Zakat
We Are Muslims
It cleanses ones character of greed avarice selfishness and
miserliness=85More>> http://islami-news.blogspot.com/2009/09/benefits-of-za=
kat.html
The payment of Zakat becomes obligatory on every sane and mature
Muslim and Muslimah whenever there is an economic activity resulting
in the net increase in=85More>> http://islami-news.blogspot.com/2009/09/zak=
at-and-rates.html
Join in =91We Are Muslims=92 group=85
http://groups.google.com/group/wearemuslims/subscribe
DKleinecke
wrote:
> The payment of Zakat becomes obligatory on every sane and mature
> Muslim and Muslimah whenever there is an economic activity resulting
> in the net increase in=3D85More [sic - I assume "wealth"]
I am interested in Zakat because of its peculiar history.
BUT it is my understanding that zakat is a "tax" of wealth not on
income. Whether or not there was a "net increase" would be irrelevant.
Am I confused? I think I am reading the old sources - for example the
Muwatta of Malik ibn Anas - correctly and that one fortieth of a man's
wealth should be given each year to the local zakat collector. Has the
meaning perhaps changed?
BTNews
"DKleinecke" <dklei...@gmail.com> wrote
> BUT it is my understanding that zakat is a "tax" of wealth not on
income. Whether or not there was a "net increase" would be irrelevant.
Comment:-
Zakat is a tax on surplus over a certain amount that is needed
by a person and his dependents. charged at 2.5 %
This means that if a person has greater needs than someone else
then the amount that is exhempt is greater,
and
If a person accumulates wealth over the years then the tax
also rises.
This tax is regarded as legitimising wealth - it has been acquired from the
community and part of it must be returned to the community.
It is an obligation towards God and the community on which a person depends.
Hamid S. Aziz
hajj abujamal
On 9/26/2010 8:27 PM, John Berg wrote:
> Since all property is lent by Allah and truly belongs to Him,
> then we are discussing neither wealth or income but money held
> in trust for the benefit of the Ummah
Correct.
> for the purpose of spreading Islam.
Not correct.
The value of capital is measured by its production potentials. If
it is not working, it does not meet its potentials but zakat is due on
the capital value held for a year anyway. Market potentials are part of
the evaluation ~ a factory that produces a product that is no longer
marketable has less value than it would were it marketable. It's not a
difficult calculation, and the owner of the capital is assumed to have
made it correctly unless evidence to the contrary is conclusive.
Where evidence published by the owner establishes probable cause to
believe that conclusive evidence may be obtained, then an investigation
may ensue ~ "may" in the sense of "permission," not in the sense of
"option" ~ investigation must proceed where probable cause is
established, but may only proceed then.
The amount of zakat thus due on capital property is thus equitable ~
below a certain value pegged to the real needs of the owner, there is no
zakat due and the owner is eligible to receive zakat depending on
additional eligibility criteria. Above that certain value, zakat of
one-fortieth of the whole capital value is due annually.
The collector of zakat receives it and does nothing else. He does
not question the calculations of the one who brings it, or even examine
them unless they are presented for the purpose of insuring that they are
correct.
Aggregated, the zakat brought to the collectors is spent on eight
explicit eligibility categories: the first two are relief of the
destitute who are unable to work for a living wage; and capital aid to
those whose businesses are unable to support even one employee
(himself), where such aid could make the difference; the last two are
covering the expenses of the collectors and distributors of zakat, and
"reconciling the hearts" to the Rule of God administered by the muslims
~ that is, giving the fruits of the Kingdom to others than muslims.
Fully implemented, with sanctions for nonperformance, this economic
component of private enterprise free market consumer capitalism lifted
the entire Arab muslim empire out of poverty during the time of Harun
ar-Rashid. Zakat was collected and there was no one eligible to receive
it who might have paid it had their capital reached the threshold ~
every one of those people paid it and could thus not receive it. There
were no destitute. There were no failing businesses who needed zakat
assistance. The collectors' and distributors' expenses did not make a
dent in what was brought to Baghdad. There was no poverty among those
who were not muslim, or any other need that they were unable to provide
for themselves. The money was spent on teaching hospitals, which was as
close as they could come to funding students, one of the purposes for
which Zakat may be spent ~ there were no students who needed additional
funding to pursue their studies.
Then the Mongols invaded.
> John Berg
was-salaam,
abujamal
--
astaghfirullahal-ladhee laa ilaha illa
howal-hayyul-qayyoom wa 'atoobu 'ilaihi
Rejoice, muslims, in martyrdom without fighting,
a Mercy for us. Be like the better son of Adam.
John Berg
John Berg
"BTNews" <alt...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:qc-dnaUp8ZMFh0rX...@bt.com...
--
John L. Berg
Sea-Room, Inc.
PO Box 298
650 Minnetonka Highlands Lane
Long Lake MN 55356
952-476-6523
Check out the new Aubrey-Maturin bumper sticker on www.sea-room.com
DKleinecke
> =A0 =A0 Fully implemented, with sanctions for nonperformance, this econom=
ic
> component of private enterprise free market consumer capitalism lifted
> the entire Arab muslim empire out of poverty during the time of Harun
> ar-Rashid. =A0Zakat was collected and there was no one eligible to receiv=
e
> it who might have paid it had their capital reached the threshold ~
> every one of those people paid it and could thus not receive it. =A0There
> were no destitute. =A0There were no failing businesses who needed zakat
> assistance. =A0The collectors' and distributors' expenses did not make a
> dent in what was brought to Baghdad. =A0There was no poverty among those
> who were not muslim, or any other need that they were unable to provide
> for themselves. =A0The money was spent on teaching hospitals, which was a=
s
> close as they could come to funding students, one of the purposes for
> which Zakat may be spent ~ there were no students who needed additional
> funding to pursue their studies.
It would have been grand had this been true. But I fear it is a
fantasy.
Assuming it is not your fantasy - could you give us a reference to
where we might find these things stated and the historical evidence
for them mentioned?
hajj abujamal
On 10/1/2010 8:25 PM, DKleinecke wrote:
> hajj abujamal wrote:
>> Fully implemented, with sanctions for nonperformance, this economic
>> component of private enterprise free market consumer capitalism
>> lifted the entire Arab muslim empire out of poverty during the time
>> of Harun ar-Rashid. Zakat was collected and there was no one
>> eligible to receive it who might have paid it had their capital
>> reached the threshold ~ every one of those people paid it and could
>> thus not receive it. There were no destitute. There were no
>> failing businesses who needed zakat assistance. The collectors' and
>> distributors' expenses did not make a dent in what was brought to
>> Baghdad. There was no poverty among those who were not muslim, or
>> any other need that they were unable to provide for themselves. The
>> money was spent on teaching hospitals, which was as close as they
>> could come to funding students, one of the purposes for which Zakat
>> may be spent ~ there were no students who needed additional funding
>> to pursue their studies.
> It would have been grand had this been true. But I fear it is a
> fantasy.
Your fears are not evidence.
> Assuming it is not your fantasy - could you give us a reference to
> where we might find these things stated and the historical evidence
> for them mentioned?
I assert this history, an extant historical evidence of which is
teaching hospitals. Obviously they have an origin, and as you present
yourself as a competent researcher, surely you can determine that origin
for yourself, as any responsible scholar would do before challenging the
veracity of another's account. Instead, you impugn the history I
present with innuendo, speculation, and unsupported denial.
You "fear it is a fantasy." Produce evidence to justify your fear.
Your fear does not change history.
DKleinecke
> =A0 =A0 I assert this history, an extant historical evidence of which is
> teaching hospitals. =A0Obviously they have an origin, and as you present
> yourself as a competent researcher, surely you can determine that origin
> for yourself, as any responsible scholar would do before challenging the
> veracity of another's account. =A0Instead, you impugn the history I
> present with innuendo, speculation, and unsupported denial.
All I did was ask you for a reference or two. You seem to have none.
All I can do is wonder ...
It would be interesting to learn more about teaching hospitals.
But your paragraph that I questioned mentioned many more things than
hospitals. I am aware of most of the material that has come down to
us
from the second century about social conditions in Bagdad or anywhere
else and I find it very meager. I say the second because you
mentioned
Haroun al-Rashid.
You can't reliably use later writers because more than one of them
was
doing exactly what I said - writing a fantasy - a romance about a
lost
golden age. You can read an echo of this fantasy in the Arabian
Nights.
hajj abujamal
On 10/2/2010 5:38 PM, DKleinecke wrote:
> All I did was ask you for a reference or two. You seem to have none.
> All I can do is wonder ...
I've been researching, investigating, studying, teaching, and
practicing Islam, full time, with no other pursuits, for half a century,
from sources both muslim and "Western." My personal library of books
that I have read and, in some cases, annotated, spans over sixty feet of
bookshelf space. I have rarely kept "notes," I have no need of knowing
just "where" I made a discovery that I verified and confirmed from
multiple other sources of which I also did not keep track. Should you
wish to know what I know, then drop you pretense of knowing something
and do your own research. Here's why:
You challenged my assertion that Fatimid Egypt perfected private
enterprise free market consumer capitalism before Europe adopted a
crippled economic system from pieces of it. I provided you with a
Western academic reference from a German historian, and you dismissed it
out of hand as unreliable, suggesting that the writer lacked valid
sources ~ which was proof positive that you knew nothing whatever about
the book.
Well, my friend, it matters not a whit whether you accept or deny
what I write. I do not write what cannot be verified from reliable
sources, and in eleven years of posting in this forum and in many
others, nothing I have written has been disproven, only "denied" as you
are wont to do. Your denials prove nothing at all, disprove nothing at
all, but merely bear witness to your devotion to your own ill-formed
opinions based on "information" from hostile sources.
So you can take your clamor for "Proof! Proof!" and stuff it. You
reject scholarly sources from your own culture, imagining that we
(muslims) only cite muslim sources because ignorant muslims will only
consider muslim sources, just as ignorant Westerners will only consider
Western sources. I cite your own sources and you dismiss them because
you didn't know what they say and won't bother to find out for yourself.
Were a hundred ignorant people to argue for a hundred years, they
might come up with something of knowledge by accident, but they would
not recognize it, save a few. You are not one of those few, you deal
only in speculation, and of knowledge you appear to have virtually none
~ and what you do have, you do not recognize as anything other than
another speculation.
> It would be interesting to learn more about teaching hospitals.
By all means go for it. There's some information that you might
recognize as having probative value.
> But your paragraph that I questioned mentioned many more things than
> hospitals. I am aware of most of the material that has come down to
> us from the second century about social conditions in Baghdad or
> anywhere else and I find it very meager. I say the second because
> you mentioned Haroun al-Rashid.
You find it very meager because you have been deliberately kept
ignorant by "scholars" with long-term agendas to suppress much of what
they learn from Arabic sources, who are forbidden by the foundational
premises and terms of Western academia from using "religious" sources,
deal in "theories" and other forms of speculation about everything they
examine including the tools they use to examine it, and, in many cases,
are bound by an oath to God to keep what they know hidden within their
closed initiatory societies.
But you think that evolves "knowledge."
The bottom line is that you cannot begin to imagine "knowledge," and
any reference I could provide that you chose NOT to reject in your
ignorance of it would only give you more fodder for speculation.
And "fodder" ~ as in what is fed to cattle ~ is the precisely
correct term for what your intellect chews into incoherent mush.
> You can't reliably use later writers because more than one of them
> was doing exactly what I said - writing a fantasy - a romance about
> a lost golden age. You can read an echo of this fantasy in the
> Arabian Nights.
You don't have a clue about what in the "Arabian Nights" is fantasy
and what is reality. And without the written records of the Abbasid
Dynasty ~ which have been preserved in Arabic and are studied by some
real scholars ~ you can't know what you're talking about.
hajj abujamal
For religious leaders:
"Recognizing that the ultimate aim and goal of all prophetic faiths
established in the land is a pluralistic, multicultural, libertarian,
free and voluntary federation, without suzerainty or delegation of
executive, legislative, or judiciary powers, of pacific autonomous local
religious and ethnic communities, each constituted and independently
self-governing according to the common understanding of the mandates of
faith among the members of each local assembly, we, the undersigned
sureties and representatives of the houses of faith identified with our
signatures, after due consultation among and resolve of the members of
our respective congregations, pledge the cooperation and commitment of
our communities of faith to the formation of such a federation, to be
known as The Pacific Federation or such other name yet to be determined,
reserving ratification of such articles, common or bilateral treaties,
or other agreements affecting such confederation with provision for free
secession, pending consensual unanimity among the contracting parties.
______________________________________________________________
Signature, Printed Name, Local community & Contact Information
Mail to:
Muslim America
Post Office Box 231
Springdale, Washington 99173-0231
or eMail to l...@muslimamerica.net for further information.