Khadija Abdel Halim
Among all God's creatures, man is known for covetousness and craving for what others have. The blind and growing desire of some people to own more and more leads to the arrest of the sublime human spirit and to impede the natural tendency of the soul to perform its high spiritual functions that are part of the normal human soul.
But we find that God Almighty, Almighty, Wise, and his full knowledge of all his creatures, their natures and their needs, has put for us the appropriate antidote that can curb human greed and greed, which is Zakat.
The concept of individual ownership is a central factor in understanding the meaning of Zakat and in understanding its purposes. The ostensible meaning of Zakat is giving others our wealth. A person, by his human nature, has a firm belief that everything he possesses and what he has acquired through his work and diligence is his property alone, just as it is difficult for him to comprehend the idea that someone else has a right to this money or these wealth. In his belief that he is the legitimate owner of this money because he is the one who worked hard to collect it, he asks: Did I not work on acquiring these wealth? Aren't you the only legitimate owner of it?
The answer comes in the negative: No, we are not the true owners of these wealth, but rather the true and only owner of all the wealth available in the universe is God, the Great Creator, and that because of his wisdom in distributing these wealth, he has placed and entrusted the matter of disposing of them to some of his creation as a test for them in how to dispose of them. The Almighty made the rich among us just as He made the poor among us, and at the same time, through the verses of the Qur’an and the teachings of our Prophet Muhammad, the best of prayers and peace be upon him, he set up a comprehensive economic system for us that shows how to deal with the wealth that he distributed to us so that everyone gets a share of it.
Zakat is an Arabic word that is derived from the meaning of "increase", or "growth." And it may seem that there is a contradiction or lack of clarity in this area, how can an increase or growth in money or wealth occur when you take from it and that it is more correct for money to decrease if it is taken from it.
God has placed his wealth in the hands of the rich and entrusted them with it, as they are not the real owners of it so that they can spend it on the poor. Here, the true beauty of zakat appears, first of all it follows the orders of the Almighty, it shows us that the meaning of zakat is not limited to merely distributing money to the poor, but rather it is an obligatory act of God Almighty that will increase the humility of the one who gives money and his subservience to his Creator and consider that This work is an investment that he has in his Creator because it makes the poor self-sufficient. It is also a reason for the increase in the fortunes of the given because God has promised him to multiply the assets of his worldly wealth, and at the same time his good deeds multiply exponentially, which raises his ranks in the house of decision, which is what every believer aspires to because it is the true and permanent home for us.
Greed, miserliness and greed are human qualities that every person must fight and get rid of, because this leads to the elevation of the human soul and its rise to higher ranks and move it away from the space of the low animal instincts. This can be achieved by allocating a small part of our wealth, which is basically the property of God. We spend it according to what the divine law requires
We find that there is a natural tendency within the normal human psyche to draw close to God and obey him and to multiply good deeds, and we can achieve this through the rite of Zakat. The concept of zakat is based on an integrated social system that aims to eliminate class, economic and social differences between the rich and the poor so that everyone in society can Whoever gets his share of the wealth so that none of the poor need begging or spilling his face. The commitment to social bond that members of society feel towards one another can be represented in giving the needy a portion of our wealth in obedience to Allah's commands.
Paying the obligatory zakat represents the purification and purification of the wealth that individuals possess and serves as a protection for them from evils in this world and in the hereafter. Here it becomes evident that the meaning of Zakat is considered growth and increase, on the one hand it is considered an increase in safety and in keeping away from everything that our hands can obtain from actions that may lead To harm our pure, good souls, it protects us from falling into sins.
The effectiveness of the zakat system has been proven if it is applied in the correct way. During the era of the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him in Medina, the zakat system was applied, which led to gradually reducing the numbers of those in need. The application of the zakat system during the reign of Caliph Omar bin Abdul Aziz led to the absence of the poor in need of zakat and everyone became Self-sufficient. Poverty has already been eradicated, as the Prophet mentioned the best of prayer, and he completed the delivery of what means: “Give charity and there will come a day that one of you walks among the people who wants to give alms, so he will not find a need for charity.” (The original is found in: The biography of Omar bin Abdul Aziz, - Ibn Abdul Hakam - 59)
Zakat may seem like an Islamic pillar in a simple way that does not need to be explained or complicated, and its basic rules are relatively easy and it is not difficult to know the methods of implementing it, but in reality it is not as easy as it seems, because Zakat has a central function in the Islamic community because God Almighty created all the structures Adam created wealth for them that would suffice them all. Simply we must give from the wealth of God that they were entrusted with.
