[Chapter]

The zakat collector should supplicate for those who pay it when they do so, to encourage them to hasten in its payment, to distinguish them from the dhimmīs, and in compliance with the saying of Allah Most High: “Take from their wealth a charity by which you purify them and cause them to grow, and pray for them. Indeed, your prayer is a source of reassurance for them” (Quran 9:103).

It was narrated that ʿAbdullah ibn Abī Awfā—who was among the Companions of the Tree—said: “When a people brought their charity to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he would say, ‘O Allah, bless them.’” He said: “Then my father brought him his charity, and he said, ‘O Allah, bless the household of Abī Awfā.’”

If a man conceals the zakat due on his wealth and hides it from a just collector, the collector should take it from him when he discovers it, after investigating the reason for its concealment. If the man intended to pay it himself, he should not be subjected to discretionary punishment. But if he concealed it in order to misappropriate it and withhold Allah’s due from it, he should be subjected to discretionary punishment.

Should he also be made to pay an additional amount? The explicit position reported from Aḥmad is: “No additional amount is due from him.” In the report of Bakr ibn Muḥammad from his father, he said: “If he withholds the charity, I take it from him, but I do not take anything beyond what he was obligated to pay.” He was asked, “How do you reconcile this with the hadith?” He replied, “I do not know how it applies.”