The Philosophy of Zakāt — Page 10
THE PH ILOSOPHY OF ZAKAT 10 and does not extend his hand begging. The point in mentioning the ‘Miskeen’ quite separate from the poor is that he is more deserving than an ordinary poor man and God Almighty has especially drawn the attention of those responsible for disbursing Zak ā t to bear that fact in mind when distributing alms. They must not give preference to those who come craving and clamoring and ignore those who stand aloof and hesitant. Those who maintain their dignity and give a proof of high moral integrity do deserve much m ore consideration. The Holy Prophet, peace be on him, had condemned begging. 3. The Staff R esponsible The department and the staff engaged especially for the administration and disbursement of Zak ā t have to be paid from this fund only. 4. For T hose W hose H earts A re to B e R econciled The literal meaning of ‘AL - MUALLAFAT - AL - QULUB’ is ‘those whose hearts have become joined with you ‘. Under this category come those who, on account of some kind of fear from the disbelievers, do not or cannot come out in the open and declare themselves Mus lims, but are definitely very much inclined towards Islam. It would be permissible to render assistance to such men to come out of the sphere of influence of the disbelievers. Then there are those men who are thoroughly convinced of the truth of Islam but are in the unhappy position of losing their means of livelihood if they declare that they are