The Philosophy of Zakāt — Page 24
THE PH ILOSOPHY OF ZAKAT 24 revealed to him: ‘And among them there are those who made a covenant with Allah, saying, “If He gives us of His bounty, we would most surely give alms and be of the virtuous. ” But when He gave them of His bounty, they became niggardly of it, and they turned away in aversio n. So He requited them with hypocrisy which shall last in their hearts until the day when they shall meet Him, because they broke their promise to Allah, and because they lied. ’ ( 9:75 - 77 ) Someone went to Th’a labah and told him that some verses had been received concerning him. Th’alabah at once came running to the Holy Prophet and offered to pay the Zak ā t. But the Holy Prophet refused to accept from him anything and said, ‘Allah has comman ded me not to accept any alms from you as you have been guilty of breaking your words. ’ After the demise of the Holy Prophet, Th’alabah brought the due Zak ā t portion to Abu Bakr, to Umar and to Othman every year. But each of these Caliphs refused to accept anything from him. The man died during the caliphate of Hazrat Othman. Haritha bin Wahab reports that he heard the Holy Prophet, peace be on him, say: ‘Spend in the way of Allah because a time will come on you when man shall take his alms to give and we’ll find no one to give it to. Another will say: Had you brought it yester day, I would have accepted but today I do not need it. ’ (Bukhari) Precisely according to these prophetic words, there came a time during the middle and later Khilafat when the Muslims had