WHAT IS THE GENERAL VALUE GIVEN TO ZAKAT IN ISLAM?

The Qur’an advises us to perform salat, the zakat of our bodies, with utmost gracefulness, elegance and precision, while we are instructed to offer zakat from that which God has benevolently bestowed on us in order to achieve social peace and bliss. To spend what God has given us, as commanded by Him, constitutes a full acceptance of the ethic of God. Indubitably, God will spare those who have fully embraced Him, and ultimately will reward them accordingly.

Zakat is one of the five pillars upon which Islam is built. Without the presence of these pillars, it is impossible to even describe Islam. The Noble Messenger, as narrated, had forbidden his commanders to launch military campaigns in territories where the Adhan (the call for prayer) is heard, a practice confirming their religious status as believers. The subsequent policy of the first caliph Abu Bakr, in taking arms against whoever denied zakat, regardless of their submissiveness of other pillars like salat and sawm (fasting), is entirely in concordance with the spirit of Islam and further emphasizes the enormous magnitude and importance of zakat.

In the Qur’an, zakat is incessantly mentioned alongside with salat, as an explicit reference to the miraculous spiritual ascension achieved by humankind through prayer, which is further completed with a marvelous blessing that springs forth from almsgiving. In this way, material is granted eternity in a world of mortality, an aspect highlighted in the Qur’an:

Establish salat and pay zakat. Whatever good you send beforehand for yourselves you will find it with God. (Baqara 2:110)