WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF ZAKAT FOR ITS RECIPIENT?

ZAKAT LIBERATES FROM SLAVERY TO SUSTENANCE

An  addition  to rescuing society from falling victim to poverty, zakat eliminates socially detrimental crimes like theft and robbery, as the common factor usually underlying these crimes is poverty in one way or another. Once the lack of faith, which deters from crime, is added to poverty, not much reason remains to prevent the perpetration of such crimes.

Through the promulgation of zakat, Islam seeks to extirpate, from the onset, social diseases like theft, by destroying their very foundation and preventing their establishment. By utilizing the privilege of performing zakat, the wealthy not only offer a righteous act of worship, they also soothe the poor, providing them with financial relief and thus preventing them from taking up theft as a means of sustenance. In an interesting wise, the poor receive needed recognition in the community as people sought after by the rich to allow them to complete their obligations. This, in no way, should be conceived as freeloading, as this is something unthinkable for a healthy Muslim. Rather, zakat is financial help during a rainy day, in a sense, encouraging the recipient to take brand new steps. Condescending to freeloading off others, for a Muslim who possesses the power to make his own ends meet, is totally unacceptable in Islam, which praises work by holding  it equal with worship. For a  healthy Muslim, unemployment is only temporary, and zakat provides the much-needed spirit and  catalyst  during  that  transitional period until the recipient becomes a giver himself.

The Noble Prophet enumerates poverty that “makes one forget the Lord”39 among the seven things that must be avoided before their arrival. A person suffering in the throes of extreme poverty, along with many things, is bound to forget the purpose of creation. Such a ruinous thought must be avoided as it will only add to the person’s sufferings by causing additional anguish in the hereafter.

 

ZAKAT HELPS ACHIEVE WORKING POWER

Zakat is a source of power for the needy. In addition to providing the financially stricken poor with desperately needed capital, zakat also injects in them a dynamic energy, instilling in them the confidence to provide for their own.

By hindering stockpiling, zakat bestows an intense vitality on the economy as well as ultimately providing matchless opportunities for the unemployed, winning them back to the community. Islam incessantly encourages individuals to be effervescently active, conversely condemning laziness and time-wasting.

Consequently, it is not difficult to imagine the enormity of the contributions to the overall economy brought by the person who is given such a great opportunity, as a result of the application of an invaluable teaching.

The prevalently unfortunate state of young people in secular societies, who squander their time and precious potential in such places as pubs and casinos, reinforces the importance of zakat. A country whose non-contributing masses have been revivified through such a process whereby wealth is continuously cycled for the benefit of all, will inevitably experience an economic revitalization.

 

ZAKAT  PROMOTES EMPLOYMENT

Contrary to popular belief, zakat does not give rise to indolence; on the contrary, it encourages individuals to work. The Prophet of God strongly advised against being a “receiver,” underlining the immense value of giving: “The higher hand is better than the lower.”40 The lower hand is always receiver’s, regardless of who the giver is, even it be the government. However, if the government is acting as an intermediary in handing the poor what is acquired from the rich, this may be classified as an exemption from the reprimand of the above hadith. Islam strictly criticizes  incessantly  asking  of others  and  fervently  promotes  self-acquired  earnings  by

endowing it with multitudes of rewards, depending on the intentions of the person. The hadith additionally alludes to the vast rewards of the afterlife awaiting the almsgiver, and as expected, places him on a higher level in comparison with the receiver. It does not entirely condemn the receiver, of course, acknowledging the necessity of receiving alms when these are genuinely needed.

The Noble Messenger, for all intents and purposes, offers us the following advice, “Always be dignified. Evade the disgrace of begging either on the individual level or the national level through sincerely trying your best not to fall in such a state, and maintain your status of grace as a benefactor. Keep in mind that dependence on others is life of anxiety.” This hadith also provides us a credo in international relations, giving us, individually or entirely, the crucial task of embracing a diligent attitude, hence delivering the Islamic world  what  it  rightfully  expects. Honor, dignity and superiority always belong to God, His Messengers, and the believers. Therefore believers should not come under the control or authority of unbelievers, for this undermines their  dignity and superiority.41 It has thus become evident that zakat vehemently encourages a self-liberation from dependence on others through the embracement of working as pre-eminent attitude.

 

ZAKAT AUGMENTS SELF-ESTEEM

The Qur’an, as stated, has unambiguously expounded the recipients of zakat, and  in  the process of searching and finding them, has strictly commanded the benefactor, individuals or the intermediary governments, to scrupulously avoid  imparting  any  scorn.  This  renders  the poor as an esteemed and sought-after part of society, as mentioned above.

It is imperative to locate and deliver zakat to those who are genuinely poor. The obligation of zakat is not one of the specified categories. In a case where a person misplaces zakat, wrongly assuming the recipient to fall under one of the categories, he is exempt from having to give again “correctly,” because of his sincere intention. However, the best must be done to avoid such a scenario. The Companions of the Noble Prophet had first criticized a person who had given his zakat first to a thief, then to an adulterer and then to a rich person; they later modified their opinions knowing/hoping that any zakat, earnestly given with  good  intention, without an aim for error, would act as a cure to their problems. This accentuates the importance of conducting proper research in locating those genuinely eligible for zakat to facilitate the correct utilization.

Zakat saves the poor from being thrown into total oblivion, turning them into revered people who are sought after. Ultimately, as zakat pervasively functions throughout the community, the magnificent days of Umar ibn Abdulaziz, where finding an eligible recipient of zakat was in itself a difficult task, will inevitably return. In this environment, the poor will not search for the rich; instead, the rich will desperately hunt for the poor to remove an enormous weight off their shoulders, thus fostering a perennial gratitude towards the poor, who are essential to removing that load.

No doubt, the rich, immersed in a luxurious lifestyle, can otherwise quite easily become an object of grave envy for the poor as they battle daily for sustenance, overwhelmingly intensifying their feelings of abhorrence. When added to the disdainful demeanor of the rich, the abyss between rich and poor becomes insurmountably grave and culminates in an inveterate hatred for wealth, an attitude pervasive throughout many societies. The only way to overcome the abhorrence of the poor towards the rich lies in the performance of zakat; rich people’s conceiving of the poor as friends in need will alter the poor’s resentment changing negativity into gratitude over what has been granted to them by God through the donor and their appreciation