to not fast or break their fast.
Then in that case, they not only have
to make up that fast, but do another
penalty
all over again. Right? Do another penalty
all over again.
Does spraying perfume or cologne
break your fast? No. It does not break
your fast.
If a young person has a chronic heart
condition requiring that person to be on medication
long term, what is the ruling for that
person? That person doesn't fast.
Right? That person, if they if if they
cannot this is for any human being, be
it young or old. If they happen to
have a chronic
medical condition
through which they are unable to fast, then
they will not fast,
that during if they fasted during the day,
there would be,
negative effects and harmful effects on them that
they needed to they need to have medication.
Now there's many people with chronic ill conditions
who continue to fast, but I'm not saying
you should.
But if your chronic condition does not allow
for you to fast, then you will not
fast. You won't have to make up those
fasts by making them up. You will have
to make up for those fasts,
by giving a for every day that you
miss, Simply giving a fidya for every day
that you miss. But, of course, child the
person said child.
And if this happens to be the child
of anyone that's listening, may Allah make it
easy
for the family and the child and give
them shefa and give them a long, healthy,
and blessed
life filled with ease and well-being.
But they're not required to fast until the
age of puberty anyways. So if that happens
to be a 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
10, 11, 12 year old child, they're not
required to fast, so you're fine. It's only
from the age of puberty will they be,
required
to fast.
If a woman,
starts her cycle,
does she need to finish her fast for
that day, or does she or can she
break her fast? Nope. She can break her
fast. In other words, the the preferred opinion
the rule I mentioned is that she should
continue fasting
for the rest of the day and emulate
and imitate those who are fasting. But if
she chooses and says, you know what? Oh,
I'm good. Let me go and have lunch
with my friends, or let me eat something
or drink, perfectly fine. No harm at all.
You don't have to remain hungry. You can
break the fast and eat.
Can you
break the fast as soon as you hear
the Maghrib Azaan, or do you have to
wait until the Maghrib Azaan is over? No.
You can break the fast as soon as
the Maghrib Azan happens. You know, as it
is,
the adhan that you and I hear is
on a device, on an electronic.
The sunnah
is to respond to the words of the
adhan when the adhan is being called. So
when the
says you say silently,
you say
and so on and so forth. Right? But
the adhan that you and I hear is
on an electronic
device. So that first of all, that doesn't
require a response to begin with. It's imitating
the adhan, but it's not an actual adhan.
And for us, it serves as a reminder
that sunset has happened. So, no, you do
not have to wait for the adhan to
be over.
In fact, you know, I have seen, people
that as soon as the adhan begins, they
will immediately
recite the dua of the adhan
and, put a date in their mouth and
have their sip of water or ruhi avza
or whatever it is that you have to,
the,
to break the fast.
Does your fast become invalid if you have
asthma and take a ventilation
inhaler?
There is a difference of opinion
around this,
on this issue. Some rule a month consider
for the fast to be broken and others
consider the fast
to remain intact and valid. If you want
to read more about it, if you simply
just Google,
inhaler asthma
fasting,
and,
along with it in the search bar, add
seekers guidance.
Seekers guidance has,
Fatwa and an article on this online that
you can read.
And then, you know, whatever position you find
most comfortable for you,
you,
you should follow that opinion and whatever is
easy for you.
SubhanAllah,
we're already
8 minutes over technically.
The questions are still coming in,
and I have not even started the chapter,
on,
zakah.
What I will do
Honestly, I don't even know.
Muneer, can you,
text me
and let me know what I should do?
Because I'm just I'm kind of torn.
Because,
you know, I need at least
45 minutes to even get through some of
the most basic
elements of Zakat, let alone,
cover. Please go on to Zakat. You are
fine. Okay. Thank you. So I'm gonna safely
assume there's no other fasting questions, so we
will continue with,
zakat.
Zakat literally means tahara or purity.
It also means increase.
Subhanallah. You know, when we give our zakah,
Allah
purifies
our wealth,
and then Allah
increases,
our wealth as well.
Zakah is obligatory
on an individual who fulfills 5 conditions.
You have to be a Muslim. You have
to be free free. A slave is not
required to give zakah. You have to be
mature,
in other words, past the age of puberty.
You have to be sane, and you have
to be above the nisaab
for a year.
You have to be above the nisaab
for a year. What is nisaab?
The Nabi, sallallahu
alayhi wasalam,
defined for us a threshold,
a threshold.
He based it on 2 currencies,
gold and silver.
Right?
He
based it on 2 currencies, gold and silver.
This doesn't mean that you have to have
gold equivalent to that or silver equivalent to
that. It simply means that these are two
methods
through which you,
you know, reach or or define the threshold.
And as long as you've been above the
threshold for 1 year, you are required
to give zakah. Right? Simply. If we may
in our American context, we may say, you
know, we have this thing called the poverty
line here in the United States,
that if you are above whether you are
above the poverty line or below the poverty
line. If you're below the poverty line, there
are certain,
you know, benefits that you receive. And if
you're above the poverty line so it call
it the poverty line, call it the threshold,
but the Arabic terminology for it is nisav.
The nabis and and by the way, like
I said, you don't have to have gold
equivalent to that or silver equivalent to that.
It it this is simply a number that
you get, and it's all of your zakatibol
assets.
If they are above that amount, you are
considered to be a sahibun nisaab, an owner
of nisaab, and you are required
to give,
zakah. The Nabi salallahu alayhi wasalam
reminds us,
the nisab according to gold is 87
grams. K? Eighty 7 grams.
Eighty 7 grams of gold yesterday
was equivalent to $4,736.
In other words,
if your cash,
savings,
stocks,
401ks,
jewelry,
these are all zakatibil assets.
There's many more, but I'm just gonna use
these. If all of those collectively
reach
$4,736
and you've been above that amount for the
course of 1 year, you are required to
pay zakat.
The nisaab, according to silver, the Nabi
says, is 24 ounces of silver.
Okay? The nisaab according to silver yesterday was
$300.
In other words, the Nabi
says
that for an individual to decide
whether they give zakat or receive zakat,
there is a nisaab
that has been,
mandated for us.
If you calculate the nisaab according to gold,
this is the nisaab. And if you if
you calculate
simply the nisaab okay. Don't get confused. Simply
the nisaab according to silver,
this happens to be the amount. So then
the question is now the vast majority of
us and the vast majority of people that
are seeing this livestream are probably above the
nissab of gold anyways, so we're good to
go.
But what happens for an individual
who has wealth between
$304,736? Are they above the nissol, or are
they below the nissol?
Now that person needs to cite for themself.
Right? That you know what? The ulema remind
us that for an individual who
who is one to give zakah, they should
use the lower threshold and say, you know
what? I am above the threshold of silver.
My assets that I have are equivalent to
more than $300.
Hence, I'm going to give zakat this year.
And for an individual who would receive zakat
should use the higher threshold
and say that I,
have,
$4,736,
so I'm not going to take zakah. But
if you have anything,
below that, you can,
receive,
zakah.
So keep in mind that by the way,
again, I wanna clarify.
This doesn't mean that you have $47100
worth of gold or $300 worth of silver.
It just simply means that your assets are
equivalent to that amount. K, your assets. These
are 2 thresholds that the Nabi
has defined for us. Now
to to be above this another thing that's
grossly
misunderstood
is the concept of having the money for
a year. In our tradition,
we are reminded
to have to be above the nisaab
for a year. Now a lot of people
end up giving their zakah in Ramadan.
While that is perfectly fine, the reality is,
that a purse a a person who's truly
following the nisaab
and the mandated zakah
should have been giving their zakah
from the time
they went above the nisaab whenever that was
in their life.
Maybe at the age of, you know, at
the age of puberty, your parents had already
set aside money for you, or you were
given some gold or some money by family
and friends, and you were already above the
nissab. And so and the day you hit
puberty happens to be in the month of
Rabi'ul Awwal, for example.
You are now obligated to pay zakat.
1 year from that point onwards,
is what we're using as an example. 1
year from
you get there and say,
how much money do I have? Have I
been above the nisab for the course of
the year? Am I above the nisab now?
And I give my zakah. And then come
the next year, you do the same thing.
The next year, you do the same thing.
The only way your date of giving zakah
changes
is if at the in the course of
the year, you fell below the nisav. You
fell below either $4,736
or you fell below $300.
That's up to you. You can choose either
of the 2 nissabs. You fell below that
amount.
Right? You fell below the nissab, halas. Now
whenever you go back above the nisaab,
from that date onwards, 1 year from there
is when you give your zakah, when you
give your zakah from that one day,
from that day onwards.
So truly now, of course, many of us
give our zakah in the month of Ramadan,
and I'm hoping for any days or months
that we missed in between in which we
decided to change our nisab to Ramadan or
time of calculation to Ramadan. We we made
up for the months that we missed in
between and our,
have given our nissabah for that many number
of months. But, otherwise,
Ramadan and zakah are not two things that
are connected. Absolutely
not.
Zakah is connected from the day you went
above your nizal.
Now another thing, this grossly misunderstood by a
lot of people,
is the concept of having the money for
a year. Islam,
our shari'a says no. It's not about having
the money for a year. It's about being
above the nisab for a year. So let's
just use Ramadan as an example. Let's just
say that on 15th Ramadan,
you calculate your assets and your assets come
to, say, $10,000.
Okay? Are you above the Islam? Yes. Are
you required to pay zakah? No.
Assuming that you have just acquired that $10,000
on that day.
1 year from there,
okay, on 15th Ramadan,
Now you look at your assets.
Are my assets above the nissab? Are they
above the nissab of silver, or are they
above the nissab of gold? Yes. Absolutely.
Have I been above the nissab for the
course of the last year?
Right? We had Ramadan,
Shawwal, Farad, Khidjam, Haram, Safar, Rabir, Labir, Labir,
Labir, Labir, Labir, Labir, Labir, Labir, Labir, Labir,
Labir, Labir, Labir, Labir, Labir, Labir, Labir, Labir,
Labir,
It'll be a Jumad athani,
and then whatever the months after that. I'm
completely drawing a blank. Rajab Sharban and then
Ramadan.
Have I been above the nisab for the
course of the year?
Yes. I have. Then I am required to
pay zakah.
What am I required to pay zakah on?
I am required to pay zakah on all
the money,
all the assets that I have until
now.
Even
if I acquired
a large asset a few days ago or
a few weeks ago or a few months
ago.
We do not pay zakah based on when
we receive money. Rather, we simply pay zakah
based on being above the nissab
for 1 year.
I hope that makes sense.
You had 10,000 on 15th Ramadan.
Come next Ramadan and, by the way, we
don't pay zakah on income. We pay zakah
on savings. So you could be a multimillionaire,
and all you save by the end of
the year is $15,000.
You're only required to pay Zakahon 15,000.
Okay? Now I'm not when I say save,
I mean either it's savings,
cash,
401 k, IRA,
ESPPs that are vested,
you know,
children's college accounts, all of that is your
asset. Anything that you can liquidate
and you can grab is an asset.
Okay? Even 401ks. I'm not gonna go into
the technicality of a 401 ks, but even
401ks, that which you I'm of the opinion
that your zakao on 401ks should be paid
on the entire amount. But there's another opinion
that says that,
minus any penalties and taxes, anything that you
can liquidate, you pay zakah on it.
Okay?
So come come remember, we're talking about 15th
Ramadan, $10,000.
Come next year, 15th Ramadan,
you now have a $100,000
in all of your
in all of your assets.
Of that 100,000,
you you got 50,000
a month ago.
1 month ago. In the month of on
that 15th night of Sharba, and you woke
up, made the Hajjood, lots and lots of
duas.
And then all of a sudden, you know,
one of your stocks or cryptos, whatever whatever
you had, just,
You acquired $50,000
on the 15th Sharba. 1 month later, you're
calculating your zakat.
Do you calculate zakat on that 50,000 or
not?
Yes. You do. Yes. You do.
Whatever you have above the nissab
is what you give zakah on. In other
words, if you have a 100,000 in your
account
while 50,000 was acquired 1 month ago, you
still need to pay zakah on it, on
all of your savings.
And you pay zakah on everything every year.
Just because you paid zakah on something last
year, say that I don't have to pay
zakah on it anymore, is wrong. You pay
zakah on all of your assets every single
year.
Now let me expound on this just a
little bit.
The fact that, you know, someone would say,
well, I haven't had it for a year.
That concept
is wrong to begin with.
Whoever said that you have to have the
money for a year?
You have to be Sharia has always said
you have to be above the nisaab for
a year. The fact that you misunderstood it
is what's wrong. Now also keep in mind,
if you're gonna go by that analogy,
that I need to pay I'm going to
pay zakah after I've had this money for
a year,
then you need to calculate zakah
every time you make any money,
any money.
Now what's to say what's to say that
I'm not gonna pay I'm not gonna calculate
Iseka on my salary because I get it
every 2 weeks, and every 2 weeks I
only get $10,000, and that's a small amount?
That's you're saying it's a small amount. That
could be a lifetime savings for 90 people
on the face of this earth.
Right? So there's complete and utter confusion if
you go by that. And if that happens
to be the case, then every time you
make money 1 year from there onwards, you
would have to calculate on that specific money
how much you have and how much you
don't have. In other words, you'd probably be
calculating and giving zakah every week or 2
weeks.
Do you get what I'm trying to say?
Who gets to decide which money is more
and which money is less?
Who gets to decide that?
Utter confusion. That's why Sharia has made it
very, very simple.
As long as you've been above the nisab,
as long as you've been above the threshold,
whatever amount you have, you give zakah on
it. And that's by the way,
the the more you give,
we have to have this yaqeen and conviction
with Allah
If we want to protect our assets,
if we want our assets to grow,
if we want barakah in our assets,
give and give more and give as much
as you can. By the way, zakah needs
to be calculated. You can't
randomly write a check and say, this is
my zakah, and I'm done for the year.
It must be calculated.
Right? And you give your zakah. The more
you give,
the more Allah will protect your wealth, the
more your wealth will grow. That's the conviction
in yakin we have to have with Allah
Many a times, people do not have the
liquid assets to give zakah. They don't have
the liquid assets. Then you write it down
and say, you know what? My zakah that
I need to give is $25,000.
You don't have 25,000.
So over the course of the next few
months, give your zakah.
Fulfill that obligation with
Allah You will see barakah in your life
and in the life of your children as
a result of, at the very least, fulfilling
that obligatory charity.
And the moment we start playing games with
Allah
and looking for loopholes,
then know that Allah will give loopholes in
our lives to us as well when he
treats us.
Right? Keep that in mind.
The other thing that you want to keep
in mind is that you can pay zakah
in advance as well. You can give zakah
as long as you make the intention.
Right? If, let's just say, for example, you
some people calculate in Muharram, the beginning of
the lunar year, because, you know, it's easy
for them to remember.
Let's just say Muharram is a little while
away from now. Right? We have,
Ramadan,
Shawwal,
Gurpada,
Gurpaja, 4 months.
And you give in Ramadan
a
$1,000, $1,000, but you intend zakat.
By the time the first of Muharram came,
you have given
$10,000 in zakah.
And on the first of Muharram, you calculate,
and you have to give 15,000 in zakah.
Well, you've already given 10, so you deduct
that, and all you have to give is
$5,000.
But
I say intention
because you can't go back, okay, backwards and
say, you know what? That and now all
of a sudden, you say, oh my god.
$15,000 in zakat. You know, the more zakat
you have to give, the better a sign
it is. You do realize that. Right? If
you have to give a a lot of
zakat, you should be very grateful. That means
you have a lot of money.
And even if after having that, you don't
think you have a lot of money, then
there's something wrong with the way you think
and something wrong with your lifestyle. But with
that said,
going back to,
let's just say you have to give $15,000,
and now you're like, oh my god. Well,
have I Imam Tahir said that, you know,
I can give my zakat in advance, and
you start thinking, did I give money to
anyone during oh, you know what? In Ramadan,
I gave $500 for a a Muslim cause.
I'm gonna count that towards my zakat. Nope.
Doesn't work.
That $500
that you gave, when you gave it, did
you intend zakat or not? If you intended
zakat at the time,
it's valid.
But if you didn't intend zakat,
then that is not valid. You cannot count
that towards,
your zakat. So that's the concept of how
of being above the nissab. So anything that
you have above the nissab,
you give,
your zakat on.
Zakat must be intended.
Zakat must be given.
Zakat I'm sorry. Zakat must be intended, and
zakat can be,
given
in advance.
And then I explain the concept of being
above the year.
You know, sometimes people will say, well, I
have a large amount of money in IRA
or 401 k, and I don't have the
liquid assets. I'll I'll just mention this again.
Write it down then, that this year, my
zakat is this much,
and consider that to be a debt
just as we have other loans and debts,
that which we continue to pay. That is
a debt that we owe to Allah
and that you would fulfill that debt slowly
but surely every month. So you know what?
$2,000,
$2,000, $2,000, $2,000, or whatever whatever you're comfortable
with and and fulfill that debt. And if
you are in a place and position
where you have a lot of hard assets
that are not cannot be liquidated,
then in that case,
frozen assets that cannot immediately be liquidated,
then be in the position of starting to
pay your zakah in advance
so that by the time you calculate your
zakah, you have already given a portion of
your,
zakah. There's something that was coming to my
mind, and, now I'm forgetting. So if I
remember it, I will, mention it.
Okay.
How much is zakah? 2a half percent.
Who do you give zakah to? Islam
mentions a whole category of individuals.
Essentially,
a zakah is primarily given to someone who
is a faqir, someone who is below the
nissam.
When you do give your zakah, you need
to make sure
that the person is below the nissab.
If that means you need to ask them
or you need to inquire from others if
they are below the nissab,
then that is your responsibility
to do so. But when giving zakat, if
you already know an individual is below the
nissab and you give zakat to them,
they don't need to be told that it
is zakat. You can give it to them
simply as a gift. You can give it
if you already know they're below the nissam
that they are zakah eligible,
you can give it to them as,
a gift.
Also,
as far as where to give zakah and
whom to give zakah to, The preference in
the Hanafi school is to give zakah in
your locality,
in your neighborhood. Now many of us,
come from lands where there happen to be
many needs, and many of us come from
lands in which we still have relatives and
many of them may be poor.
So, there's no hard and set rule around
this.
I would urge you to give,
here locally as well, and I would urge
you to give,
back home as well. Though some of the
ulama mentioned that if we have relatives
who happen to be needy,
then they are they are a preference. We
should give to our needy relatives first no
matter where they are and where they live.
Now sometimes when we give to relatives, 2
things happen. You know, we're giving them money
year after year after year, and the shaitan
starts talking to us and telling us, oh
my god. Look at these people. They've become
so lazy, and, you know, they're, they're living
off of my money. Don't think like that.
Maybe you are being provided your risk as
a result of someone
close by you in your family
that you are looking after. So continue to
feed them. Continue whatever. What they do is
with a lot now, of course, if they
are using your money incorrectly
and throwing fancy and lavish weddings as a
result of the money that you give to
them or, you know, things like that, of
course, then you would have to think twice.
But, otherwise, if you have relatives who happen
to be needy, they have your local community
has your first half. Your relatives have your
first half. And even in terms of relatives,
we cannot give zakah to our usul and
furor. We cannot give zakah to our parents.
We cannot give zakah to our grandparents.
Looking after them is a requirement for us.
And I will add a very quick note
on that that if you are looking after
your parents, that's an honor that Allah has
bestowed you with. If you are the if
you are the sibling that's looking after your
parents and the rest of the siblings are
not looking after them and sometimes you feel
burdened that why does the burden always fall
on me, don't think like that. Turn that
thinking around and say, you know what? Alhamdulillah,
Allah has given me that honor that Allah
has chose of all my siblings, Allah has
chosen me. But on the contrary, if you
happen to be a child who does not
take the responsibility
of looking after the parents and you're passing
it on to one your other siblings and
you're not doing your part, then know and
understand
that Allah has taken that honor away from
you, and you better change your,
behavior. So we cannot give zakah to our
parents and grandparents. We cannot give zakah to
our children either. Okay? No matter what their
age may be, we cannot give zakah to
our children because we are required,
to,
look after them. I will also mention a
quick note there that if we happen to
be in a position where we are looking
after elderly family members,
know that we're not doing them a favor.
Allah is putting their risk into our salaries.
Okay? Allah is putting their risk into our
salaries. Our children that we're looking after, Allah
is putting their risk into our salaries. The
moment that elderly parent goes away from your
home to another sibling's home, the moment that
elderly parent passes away, the moment our children
move out from our homes, guess what? That
risk their risk that Allah was giving to
us, that will no longer come to us.
Their risk was gonna go to them. In
other words, you may think that I'm getting
old and I lost my job and so
on and so forth. Uh-uh.
Nope. Your child went away. They took their
risk with them. So that supplement that you
were getting in your paycheck, you're no longer
getting it. That's the way we see it.
So we cannot give zakah to our osule
and forur, but sideways. Can you give zakah
to your brothers and sisters? Absolutely. In fact,
if you have needy brothers and sisters, you
should look after them first.
Okay? We're also reminded by the Qur'anic injunction
that we should not harm people that we're
giving zakat to. Harm them. How do you
harm someone?
By looking down on them, by by scolding
them, by making them feel unworthy,
by making them, you know, feel that I'm
your provider and so on. If you happen
to be doing that, then it's best you
stop giving your zakat to them because not
only are not only are you not getting
a reward, you're actually being sinned for that
behavior, and we should be very conscious of
that. But we can give to our brothers
and sisters. We can give to our uncles
and aunts. We can give to our nephews
and nieces. And many a times, we can
give it to them, you know, under the
guise
of, here's the annual fees for your children's
school, right, as long as they're zakat eligible,
and they don't have to be told that
it is zakah.
There's a whole category of individuals who receive
zakah. I'm not gonna in the interest of
time, I'm not going to go through the
entire,
category, but I will mention a few things.
In in the Hanafi school, the you know,
we are required to give zakah to the
poor. It's money from the rich to the
poor.
So,
the Hanafi position
is that zakah money cannot be used for
institutions.
Right? So, for example, at our Masjid at
the MCC,
all the zakah money that anything that you
earmark as zakah
goes to the poor and needy. That is
not used for masjid expenses. That's a very
honorable masjid, by the way. Okay? Zakah cannot
be used to for masjid expenses. That needs
to come from our voluntary charity. So I
would urge all of you this Ramadan that
when MCC puts out a request and says
that we want a $1,000 or $1500
from every family, please do your part for
that which the institution is doing for us
and providing for us. MCC did not ask
me to make this announcement.
But Zakah, for example, at the MCC
is 100% given to the poor. So we
should look for institutions
that distribute a 100%
of what
we give to them to the poor. I
have a very difficult time,
in giving zakah to institutions.
Now does that mean I won't give to
those institutions? I absolutely will. But I may
not even consider that amount that I give
to them as zakah or as just to
be on the safe side, I deduct,
just to be on the safe side, 25%
of the amount of money that I give
to them and don't consider that to be
towards my zakah because I know that they
use a decent amount of money for overhead.
So but that's your own personal position
whether you want to give to such institutions
and how comfortable you are considering your entire
amount to be zakat or not. Personally, I,
am am not very comfortable,
with it. I I am a firm believer
that a 100% of my zakan goes from
the rich
to,
the poor, and institutions
cannot use that money to,
use for their operations. And the reason I
say this is because in the United States,
we have a new nonprofit popping up every
single day, and everyone
claims that they're zakah eligible. That money is
going to a very important nonprofit,
a very needy and a very worthy nonprofit.
Don't get me wrong. Very worthy nonprofit. We
wouldn't be where we are without some of
those nonprofits. But
can zakat be given to them? I follow
the opinion of the ulama
that money goes from the rich to the
poor and institutions cannot be given,
zakah. You
are you have every right to follow a
different opinion and go by that opinion, but
I just want to share that generally zakah
is understood as from the rich to the
poor and the entire category
of You know, they say that this is
in the way of Allah
That historically,
for 100 and 100 of years
in Islamic
law, has been considered to be for warriors.
For warriors,
in the path of Allah
not for,
you know, worthy works. And the reality is
that if you are going to give your
zakat to a worthy nonprofit, I would tell
you to give from your voluntary money, but
if you are gonna give your zakat, then
it behooves you to check their,
annual reports
and ask
how much of the money is being used
for overhead.
Right? There's people that are running these nonprofits
and paying themselves very decent salaries. Even, by
the way, even nonprofits that collect money for
the poor and needy. Right? They they have
massive stalls
at conventions,
the back page of a magazine. This is
all money that they're using to advertise. I
have I have an entire opinion on whether
nonprofits that are collecting money to distribute to
the poor should have the need to ray
to to advertise. You don't need to advertise.
Who told you to collect the money to
begin with? It is a whole different concept.
And, you know, in the end and but
I'll just share with you right now, I
delivered an entire session on zakat yesterday, which
you can find on the SBIA
Facebook page in which I discuss some of
these things,
in great, detail.
So, generally,
a person who is given zakat is a,
someone who happens to be below the nisaab.
It is the giver's responsibility
to find out whether they are below the
nisaab. And when that individual
is given the money, they don't need to
be told that it is,
the. Now if you if you know of
individuals
who are in extreme debt, for example, you
should help them pay off their debt and
so on and so forth.
Any loans that you have, and it's very
technical, any loans that you have can be
deducted from zakat. But, generally, the ulama are
of the opinion that any long term loan
that you have on which you're simply making
minimum monthly payments and you continue to have
savings despite that, then you do not deduct
that loan from,
your assets. For example, a home mortgage.
Right? Many people in America do not are
not in the business of paying off their
mortgages. Right? They simply make the minimum monthly
payments every month so that we can remain
a slave to the banking system and the
IRS,
for years on end.
This is despite having other money. Okay? This
is despite having other money. We won't use
that money to get out of debt no
ma no matter how small it is because
a debt is a debt, and usury is
always gonna be usury regardless.
And, while Ulama have given some have given
permission for such things, we should try and
attempt to get out of it as soon
as possible. Now with that said, if we
continue to have assets on the side while
we have a loan on which we're making
minimum monthly payments, such as a mortgage, such
as a car payment, such as a student
loan, then you would not deduct those assets.
Okay? Deduct sorry. Deduct that loan, from your
assets. Had that been the case, the majority
of Muslims in America would not be paying
zakat. And this comes up in Hajj as
well. Oh, Imam Tahir, I have a loan.
I have a mortgage. Am I allowed to
go for Hajj? Well, here's a question. Do
you have the money to go for Hajj?
Yes. I do. Are you gonna use that
money towards your loan? No. I'm not. What
will you do with that money? Well, if
I don't go for Hajj, I'm gonna deposit
in one of my accounts. I'm gonna invest
it. We're gonna use that money to go
to Cancun
or on a vacation or whatever it is.
Then in that case,
keep in mind that,
you should definitely pay zakat on it. I
am seeing questions,
for from Muneer. Okay. Awesome. Muneer, I'm continuing.
The only hard stop I have is my
laptop that tells me I only have 22%
battery, and I don't have a power cable
close by. Right? Eventually, at some point, I
may have to move some things around, but
I will continue
until my laptop, tells me that it's time
to go. As long as people are listening,
I am,
speaking
Where was I?
G, loans. Right? Loans. So long term loans
on which we are making simply minimum monthly
payments
should not be,
deducted from,
our assets.
Okay.
Did you pay I'm gonna go through certain
notes that I have, and then I'll probably
start with the questions in about 5 minutes.
You pay zakah based on the market value
the day you are calculating your zakah on
stocks.
On RSUs,
restricted stock units, you, pay zakah on that
which is vested
vested and on the market value.
Stock options, you pay zakah on that which
is vested and on the profit. Your ESPPs,
you pay zakah on the amount that has
been withheld for the purchase of those,
options.
You pay zakah on gold. By the way,
this is a good one. We get, lots
of women, sisters who have a lot of
jewelry,
especially people from my part of the world
or my parents' part of the world, and
they will say.
Right?
Sister,
you look at your gold as gold. Sharia,
Islamic Islamic law, does not see that as
gold. Sharia sees that as cold, hard money.
Do you get what I'm saying? Islam says
that's mine. You think it's gold in the
form you see it in the form of
an earring
and a ring and a necklace. Sharia says,
no. I don't. Sharia says that's gold. So
you need to calculate,
how much that is worth, and you need
to give 2 and a half percent of
that. And if you don't have the money
to give zakat on,
on that wealth, then you need to sell
a portion of that or give 2 a
half percent of that
in zakat.
Right? That's why Allah
reminds
us,
That when you give sadaqa and some urammar
of the opinion that that means zakah, your
obligatory charity, Allah increases your wealth while
assuming. Let's just assume for a moment that
you have $15,000
worth of gold, but no income.
So now you need to give your zakat.
Zakat and $15,000
is gonna come up to, I think, $375.
So you give
$375 worth of gold. One earring
that's worth 375, gone.
Next year, next earring, gone.
Okay. One ring, gone.
This, gone. This and year after year after
year, your money begins to decrease, and you're
thinking what increase?
Remember,
Allah does not simply give us increase in
money. Allah could give us an increase somewhere
else in our life. Allah could have given
us,
healthy children,
obedient children,
pious children,
good health,
being worry free, always having a job. All
of these things is considered to be barakah
and risk and sustenance.
Even obedient children
is sustenance and riz from Allah
Good health
is sustenance from Allah
So while you may see your,
gold depleting,
know that Allah is increasing
it. Now can you give so, husbands, question
is, can my husband give zakah on my
behalf? I would say why? Why should we
have to do it?
But on a serious note, if anyone gives
zakah on behalf of each other, that would
be valid. In other words, if a husband
gave zakah on behalf of the wife for
the gold that she has, that's valid. If
the if the wife decided to give zakah
on behalf of the husband from her wealth
that she had, that would be valid. As
long as it's given,
it is perfectly,
fine. So we pay zakah on gold and
silver also. You know, we just need to
make a list of all your assets,
savings,
cash,
stocks,
401 k,
you know, whatever you ask, jewelry, whatever.
On the day you're calculating your zakah, write
it down,
2 a half percent. That's your zakah.
We do not pay zakah on stones.
All retirement plans, all saving plans, IRAs,
Roth IRAs, HSPs,
flexible spending accounts. You pay the value on
the day of your calculation
or,
subtract the penalties if you if you had
any penalties.
Whatever penalty you would pay on that, you
can subtract that when,
calculating your zakat. Now you don't have to
give your zakat immediately. Okay? Let's just say
you had to give $5,000 in zakat. Right?
You can you can write that down. You
can withdraw 5,000, put it in an envelope
at home, and write zakat on it. And
as you give your zakat slowly, give from
there. Now you may give zakat on your
credit card. You can use $500 from there
to pay your credit card or whatever. You
know? Doesn't matter that doesn't mean that you
have to give some of that actual money.
Or,
you calculate your zakat and say, you know,
this year, I have to get $5,000, and
you write that down somewhere. That in your
mind, you know you have to get 5,000,
you have the 5,000 sitting in the bank,
and you will eventually give it over the
course of the next few weeks or next
few months or whatever. But write that down.
If you were to pass away and no
one in your family knew that, that's an
obligation that was on your shoulders that is
not fulfilled, and you will be,
sinned
for it.
If you run a business, whatever inventory that
you have that you can liquidate, then you
pay zakat,
on it.
You can you can you can use you
can make a tax deductible donation
on the zakat as well.
I'm going to stop by the way, I
think I mentioned this, and if I if
I'm re if I'm repeating myself, please forgive
me.
But I did a lecture I I did
mention this. I did a lecture yesterday, which
you can find on SBI's Facebook page called
All Things
Zakat.
And, if you want to go through this
in detail, you can go there.
I've got 5 questions. I'm gonna answer those
5, and then I'm gonna close.
It is is it required to tell the
person receiving Zakat that it's Zakat? No. With
volatility in the stock market, especially now, how
do I calculate my 401 k invested in
the stock market? Also, since I cannot touch
my 4 one k without penalties, do I
calculate zakat on the pre penalty or post
penalty,
amount?
On the day you know, I'm assuming that
you are able to log on somewhere,
to check what your 401 k is worth.
The day you're calculating your zakat, you just
cal you just log on, and whatever the
amount is is the amount you will use
because that's what the value of that 401
k is on that day. If it's, you
know, extremely low, then so be it. If
it's extremely high, then so be it. You
know? That's Allah's way of saying
You know? If if it's high, you're thinking,
oh my god. Now I have to pay
zakat. Let me wait until a few days.
Maybe it drops. No. Don't think like that.
If it's high, say
Allah has made it high. I want it
to remain high. Let me quickly give my
zakat so that I can maintain,
its, its it being high. Now there's varying
opinions on the 401 k on giving zakat.
As I mentioned, I mentioned 2 opinions, though
technically there's 4.
But I the the prominent opinions is that
you pay on the full amount. So you
log on to your 401 k account. It
says $500,000.
You pay zakat on the full 500,000. The
second the second opinion is that if you
were to withdraw on any given day, whatever
penalties
whatever taxes and penalties you would pay on
that amount, you can deduct that and then
give zakat on it. I personally am the
view of the opinion of giving on the
full amount, and the reason behind that is
because,
the money that's continuing to be vested and
invested is the full amount and not the
lesser amount. But, Ted, either way,
you can follow either of the 2 opinions.
Can we so some of these have already
been answered. Can we pay zakat to a
relative who has a huge debt? Yes. Yes.
You can. If we give, do we need
to tell them that it is zakat money?
No. You don't. As long as you know
that they are zakat eligible. Is it considered
zakat if we set up a regular grocery
delivery to families on a monthly basis overseas?
As long by the way, zakat must be
given to a Muslim.
Now this doesn't mean that non Muslims should
not be helped. We have many food pantries,
Habitat for Humanity, all kinds of things out
there,
but we cannot give our zakat money to
them. We can, we should definitely
give
from our voluntary charities to help people, but
zakat cannot be given
to non Muslims, which is why, the ulama
are unanimous on the fact that zakat cannot
be given
for a for a,
a community project, for example, a water well.
Right? If if the people benefiting from that
water well are going to be people who
are wealthy, then you cannot give that money
to them. Now, in fact, I mentioned this
yesterday. I received a question today that I
haven't responded to this person yet,
that can you know, the the place where
I desire to build a water well happens
to be way out in the boonies somewhere,
and these people are all of them are
extremely poor. Yes. They're then maybe can be
an exception. The way the Hanafis would do
it, though, is that they would give the
money to build the water well to a
zakat eligible recipient so that the zakat is
fulfilled, and then tell that individual to use
the money to build the water well so
that the that person does not that for
that person, when they're the zakat eligible recipient,
when that person is building the water well,
it's not zakat for them. So they can
build it as a a feasibility project,
you know, for the entire community, and then
people can benefit from it. So there's ways
around this as well. Do I need to
tell so as far as two things here,
the grocery delivery family the grocery delivery service.
If you are if the groceries are being
delivered to poor, a 100%, poor and needy
individuals,
absolutely. Yes. But secondly, when you are giving
the money towards that cause, you have to
make the intention that this is from my
zakat and calculate how much you're continuing to
give. If you're giving this in advance, then
when you calculate your zakat, you will deduct
the amount that you've already given. And if
you're giving it, you know, after you've done
the calculation, then you will continue to deduct
it from whatever it is that you need
to give.
If someone owes you money, do you pay
zakat on that? Yes. So if, if someone
owes you
if you have loaned anyone else,
money, you pay zakat on that. So if
someone owes yeah. So, you know, same thing.
I'm sorry. I'm getting tired now. If someone
owes you money,
you pay zakat on that money. Now someone
would then say, then why would I loan
people money? Like, shoot, man. Not only am
I loaning that person money and I can't
do something else with it, and, I have
to pay zakat on it too. Like, that's
completely unfair. But that's when Allah
talks about fardunhasana,
goodly loan. That if you do something to
help someone else out, then Allah will look
after your affairs. The Nabi
is narrated to have said, manganafi
awni abdihikan Allah ho fyawni.
Right? Whoever
helps a slave of Allah
Allah continues
to remain in the assistance of that servant.
In other words, if you are helping, if
any of us are helping anyone in any
little way, know that
as a result of that helping them, Allah
is helping us.
All the goodnesses that we're receiving in life
is as a result
of Allah looking after us. We're looking after
people, and that that
5,000, 10000, 20,000 that you've loaned someone,
while you have to pay zakat on it
and you can't invest it, the
return
the the the rate of return that we're
getting, right, the return on investment that we're
actually getting is worth well beyond the zakat
that we're paying on it and the investment
that we could have done with that money
because we're helping someone out. Allah is helping
us out.
Imam said children above the age of puberty,
if they are assigned jewelry by parents, pay
zakat on it. So can parents pay their
zakat till they are sahibi hesyet? Yes. Parents
can pay zakat on the the wealth. By
the way, if you have a if you
have a set of
college funds or, you know, whatever, student funds
for your children, and, clearly, it's their money
and not yours under any circumstance whatsoever and
you will never withdraw it and you have
made your children the owners of that money,
then you do not need to pay zakat
on it until they reach the age of
puberty. The moment they reach the age of
puberty, that money belongs to them. And if
it truly belongs to them, then zakat must
be paid,
on it.
Either the child can pay zakat on it
from that money or you can pay zakat
on it, whatever zakat needs to be paid.
It doesn't have to be from that money.
By the way, you don't have to give
zakat from that actual gins, from that actual
item. In other words, you don't have to
give 2 a half percent of your stocks
and 2 a half percent of your 4
0 1 k and 2 a half percent
of your jewelry. And, no, it's you you
calculate all that in one currency, and in
this case, we would calculate it in US
dollars. You could and and, you know, your
zakat for your IRA 401 k retirement account
or whatever other form you may other forms
of assets you may have in jewelry and
whatever it is that you have, you could
simply give that
zakat in the form of any one of
the above assets. So if someone says, you
know, my zakat this year comes to $10,000,
I'm gonna give $10,000
worth in stocks to a certain nonprofit
so that they can distribute it on my
behalf, that is valid. If someone says I'm
gonna give $10,000 worth of jewelry as my
zakat this year, that would be valid. If
someone says I'm gonna give $10,000 in cash
this year, that would be valid. All of
these things must be would be valid. Muneer
sends me a question, and he says last
one.
From earlier, fasting q and a. I work
in a hospital. There have been times I'm
unable to break my fast right away, either
being in the middle of procedure or other
patient care related issues. Is it okay then
to delay breaking fast? Of course. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. SubhanAllah. You have to understand this
is, you know, there's circumstances.
Okay? In your case, you have a very
specific circumstance
that says that you can't break your fast.
Now the moment you as soon as you
get a moment to do it afterwards, you
know, you can immediately grab a sip of
water,
and and break your fast. And then if
you still need to continue doing whatever you're
doing, you can continue it or eat, whatever.
But, yeah, if your
breaking the fast is delayed as a result
of you being somewhere or something, then that
would be perfectly fine.
It seems like we've been with us with
each other for almost 2 hours.
For all of you that have,
taken the time to listen to this, may
Allah bless you and reward you.
Brothers and sisters, you know, just as parting,
as we're parting, just some advice, brotherly advice
to myself and everyone,
let the circumstances
not make you sad and upset. Don't walk
around the house and mope around the house,
because of the circumstances, because that will rub
off on your children. Rather, think of this
as the most beloved and perfect,
Ramadan.
Be enthusiastic.
We're at home. There's so much that we
can do, and I'm sure you've heard all
the lectures out there, so I'm not gonna
say anything other than that. But,
you know, consider this to be a time
to have halwa,
you know, to be alone with Allah
increasing time. Make make increasing dua for yourselves,
for your children, for your relatives, for your
near and far future, everything.
Please keep me and my family and your
duas and all of you will be in
mine.
I would generally enjoy coming to the MCC
in the month of Ramadan even if it
was just a few days and getting to
see all of your beautiful,
faces and getting to greet you and getting
to see you and the smiles.
You know, the MCC has a very, very
special place in my heart and always will.
SubhanAllah,
I said this in closing with my Sunday
school students at the MCC earlier, and I
will say it again, that while we may
not be able to see each other this
Ramadan,
we have an entire life
ahead of us as community members, as families,
as believers
to see each other and share meals with
each other and spend time and company with
each other. So while we may miss out
this Ramadan, inshallah, we make that we have
an entire life
ahead of us of being in this place.