As a muslim, when I make a post about wealth in the holy month of ramadan, most of you might think it's about zakah (zakah is the obligatory payment made annually under Islamic law on certain kinds of property and used for charitable and religious purposes). Well, you are right then. Zakah is one of the 5 pillars of Islam and alh'amdulillah (all praise be to Allah) for allowing me to share some insight about this important pillar of Islam.
[Please note that zakah has no relation with the month of ramadan. Zakah is a due amount which is to be given out on a yearly basis. But most people consider the month ramadan to be the end (or start) of annual cycle. You CAN plan for zakah on any other month.]
It is obligatory on EVERY believer to know about the obligation of zakah. Specifically, upon every believer who has wealth BEYOND a minimum level. Notice the keywords in bold letters.
A condition of obligatory zakah, is to have complete ownership of the wealth on which the zakah is being calculated. This is the part which my post is about - complete ownership. Unfortunately, because of the tremendously flawed financial systems which are dominating the economies we sometimes fail to recognize what is our OWN wealth. [p.s. No offense to the people involved in financial industries, but the interest based financial systems must definitely be classified as a flawed financial system. Islamic shariah proposes financial systems which are NOT interest based and can provide better benefits for socio-economic impacts in the long run. Sadly, even many islamic banks don't always follow that entirely]
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| Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:National_Bank_Oamaru.jpg |
