What is Zakat in Islam?
Zakat (also spelled Zakaat or Zakah), or almsgiving, is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. This means that Zakat is mandatory for Muslims, along with the other four sacred pillars of Islam.
For every sane, adult Muslim who owns wealth over a certain amount – known as the Nisab – he or she must pay 2.5% of that wealth as Zakat.
Eligible Muslims pay Zakat once a year, and it is due as soon as one lunar (Islamic) year has passed since meeting or exceeding the Nisab. The Zakat of every Muslim is then distributed to those who meet the criteria to receive it.
How much is Zakat?
Your Zakat donation should amount to 2.5% of your total Zakat-eligible wealth. For example:
- If your total assets (after debts) amount to $10,000, you would pay $250.
Use a Zakat calculator to determine how much you owe.
What are the 2 types of Zakat?
- Zakat Al-Mal: The Zakat of wealth. This is the 2.5% obligatory donation paid annually by Muslims who exceed the Nisab threshold.
- Zakat Al-Fitr (Fitrana): A charitable donation of food given before Eid prayer, before the end of Ramadan, as an act of worship.
What happens if you don’t pay Zakat?
Zakat is a fundamental pillar of Islam, and failing to pay it when eligible has serious consequences. It can result in punishment in the Hereafter and lack of barakah (blessings) in wealth and life.
Warnings from the Qur’an and Hadith:
“Those who hoard up treasures of gold and silver and spend them not in the way of Allah; give them the news of a painful punishment, on the Day when that (wealth) will be heated in the Fire of Hell and with it will be branded their forehead, their sides, and their backs, (and it will be said to them:) ‘This is the treasure which you hoarded for yourselves. Now taste of what you used to hoard.’”
(Qur’an 9:34-35)
“Whoever is made wealthy by Allah and does not pay the Zakat of his wealth, then on the Day of Resurrection his wealth will be made like a bald-headed poisonous male snake with two black spots over the eyes. The snake will encircle his neck and bite his cheeks and say, ‘I am your wealth, I am your treasure.’”
(Hadith | Bukhari)