The Philosophy of Zakāt — Page 14
THE PH ILOSOPHY OF ZAKAT 14 helped out of his difficulty from the Zak ā t funds. If a poor man happens to go to the prison and leaves nothing for his wife and children to live upon , they also have a right to get help from the Zak ā t funds. In short the Zak ā t disbursements are so flexib le that all types of men of any religion or nation could derive benefit from it without any sufferance or humiliation, because payments are made by the government and not by any individual. lndividuals, even if they wish, cannot pay out their Zak ā t money t o the poor themselves. Take my own case. I cannot distribute my Zak ā t money to the poor myself. It has got to be paid into the government treasury from where it will be duly distributed among the deserving poor and the needy. If the government pays my mone y to my neighbor, he shall receive it from the government even though it may be the money that I had paid. Thus my neighbor will not be under any debt of gratitude to me and feel any humiliation or any sense of shame. Therefore under the Zak ā t system no po or man has any cause to feel disgrace or to hide his face and in spite of the fact that he has received the amount that was paid by his rich neighbor, he has no need to look small and humiliated. He can say that he has not taken any help from him. ’ (Tareek h - i - Ahmadiyya, Vol. 5, pp. 66 - 67)