All praise is due to Allah, lord of the heavens and the earth, and we ask that he sends his

peace and
blessings upon the prophet, his household, his companions, and upon his ummah.

If we look at the five pillars of Islam and we were asked to rank them based on how often they are
mentioned in everyday life, in our lectures, our khutbahs and so on, zakah would be towards the bottom
of the list. Because every day we are either told or we tell others “Get up and pray. Pray your ‘asr salah,
your maghrib salah” and since we are in the month of Ramadan, and even before we entered this
month, everyone was talking about Ramadan, you know, the moonsightings, what their plans are going
to be for this month, even our slightly relaxed, not-as-practicing brothers and sisters were anticipating
the month of Ramadan.

But when it comes to zakah, there is a bit of silence in the air. Maybe once in a blue moon the khateeb
mentions it or we hear it in passing. Perhaps this is a reason as to why some people forget the Zakah is
due every year if you qualify for it, that it is compulsory just as salah and fasting is compulsory.

The history of zakat does not begin with the Prophet. If you read through the Quran, you will find many
examples of Prophets encouraging the payment of Zakah. Ismail, Allah says regarding him in Surah
Maryam

“And mention in the book Ismail. Verily, he was true to his promise, and was a messenger
and a prophet. And he used to enjoin on his people to salah and zakah, and to his lord he was
pleasing”. Maraym 54-54
Regarding Bani Israel, Allah says

“And we took the covenant from the Children of Israel that they shall worship no one other
than Allah” and towards the end of the ayah “And establish prayer and pay the zakah”.

Even Isa in his crib as a baby, he told the people

Esa said, "Indeed, I am the servant of Allah . He has given me the Scripture and made me a
prophet.

“And he has made me blessed wherever I am and he has enjoined upon me salah and zakat
for as long as I am alive. Maryam 30-31
So based off these few examples we can see that zakah has always been enjoined; we Muslims did not
come and introduce a new concept, rather we are the ones who revive and carry forward a practice that
has always been there.
But why do we even pay zakah in the first place?

You know, sometimes when you ask a brother or a sister this question, they will automatically tell you
“Because of the poor people, because of the needy, those who do not have as much”. And no doubt
that this is one of the reasons why we pay zakah as Allah tells us Surah At-Tawbah, verse 60 – the
different categories of people we give Zakat to- , however there is a reason which is more purer and
more greater. And that is: because Allah has commanded that we pay the zakah. This is the most
theologically sound reason.

Whenever we are faced with any situation- “Why do you guys don’t eat pork? Why do you do this and
why do you not do that?”, the best reason will always be because it’s a commandment from the Lord of
the words. It is important we understand this point because when you are paying your zakah you have
to get your niyyah right, brothers and sisters. You have to be paying your zakah for the sake of Allah.

“It is not righteousness that you turn your face towards the East or West, but rather
righteousness is…to give zakah”. Baqara 177

In Surah Muminoon that “Successful indeed are the believers” and then Allah in the coming ayaat he
gives us the characteristics of the successful believers, and one of those characteristics is “And those pay
their zakah”.

This is why we have so many vivid descriptions in the Quran and in the Sunnah regarding those who do
not pay zakah on their wealth. Allah tells us in Surah At-Tawbah
“And those who hoard gold and silver and do not spend it in the way of Allah give them the
news of a painful punishment. On that Day their wealth will be heated with the fire of hell
and they will be branded on their foreheads, their flanks and their backs. And it will be said to
them ‘This is what you hoarded for yourselves, so taste what you used to hoard”.

The Prophet tells us that they will be branded with this fire

“on a day the length of which is fifty thousand years” and it will not be stopped until “the
servants will be judged”.

Allah also says “Those who are miserly/stingy with what God has given them from his grace, they should
not think that their stinginess is good for them. Rather it is bad for them. Whatever they withheld will
encircle their necks on the day of Judgement”. What does it mean that it will encircle their necks on the
day of judgement?

The Prophet explains that on the day of judgement a person who did not pay zakah, a snake will wrap
around this persons neck, it will bite into his cheek, and it will say to him “I am your wealth. I am your
treasure”. “That which they withheld will encircle their necks on the day of judgement”. May Allah
protect us all from this terror.

This is why when it comes to Zakah, you will fall into one of three categories.

The first category of people are those who recognize that Zakah is obligatory and they hasten to pay it
and enjoy doing so. We should all be aiming to be of this category of people, those who rush towards
the approval of Allah.

The second type of people are those who recognize that Zakah is obligatory but they do not pay it.
These people are faasiq, they are major sinners, and if we were living in a Muslim land then the
authorities can force him to give up the zakah.

And third and final category are those people who do not recognize that Zakah is obligatory (they do
not think it is fardh) and as a result they do not pay it. These people are not from us because they have
denied a fundamental of Islam.

Look into your Islamic history, brothers and sisters, and read about the Ridda wars (the wars of
apostasy). After the death of the Prophet, some of the tribes no longer wanted to pay zakah to the
leader. So Abu Bakr along with Khalid Ibn Waleed and many other companions, they launched an
offensive against these tribes and they brought to account those who would not pay their zakah. This is
how serious the issue of Zakah is, where if you do not think it is obligatory you have become a non-
Muslim, and if you do think it is obligatory but you do not pay it then you are a faasiq.

Part 2

So now that we have gone a bit into the history of zakah, its importance, and the consequences of not
paying Zakah, let us direct our attention on how to actually go about paying your charity.

In order for Zakah to be due on your wealth, you must meet two conditions, the first of which is: you
must have a certain amount of wealth before your Zakah becomes due on it. This is called the Nisaab
because Allah is not going to ask you to pay Zakah if you do not have enough money in the first place. So
once you have wealth equal to 595 grams of silver or 85 grams of gold, your Zakah becomes compulsory.
595 grams of silver today is worth, according to latest calculations, roughly $400 and 85 grams of gold is
worth roughly $5000. So once your wealth hits $400 or $5000, you have to start paying zakah. It is up to
you to decide whether you want to use gold or silver as your standard, but choose silver as this benefits
the poor.

And the second condition: once your wealth reaches the nisaab amount, $400 or $5000, you must wait
one full year before you have to pay Zakah on it. This one full year is not 365 days, but rather 354 days
as we are going the lunar (moon) calendar.

Once these two conditions have been fulfilled, then 2.5% of your total wealth has to be paid in the path
of Allah. There is much more discussion to be hand in regards to Zakah but this is the gist of it. If you
fulfill the two conditions then you have to pay zakat-ul-maal.

However, we also have zakat-ul-fitr to think about, which is $10 dollars per person this year. The
purpose behind paying this ten dollars is because of the hadith of Abdullah ibn Abbas where he tells us

“The Messenger of Allah prescribed Zakat-ul-fitr as a purification of the fast from empty and obscene
talk and as food for the poor”.

Since this is the month where people usually pay their zakah, pay close attention to your zakat-ul-maal
and zakat-ul-fitr. It is by obeying the commandments of Allah that we will succeed.

II
Finally, brothers and sisters, I want to take some time and inform you about NZF, the National Zakat
Foundation. Today with us we have a representative from the NZF who have come all the way here to
represent this foundation and they will be handing out fliers after the Jumuah salah inshallah.

The goal of NZF is to collect your zakah money, whether it is zakat-ul-maal or zakat-ul-fitr, and to then
distribute it solely to Muslims in Australia. Because often times we think that our zakah money should
only go towards the poor living in Afghanistan or Syria or all of these places that have seen ruin, but we
often forget that there are Muslims living in Australia who are in dire need of assistance. The sort of
people who have multiple jobs yet still can’t seem to pay the rent or put food on the table. Sisters who
have been kicked out of their homes with their children and they have nowhere to go. Senior brothers
and sisters that can’t seem to find rest in their old age. This is why 100% of the Zakah money, and I
mean every single cent, collected by the NZF goes towards helping local Muslims throughout Australia.

And before I go on, one brother came to us last time and he was a bit disgruntled, he did not like the
fact that we were focusing locally on Muslims in Australia. He was telling us “We are one ummah”, that
we are suffering everywhere so why only focus of Muslims in Australia? We tried to reason with him but
by the end he left saying “Let’s agree to disagree”. Well, let’s not agree to disagree, let’s agree to agree.
If you read Kitaab-ul-Amwaal (the Book of Revenue), the author of the book, Abu ‘Ubaid al Qasim, he
mentions that during the time of Umar Ibn Abdul-Aziz that “Zakah was taken from one particular city all
the way to Kufa in Iraq, and Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz ordered that it be taken back to the city it came from”.
Why? As Abu Ubaid explains “Scholars all agree that the people of every region have priority over their
zakah” and that if it is taken away while there is still a need for it then “the government must return it to
its region”. This is why the NZF favors local distribution first and foremost because it is in line with the
actions of the righteous predecessors.

The NZF, they have case workers that go and talk to eligible recipients so as to ensure that there is a
need for zakah payment, and that we aren’t just giving zakah to people who do not deserve it.

There is a lot of khair in this organization, brothers and sisters. So I humbly ask that after the salah, go
and talk to them. Ask them questions. Take a flier, take many fliers and pass them around to friends and
family. Even if you are in a hurry or have other commitments, at least go up to them and say “Peace be
upon you”, say “May Allah reward you”, show your appreciation.

Because we need more organizations like this in Australia who help to facilitate the payment of Zakah
which in turn helps to facilitate the worship of our creator.
“Say: "Obey Allah and obey the Messenger, but if you turn away, he (Messenger Muhammad
SAW) is only responsible for the duty placed on him (i.e. to convey Allah's Message) and you
for that placed on you. If you obey him, you shall be on the right guidance. The Messenger's
duty is only to convey (the message) in a clear way (i.e. to preach in a plain way)".”

Allah has promised those among you who believe, and do righteous good deeds, that He will
certainly grant them succession to (the present rulers) in the earth, as He granted it to those
before them, and that He will grant them the authority to practise their religion, that which
He has chosen for them (i.e. Islam). And He will surely give them in exchange a safe security
after their fear (provided) they (believers) worship Me and do not associate anything (in
worship) with Me. But whoever disbelieved after this, they are the Fasiqun (rebellious,
disobedient to Allah).” Sura Noor 54-54