It was therefore prescribed as a cleansing of one’s wealth, a purification of the soul, an act of servitude to the Lord, and a kindness shown to His creation.

Zakah is one of the pillars of Islam, among its great structural supports, as the proofs of the Qur’an and Sunnah abundantly attest. In the Qur’an, Allah has coupled it with prayer in eighty-two instances.

The Muslims are unanimously agreed that it is a pillar of Islam, and this consensus rests upon the texts of the Qur’an and Sunnah. Whoever denies its obligation falls into unbelief, and whoever withholds it is a flagrant sinner. The Companions fought those who refused to pay zakah and regarded their lives and property as forfeit, for they had withheld a major rite of Islam.

Zakah is one of the beauties of Islam—the religion that came with equality, mercy, mutual affection, cooperation, and the eradication of every evil that threatens virtue, security, prosperity, and the other elements of a happy life in this world and of everlasting bliss in the Hereafter. Allah has made it a purification for its payer from the vice of miserliness, a means of both material and spiritual growth, a vehicle of equality among His servants, assistance from the rich to their deserving brothers, and a cause of unity when the wealthy freely give the rightful share of their assets.

Through this noble and judicious obligation it becomes clear that Islam is the religion of social solidarity: it guarantees the destitute, those unable to earn a living, what will sustain them; it is also the religion of freedom, for it permits the wealthy to own property in return for their effort and endeavor while obliging them to pay zakah so that their needy brothers may be treated on an equal footing. Thus Islam is the middle path—neither confiscatory communism nor tight-fisted, monopolistic capitalism. Allah, exalted is He, has warned against withholding zakah and has threatened its defaulters with punishment both immediate and deferred. Allah alone grants success.