The Philosophy of Zakāt — Page 3
THE PH ILOSOPHY OF ZAKAT 3 ‘And He has subjected to you whatever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth; all this is from Him. . . ’ ( 45:14 ) It is, therefore, not at all difficult to understand that all that has been created in the whole of the universe is for the service and the benefit of entire mankind and is not confined or limited to any special persons or groups. These have neither been c reated for Tom, nor for Dick, nor for Harry and for that matter neither for the Pharaoh. Nay, these are created for everyone who is born in this world. Therefore, be it the governor or the governed, be he rich or poor, be he great or small or be he the kin g or one of his subjects, no single person could ever claim to be the sole inheritor and say that these were created only for him. But in actual practice we see that, for various reasons, every man is not deriving equal benefit and there are some who are getting no benefit at all. God has, therefore, directed a special course, a special system under which even those who have no means to get their share may derive a certain benefit from what God has created for mankind and from which they have been totally denied their share. The Holy Quran also guides us to the fact that God alone is the Supreme Master of everything and He alone owns the entire universe and all its contents. He says: ‘To Allah belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth. ’ ( 2:285 ) For the very simple reason that God is the Creator and the Sustainer of all the worlds and men and animals and all else have