and wishes to fast every other day, pray for one-third of the night, and devote himself to worship through prayer, then we do not give him zakat, because the benefit of worship is confined to the worshipper himself, unlike knowledge. Hence it is said: “The death of a scholar is more beloved to Satan than the death of a thousand worshippers.” It is related that Satan’s soldiers said to him, “Why do you rejoice at the death of a scholar but not at the death of a worshipper?” He replied, “I will show you.” So he sent someone to the worshipper and asked him, “Is Allah able to place the heavens and the earths inside an egg?” The worshipper replied, “He is not able.”

He then sent someone to the scholar and asked him the same question. The scholar replied, “His command, when He wills something, is only to say to it, ‘Be,’ and it is.”

“And the needy: they find most of it or half of it, …”

His statement, “the needy,” is the plural of miskīn (a needy person). They are described in this way because poverty has rendered them still—that is, it has humiliated them. This does not mean that they are entirely devoid of means; rather, it means that need has made them subdued. Generally, a wealthy person possesses dignity and energy, unlike the needy person, whom poverty has subdued and humiliated, so that he does not speak and sees no worth in himself.

His statement, “they find,” is best understood as the predicate of an omitted subject; the meaning is: “They find.” We may also say that “the needy” is the subject and “they find” its predicate. However, this is opposed by the fact that “the needy” is itself the predicate of an implied subject, namely: “The second category is the needy.”

His statement, “most of it,” means: most of what suffices them.

His statement, “half of it,” means: half of what suffices them. As for one who finds all that suffices him, he is wealthy and has no entitlement to zakat.

Issue: The poor are in greater need than the needy, and this may be inferred