Академия Корана:Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān/Almsgiving

Azim Nanji, "Almsgiving" in: Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān, General Editor: J. D. McAuliffe, Georgetown University, Washington DC.

Charitable gifts to relieve the poor. In common with the teachings of most other faiths and more particularly the biblical traditions, the Qurʾān repeatedly emphasizes the moral value of giving. While the term «almsgiving» may suggest a somewhat simple and unfocused act of charity directed at the poor and needy, the Qurʾān articulates through a variety of terms, especially ṣadaqa and zakāt, a very textured and multivalent conception of giving which draws upon the ideals of compassion, social justice, sharing and strengthening the community. As this act aims at being both a social corrective and a spiritual benefit, it reflects the ethical and spiritual values which are associated with wealth, property, resources and voluntary effort in personal as well as communal contexts. It is in this broader sense that Muslims understand almsgiving and apply it in their daily life.

The perspective of the Qurʾān on sharing wealth and individual resources through acts of giving is rooted in specific essential ideals: 1. the absence of a dichotomy between spiritual and material endeavors in human life, i.e. acts sanctioned as a part of faith are also linked to the daily conditions of life in this world; 2. the nature, purpose and function of the Muslim community as «the best of communities created to do good and to struggle against evil» (q 3:110); 3. the trusteeship of wealth and property and hence accountability for the way in which they are expended. These ethical perspectives in the Qurʾān, among others, established the basis for what came to be understood as an Islamic form of giving and its moral significance. As the Muslim philosopher Fazlur Rahman (1919—1988) observed in addressing the key ethical concepts of the Qurʾān", Islam aims necessarily (and not just peripherally or indirectly) at the creation of a world order wherein the imperatives and principles will be embodied in such a way that the «earth shall be reformed» (Some key ethical concepts of the Qurʾān, 182-3). In an essay exploring the use of the qurʾānic term ḥaqq, «real» or «true», Clifford Geertz remarks that one finds the identification of the right with the real at all levels of Islamic practice (Local knowledge, 189). Other Western scholars of Islamic civilization, including Marshall Hodgson, have made the same point.

Inasmuch as true sovereignty, according to the Qurʾān, belongs only to God, the Prophet, his successors, the members of the community and even the state acted as the instruments by which these ideals were to be translated into practice. Individuals within that society, whom God endowed with a capacity to acknowledge and respond to him were seen as trustees through whom the moral and spiritual vision of the Qurʾān was fulfilled in personal and communal life. They were thus accountable for the way in which they used their resources and their wealth, and they earned religious merit by expending them in a socially beneficial way. While recognizing that individuals were endowed with different abilities, resources and property, the Qurʾān emphasizes the ideal of social solidarity and enjoins justice and generosity (q 16:90). In particular, it holds up as truly virtuous those who spend their resources to assist others (q 57:18) and condemns the hoarders of wealth (q 3:180).

The specific notions of setting aside a portion of one’s wealth for others or of recognizing the necessity and value of giving are articulated in the Qurʾān through a number of terms that are often used interchangeably. The most significant of these are ṣadaqa and zakāt. There are a number of other terms that signify «giving» in the Qurʾān. Forms of the verb nafaqa (expend) occur primarily with the sense of expending one’s wealth to please God (e.g. q 2:265). Khayr (charity) is another qurʾānic term which describes beneficent and voluntary acts of giving. Individuals are also urged to offer God «a beautiful loan» (qarḍ ḥasan), the benefit of which will be multiplied many times over by God’s bounty (q 2:245). Since God is deemed to be the ultimate giver, such offerings are interpreted merely as acts of returning to him what is ultimately his.

Ṣadaqa

While the word ṣadaqa and its various forms came to be interpreted in later Muslim religious and legal texts to connote the restricted notion of voluntary — rather than obligatory — giving, ṣadaqa and zakāt are used interchangeably in a broader sense in the Qurʾān. In the Arabic lexicographical literature, the root ṣ-d-q sustains numerous meanings associated with ideas of righteousness and truth. Elsewhere in the Qurʾān, related words, such as al-ṣiddīq (truthful, q 12:46), which is used to describe the prophet Joseph (q.v.), or ṣadīq (trusted friend, q 24:61), reflect this notion of moral excellence. Modern critical scholarship has suggested that the word ṣadaqa is linked etymologically to the Hebrew sedāḳā (almsgiving), leading some experts to conclude that it is a loanword (see foreign vocabulary).

The application of the term in its various contexts in the Qurʾān develops some of the key themes of the ideal of giving. q 9:104-5 links God’s acceptance of repentance (see repentance and penance) with ṣadaqa, thus suggesting its value for the expiation of sins. This is further emphasized by the joining of fasting (q.v.) with ṣadaqa (q 2:196), as ways of fulfilling the obligations of a pilgrimage (ḥajj, see pilgrimage) not completed because of illness or other reasons. Giving also benefits the givers spiritually as part of their quest to seek the «face of God» (q.v.; q 2:272). Such a quest is pursued out of love for God (q 76:8) and may be public or private (q 2:274). According to the Qurʾān, those who give because they seek the face of God will be truly fulfilled (q 30:39). An interesting use of ṣadaqa occurs in what has come to be called in the exegetical literature (tafsīr), the «verse of the audience» (āyat al-najwā, q 58:12), which enjoins the offering of alms before an audience with the Prophet. This suggests that giving alms was viewed as both a way to expiate past sins and display respect, as well as a gesture of recognition of the values embodied by the Prophet, whose own acts of generosity were looked upon as a model for the rest of the followers of Islam.

According to the Qurʾān, words of kindness and compassion are better than ṣadaqa coupled with insult (q 2:263). The donation of alms need not be a gift of material value. It can also consist of voluntary effort (q 9:79) or merely a kind word (q 2:263). It is better to offer alms discreetly to those in need rather than for the purpose of public acknowledgement (q 2:271). The Qurʾān is critical of those who give in order to appear generous or who compromise the value of the act by ostentatious public behavior that serves only to render a normally charitable act purely self-serving (q 2:264).

It is clear from q 58:12 that the Qurʾān envisaged a broad framework both for those who might benefit from the more formalized practice that was evolving in the early Muslim community and for the fiscal support of the community’s needy. Almsgiving served to benefit the early Muslims who had migrated from Mecca with the Prophet (see emigrants and helpers). It was also used to encourage others to join the Muslim community and to support the Muslims in the conflict against Mecca. q 9:60 specifies the types of recipients who ought to benefit from it: those afflicted by poverty; those in need and incapable of assisting themselves; those who act, sometimes in a voluntary capacity, as stewards and custodians to ensure the collection and appropriate expenditure of funds; those whose hearts need to become favorably inclined towards Islam; captives who need to be ransomed; debtors; travelers; and finally those active for the sake of God. All of these categories came to be strictly defined in later legal and exegetical literature. q 2:273 suggests that the broader uses of ṣadaqa were not only to assist the poor but also others who during this period of transition were not visibly in need and who nonetheless either required assistance to enhance their livelihood or needed to be directed towards new occupations and economic opportunities. While one aspect of almsgiving in the Qurʾān was clearly projected towards charitable acts for the poor and the needy, the practice also encompassed the wider goal of applying the donations to improve the general condition and economic well-being of other recipients and constituencies in the growing community (umma).

Zakāt

The word zakāt is etymologically linked to zakā (to be pure). The Qurʾān joins explicitly the word zakāt to other primary acts of belief: «Piety does not consist of merely turning your face to the east or to the west. Rather, the pious person is someone who believes in God, the last day, the angels, the book and the prophets and who out of his love gives his property to his relatives, orphans, the needy, travelers, supplicants and slaves; and who performs the required prayers and pays the zakāt» (q 2:177).

The verb zakā suggests the idea of growth to emphasize that the giving of one’s resources is simultaneously an act which entails the cleansing of oneself and one’s property and, through sharing, an enhancement of the capacity of others. More specifically, this kind of giving is considered in the Qurʾān to be analogous to a fertile garden whose yield is increased by abundant rain (q 2:265). It is this multiple connotation of zakāt that is reflected in subsequent interpretations and in the institutionalization of the principle in Muslim thought and practice. The centrality of zakāt is underscored by the many times it is coupled with the commandment of ritual worship. Right religion is summed up as serving God, sincere obedience (q.v.), virtue (q.v.), worship (q.v.) and paying the zakāt (q 98:5). Abraham (q.v.) and the other prophets, including Jesus (q.v.), enjoined their followers to pay the zakāt (q 19:31; 21:73).

Since one purpose of ritual action in religion in general is to establish and display communal solidarity, the performance of the duty of paying the zakāt acted as a visible symbol of individual commitment to the religious and social values of the growing Muslim community. This significance was further stressed by the incorporation of this duty as part of the observance of the two major Muslim holidays established by the Prophet, the Festival of Fast Breaking (ʿĪd al-Fiṭr) marking the end of Ramaḍān (q.v.) and the Festival of the Sacrifice (ʿĪd al-Aḍḥā), when Muslims celebrate the culmination of the pilgrimage. The acts of giving «purify» the individual’s wealth just as the fasting and the pilgrimage purify the individual. (See festivals and commemorative days.)

The institutionalization of qurʾānic values

The Prophet’s own behavior was perceived as exemplary in the matter of almsgiving and his generous and selfless behavior was a model to be emulated. Reports about the Prophet’s almsgiving counteracted the excessive dogmatism about religious practice that was to emerge later. For instance, ṣadaqa in some reports means every good deed, even removing an obstacle from the road and planting a tree. Some of the Prophet’s statements emphasize that a poor man’s small offering is more meritorious than a rich person’s donation of a large sum.

The fact that the Prophet eventually organized the collection and distribution of alms suggests that the process was being cast into specific institutional forms even in his day. According to the Qurʾān, some of the Bedouin groups which had converted to Islam remonstrated about the paying of the obligatory alms tax (q 9:54-9). Al-Bukhārī (d. 256/870), the compiler of the most respected collection of Sunnī prophetic ḥadīth, cites a report in which the Prophet sends a representative to the Yemen to invite the local tribes to convert to Islam and pay the alms tax. Upon Muḥammad’s death, his close Companion Abū Bakr (q.v.; r. 11/632-13/63-4) assumed the leadership of the nascent community and a number of tribes refused to pay the alms tax because they felt that the death of the Prophet absolved them from the obligations contracted with him (see apostasy). Their actions were perceived as a rebellion against the new authority in Medina which suppressed the revolts and re-imposed the payment of the alms tax. Abū Bakr clearly regarded the payment of the alms tax to be obligatory and its imposition necessary in order to honor the Prophet’s practice and sustain the well-being of the community. Shīʿite sources attributed to ʿAlī and the early imāms, also emphasize the need to entrust zakāt to the rightful authorities since they held the custodial authority to disburse them appropriately.

As the community expanded, through conversion and conquest, Muslim rulers and scholars looked to these values of community maintenance for guidance. Though the world of Islam was to encompass in time considerable geographical and cultural diversity, a common pattern of thought developed and was articulated in theological and legal forms, translating such principles into social practice. The Muslim community was not perceived as a merely religious community in the strictest sense of the word, but also a political, moral and social order (see community and society in the qurʾān). It provided the context in which Muslim thinkers could develop formalized approaches to all spheres of human life, including the institutionalization of the procedures for the collection and distribution of what was offered as alms.

The juristic literature produced by succeeding generations of scholars further formalized the collection and disbursement of the alms tax. Writers attempted to justify the prevailing custom by linking it retrospectively to the practice of the Prophet and other early authorities. In these juristic elaborations, the distinction of zakāt as an obligatory contribution and ṣadaqa as supererogation finally solidifies. The obligatory alms tax was to be paid to the treasury (bayt al-māl), an institution which was developed more fully under the early caliphs.

Nevertheless, legal scholars attempted to elaborate and codify norms and statutes that gave concrete form to the qurʾānic prescriptions associated with almsgiving and their distribution. The work of the Ḥanafī jurist Abū Yūsuf (d. 192/808) on taxes, Kitāb al-Kharāj, which was written during the reign of the ʿAbbasid caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd (r. 170/786-193/809), is an instructive example of the collaboration between jurists and rulers to appropriate and extend such practices as almsgiving as part of the fiscal working of the state. A jurist such as al-Shāfiʿī (d. 204/820) was able to systematize and rationalize prevailing practice in his work. Generally, such works built upon the references to zakāt and ṣadaqa in the Qurʾān, detailing the payments based on the ownership of property, possessions and money, including income generated from farming. They prescribed when an amount was to be paid and to whom, as well as what minimum amounts were due in each category. It is interesting to note that the obligatory alms tax was also extended to include underground resources, such as minerals and treasure troves. The pattern that emerges in these juristic works illustrates clearly that the earlier practices of almsgiving were now developing into a more formalized obligation presented as a religious duty. It is important to note that many of the sources that exemplify the evolution of these practices continued to emphasize the moral agency of the act, linking its obligatory character to religious merit and reward. Moreover, they often identified ṣadaqa and zakāt as a means of seeking God’s pleasure and the reward of the afterlife (see reward and punishment).

In distinguishing between zakāt and ṣadaqa, jurists pointed out that zakāt had specific limits and usages attached to it while ṣadaqa was unlimited. The Shīʿī imām Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (d. 148/765) is said to have emphasized that ṣadaqa spent in the «way of God (see path or way [of god])» included a variety of good works and thus provided a broader context for the charitable use of collected funds. Moreover, there were no constraints in terms of recipients, which could include mosques, individuals in distress or needy individuals who were not impoverished. Jurists often cite the qurʾānic narrative of Joseph (q.v.) where his brothers, unaware of his true identity, ask him to help their family temporarily in distress (q 12:88).

Developments in legal theory also reflect the way different groups in Islam interpreted almsgiving. Shīʿite sources, citing ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (q.v.) and the other early imāms (q.v.), also emphasize the need to pay the alms tax to the rightful authorities. Among the Shīʿīs, alms were to be entrusted to the imām or those designated by him and disbursed in accordance with qurʾānic values. Among Shīʿī groups such as the Twelvers, who believe that the imām is in a state of physical absence from the world (ghayba), alms are to be given to those considered his trusted worldly representatives. Their role is to ensure that alms reach the appropriate recipients. The Ismāʿīlīs interpret almsgiving as both a formal act and a significant spiritual deed whereby individuals employ their resources, talents and knowledge to assist the imām, the legatee of the Prophet, and the community at large.

The Ṣūfīs emphasize the mystical connotation of almsgiving. In certain circles, individuals were known to distribute their entire possessions as alms. Some groups sanctioned the acceptance of alms as a gift emanating directly from God. Other Ṣūfī groups practiced almsgiving both among themselves and throughout the general community. Most Sunnī jurists, fearing that an unjust ruler or authority might abuse such dues, recommend that individuals give the obligatory alms directly to the intended recipients. In some cases they even suggest that if individuals are constrained to give the alms to authorities whom they regard with suspicion, they should distribute the alms a second time directly.

This turn towards systematization and formalization did not preclude acts of voluntary almsgiving outside of what was deemed obligatory. Based again on qurʾānic precedents and prophetic practice, almsgiving was also translated into endowments created in perpetuity. The juristic tradition specified in most instances the ways such gifts were to be regulated. One narrative recounts how the Prophet wished to purchase land from a group for the building of a mosque. Rather than agreeing to sell the land, they gave it to the Prophet for «the sake of God.» These charitable trusts were used to endow mosques, schools, hospitals, water fountains and other useful public structures and they have played an important role throughout Islamic history. Notable Muslims, descendants of the Prophet and many women played noteworthy roles in generating such philanthropic works. These acts were not restricted to benefiting Muslims alone. The Prophet himself specified that non-Muslims could also be beneficiaries of charity and encouraged non-Muslims to establish charitable foundations for the benefit of their own coreligionists.

The qurʾānic obligations were elaborated and articulated parallel to other taxes imposed. Ibn Khaldūn (d. 808/1406) argues in his Muqaddima that in the early history of Islam only those dues stipulated by the law (sharīʿa), such as the alms tax, were levied and these, though they were assessed at a low rate, yielded large sums. In his view, however, as dynasties grew and the state’s economy became more complex, additional burdens in the form of taxes were imposed beyond the limits of equity. These non-qurʾānic taxes penalized enterprise and made people lose hope, thus generating less revenue and causing the economy to shrink. Simplistic as this may sound to modern ears, Ibn Khaldūn’s account does underscore the fact that the qurʾānic taxes, which possessed a spiritual and moral dimension, were eventually supplanted by heavier, secular taxes that undermined the spirit.

Modern almsgiving

As modern Muslim nation-states sought to address questions of identity and development, almsgiving afforded them the opportunity to rethink the relevance of charitable practices. A majority of Muslims live in areas of the world which are considered to be less-developed. Hence, issues of social justice and the equitable distribution of resources figure prominently in discussions of the present-day significance of the qurʾānic injunctions. Some Muslim theorists have advocated the re-introduction of the obligatory alms tax as one element of a general tax policy to add the moral aspect of almsgiving to a modern economic policy.

In recent times, some Muslim states have adopted specific policies to incorporate the payment of the obligatory alms tax into their fiscal framework rather than leave it as a private and personal, voluntary contribution. Sudan and Pakistan are two examples. In Pakistan an alms tax fund was created in 1979 and distributed through a centralized agency for a variety of causes, including feeding the poor and providing scholarships for needy students. However, various Muslim groups, including the Shīʿīs, have objected to these practices on the basis that it is detrimental to traditional almsgiving and to the diversity of practice among Muslims. Many of the more wealthy Muslim countries practice a form of almsgiving by providing assistance to poorer Muslim countries and Islamic causes.

It is, however, within the framework of voluntary giving that the most innovative and sustainable adaptations of the qurʾānic spirit of almsgiving have occurred. Many Muslims, individually or as a community, have developed extensive networks to translate the Qurʾān’s philanthropic values into active vehicles of assistance to a wide variety of constituencies. In some cases, these efforts have taken the form of voluntary associations and charitable organizations to help the poor and the needy in many parts of the world. Historical insight into the way the qurʾānic ideals of almsgiving strengthened communities and ameliorated inequities might still serve to aid Muslims to move beyond mere rhetoric in their search for continuity.

See also

• gift-giving.

Bibliography

Primary

• Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb b. Ibrāhīm, Kitāb al-Kharāj, trans. E. Fagnan, Paris 1921
• Bukhārī Ṣaḥīḥ, trans. A. Houdas and W. Marçais, Les traditions islamiques, 4 vols., Paris 1903-14
• al-Ghazālī, Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad, Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn, N.A. Faris (trans. [partial]), The mysteries of almsgiving, Beirut 1966
• al-Māwardī, al-Aḥkām al-sulṭāniyya, Cairo 1966
• al-Nuʿmān, Abū Ḥanīfa (Qāḍī), Daʿāʾim al-Islām, ed. A.ʿA.A. Fyzee, 2 vols., Cairo 1969
• al-Shāfiʿī, al-Risāla, ed. A.M. Shākir, Cairo 1940, trans. M. Khadduri, al-Shāfiʿī's Risāla Treatise on the foundations of Islamic jurisprudence, Baltimore 1961
• Ṭabarī, Taʾrīkh, trans. W.M. Watt and M.V. McDonald, The history of al-Ṭabarī, Albany 1988-90, vi, vii

Secondary

• M. Ayoub, The Qurʾān and its interpreters, 2 vols., Albany 1984-92
• N. Calder, Zakāt in Imāmī Shīʿī jurisprudence from the tenth to the sixteenth centuries a.d., in bsoas 44 (1981), 468-80
• H. Dean and Z. Khan, Muslim perspectives on welfare, in Journal of social policy 26 (1997), 193—209
• J. Esposito (ed.), Oxford encyclopedia of the modern Islamic world, 4 vols., New York 1995
• C. Geertz, Local knowledge. Further essays in interpretive anthropology, New York 1983
• M. Hodgson, The venture of Islam, 3 vols., Chicago 1974
• A. Nanji, Ethics and taxation. The perspective of the Islamic tradition, in Journal of religious ethics 13 (1985), 161-78
• F.E. Peters, A reader on classical Islam, Princeton 1994
• A. Sachedina, The just ruler in Shīʿite Islam, New York 1988
• F. Rahman, Some key ethical concepts of the Qurʾān, in Journal of religous ethics 2 (1983), 170—185
• N.A. Stillman, Charity and social service in medieval Islam, in Societas 2 (1975), 105-15