Date: June 18, 2015
Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam. The word Zakat means purification and growth. Quran promotes feeding hungry people and helping the poor. Since, the month of Ramadan is termed as the very month of forgiveness, blessings, helping others, prayers and thanks giving. Zakat is an activity connected with prayer and compassion towards the poor people. Allah says that provide Zakat with prayers and it will make you and the receiver blessed. Conditions for Zakat Giving If you are possessing property in excess of a minimum exemption limit, you must give Zakat to the needy. Another term is that if your wealth equal to or in surplus of Nisab in the beginning and at the end of the lunar year, you must give Zakat. At the same time, at the end of the lunar year if the wealth is less than the Nisab, it is not necessary to give Zakat. It says that Zakat is due on all the gold and silver ornaments, jewellery. All bank deposits and provident fund will fall under the Zakat giving. It is also said that if one has agriculture land irrigated by rain water or by natural water channels or if the land is wet due to a nearby water channel, the yield of the land must be provided as Zakat. Zakat is obligatory on goats, sheep, cows, buffaloes and camels which graze on wild grass, plant leaves and on some feed, now and then given by the owner, and on the above animals meant for sale. Do Not Give Zakat to these People * To a person who owns minimum 7 1/2 tolas of gold or 52 1/2 tolas of silver or equivalent wealth in cash, kind or in trade goods. * To one’s mother, father, paternal and maternal grand-parents, great grand-parents, etc. * To one’s offspring-sons, daughters, grand-children, great grand-children, etc. * to spouse * To other relatives such as brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces, nephews, etc. * To Sayyeds(descendants of Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh). * To domestic or other servants as wages. * Zakat cannot be given for repairing or maintenance of mosque. * Do not pay Zakat to meet the funeral expenses.
Praise be to Allah, the Creator and Cherisher of the worlds and peace be upon his prophet Muhammad SAW. The blessed month of Ramadan is near completion. A month which brings mercy, forgiveness, and freedom from fire if completed virtuously. The month of Shawwal, which follows Ramadan, also has unique opportunities to continue to earn Allah’s blessings. Muhammad SAW said, “The one who fasts the month of Ramadan, followed by six days in Shawwal, is purified of sins as if he was just born.” (Hadith: Sahih Muslim and Abu Da’ud). The six days of fasting in Shawwal can begin any day after Eid al-Fitr and can be completed continuously or spread throughout the month. There are differences of opinion regarding the requirement to make up missed Ramadan (fard) fasts before keeping Shawwal (nafl) fasts. See the link below from Yasir Qadhi: However we choose to do it, certainly, rewards come from Allah and anything we do sincerely to please him will not be wasted. _As for those who believe and do good deeds, rest assured that We do not waste the reward of him who does a good work._ (Quran 18:30) The Alim Foundation Inc., NMS/NH, May 21, 2020
Read MoreDepression usually comes from being far from Allah. We need remembrance of Allah. Our body consists of flesh, bone, muscle and blood. Our body has two parts. Those are physical sense and spiritual sense. For physical sense, it needs exercise, good heart, good food and nutrition. But what does the soul needs. Soul needs Allah. And when that soul taken away from Allah, it never remember Allah. It never is in a good environment. It becomes depressed and lonely. It yearns for Allah and it yearns for its creator. For this we needs in good environment and we needs to be around good people. Good people will remember Allah always. People who pray and people who have genuine fear of Allah are good people. So be in a circle of good people always and remember Allah, the creator.
Read MoreIn Islam, Ahadith are derived from the sayings, teachings, habits, and life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). These represent the sunnah of the holy Prophet (PBUH) and are meant to be followed by all Muslims to live a righteous Islamic life. Ahadith are reported by Companions of our beloved Prophet (PBUH) and by His wives, the prominent being Hazrat Aisha (RA). Often Ahadith are reported by a chain of narrators, starting from a contemporary companion of Prophet Muhammad (PHUH) followed by the followers of the followers, and generations of scholars in Ahadith. Ahadith have been collected and organized as various books like Sahih Al Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Fiqh Us Sunnah, Tirmidhi, etc. Now Ahadith are the leading source of Islamic guidance after the holy Quran, and they act us the complete authority of sunnah and the life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Majority of Ahadith have their root in the holy Quran, the holy text revealed to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by Allah (SWT) through angel Jibreel (AS). This happened because, Prophet Muhammad’s (PHUH) life was strictly according to the Quranic guidance and its derivations, and the Ahadith are narratives from His (PBUH) life. The holy Quran is revealed first, and Ahadith are later derived from Prophet’s (PBUH) Sunnah, means Quran is the foundation and reference to Ahadith. Also true is the fact that, some Ahadith act as explanation to many Quranic verses. This is apparent in Tafsir Ibn Kathir, where the Quran is explained through Ahadith. When Quran Ayaath are linked and stated along with Ahadith, it adds the authenticity of the Ahadith, since the holy Quran is the ultimate and undisputed truth. Moreover, Quran Ayaath make the Ahadith strong and provides direction to the reader to understand the Ahadith better. It is in the above context, Alim.org has decided and implemented linking of Ahadith with Quran Ayaath that act as references to the Ahadith. We have used techniques like context matching, machine language and pattern matching to identify Quran Ayaath that matches with Ahadith in context, meaning and background. Thus, Ahadith are linked to their Quran Ayaath references and these Ayaath are shown by side of the Ahadith as Quran references. Our implementation is unique in its kind, and we are delighted to roll out this feature for our users to experience and to provide feedback. Kindly refer to the reference Ayaath of some Ahadith and let us know your valuable feedback. Currently we have done Ayaath linking to Fiqh Us Sunnah Ahadith only and other Ahadith books will be linked and released soon. We are in the process of continuous refinement of our Ahadith Ayaath linking algorithm and your feedback will be used to derive rules to match Ahadith and Ayaath further. Our goal is to provide the users with a complete Ahadith referencing platform through Alim.org and enable them to contemplate upon the meanings and implications of Ahadith to understand it better and complete.
Read More"When a person dies, his works end, except for three: ongoing charity, knowledge that is benefited from, and a righteous child who prays for him."
Prophet Mohammed (PBUH)
"The best of what a man leaves behind are three: a righteous child who supplicates for him, ongoing charity the reward of which reaches him, and knowledge that is acted upon after him."
Sunan Ibn Mājah
"Every day two angels come down from Heaven and one of them says, 'O Allah! Compensate every person who spends in Your Cause,' and the other (angel) says, 'O Allah! Destroy every miser.'"
Sahih Bukhari