THOSE WHO DO NOT PAY ZAKÂT

The author of Riyâd-un-nâsihîn ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’ says that Hadrat Alî, the Emîrulmu’mînîn ’kerrem-Allâhu wejheh’, says: Rasûlullah declared in his farewell hajj: “Pay zakât of your property! Be it known that those who do not pay their zakât do not have namâz, fast, hajj, jihâd, or îmân,” which means to say that if a person does not know it as a duty to pay zakât, does not believe that it is fard, is not sorry for not paying it, and does not know that he is sinful, then he becomes a disbeliever. If a person does not pay zakât for years, his debts of zakât pool together and cover all his property. He thinks his property belongs to him; it does not even occur to him that Muslims have rightful shares in that property. His heart never feels sorry. He has clasped the property so tightly. Such people are known as Muslims. But very few of them pass away with îmân. Paying zakât is commanded together with namâz at thirty-two places in the Qur’ân al-kerîm. The thirty-fourth âyat-ikerîma of Tawba sûra declares about such people: “Give the news of very bitter torment to those who save their property and money, but do not pay their zakât to the poor among the Muslims!” The following âyat-i-kerîma informs us of this torment as follows: “Property and money for which zakât is not paid will be heated in Hell-fire and will be pressed on the foreheads, flanks and backs of their owners as if being stamped with a seal.”