11-13-2004, 03:03 AM
Wa alilkumus salaam wa rhamatuhallahi wa barakatuh everyone,
In regards to your question Aadil, what I have learned from our Fiqh class we have at our Masjid Zakat is based on these factors. Lets say you give Zakat in every Ramadan. The money you must pay the 2.5% on is the money you have been able to SAVE for one full year, ie; Ramadan to the next Ramadan. This total must be $1000 dollars minimum. So if you had lets say $2000 dollars last Ramadan saved and this year you have $3000 dollars saved. You pay the 2.5% on the $3000 dollars you have saved. This money is Fard you must pay to the needy in your community. You can give the money directly to the people you know that need help. If you do not know who needs help you can give the money to the Masjid in the Zakat fund and insha'Allah the people at the Masjid can give to the people they know who need the help. You also must pay Zakat on your wife's jewelery and it has to be a certian amount of gold and silver that you pay on. I can not remember the exact amount of grams of each you must have to pay the Zakat on.(any help here my Brothers and Sisters?)
Zakat-ul Fitr is something different that is Fard on every Muslim to pay before the end of the Khutbah on the day of Eid. It is based on two hand fulls of rice, corn, cheese or whatever the staple food of you region is. Here the amount is at least $8 dollars per family member in your household. I have seen other posts that this must be given in the food and not money. Today this would be difficult to do and the food may go to waste and we know who gets the food that is wasted, Shaytan. It is better to pay in money so the needy people can go and purchase the food they need or pay bills that they need.
Please correct me if I am wrong here. Anything I said that is true is from Allah(SWT) and anything wrong I said is my own fault, so please correct me if I am wrong so that we all have the reminder that we all should give to our Brothers and Sisters at all times to make ourself a better Muslim insha'Allah.
Wa salaam,
Ahmed