Zakat as a Means of Purification

Zakat as a Means of Purification

Shaykh Joe Bradford

Opening Praise and Testimony

Indeed, all praise is for Allah; we praise Him, and we seek help from Him and ask for His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our own selves and from the evils of our actions. Whomever Allah guides, there is none to misguide, and whomever He misguides, there is none to guide. And I bear witness that there is no god worthy of worship except Allah alone, and He has no partners. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and messenger.

O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared and do not die except as Muslims.

O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women. And fear Allah, through whom you ask one another, and the wombs. Indeed, Allah is ever, over you, an Observer.

O you who have believed, fear Allah and speak words of appropriate justice. He will correct for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly achieved a great achievement.

أَمَّا بَعْدُ فَإِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْحَدِيثِ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ وَخَيْرَ الْهُدَى هُدَى مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَشَرَّ الْأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا وَكُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ وَكُلَّ ضَلَالَةٍ فِي النَّارِ

The best speech is the speech of Allah, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace be upon him), and the worst of matters are those newly invented, and every newly invented matter is an innovation, and every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.

وَإِنَّ مَا تُوعَدُونَ لَآتٍ وَمَا أَنتُم بِمُعْجِزِينَ

And that which you are promised will come to pass, and you will not cause failure.

Allah is whom we praise. We praise Him and we thank Him. And we seek refuge in Him from the evil of our own souls and the evil of our actions. Whomsoever He guides, none can misguide Him. And whomsoever He leaves astray, none can guide to the truth. And I bear witness that there is no one worthy of worship but God Almighty alone, and that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is His slave and messenger.

O you who believe, be mindful of Allah as He should be minded and do not die except as Muslims. O mankind, be mindful of your Lord who created you from one soul and from that soul its mate and from those two spread many men and many women. And be mindful of the wombs that bore you and be mindful of those you ask your rights from for He is ever watchful over you.

O you who believe, be mindful of Allah and speak the truth. He will guide you to righteous deeds and forgive you of your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His messenger has achieved the greatest achievement.

The best of speech is the speech of Allah. And the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace be upon him). And the worst of things are those newly introduced and everything newly introduced is an innovation and every innovation leads astray and everything which leads astray will lead to the hellfire.

And that which we were promised by Allah will come to pass and there is nothing we can do to prevent it.

The Five Golden Words - A Prophetic Teaching

Narrated by Imam Al-Tirmidhi in his Jamia from Abu Hurairah and Abu Ya'la in his Musnad from Wathilah with a good chain as Al-Hafidh Ibn Hajar said, that the Prophet (peace be upon him) went out to his companions one day and said: "Who will take these words from me and act according to them or teach someone who will act according to them?"

مَنْ يُعَلِّمُ بِهِنَّ أَوْ يَعْمَلُ بِهِنَّ فَيَعْمَلُ

Imam Al-Tirmidhi narrates in his Jamia that the Prophet (peace be upon him) came out of his home one day to his companions and he said: "Who will take from me these great words and act according to them or teach someone that will act according to them?"

Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) raised his hand and he said:

فَأَخَذَ بِيَدِي فَعَدَّ خَمْسًا

Abu Hurairah says: "The Prophet (peace be upon him) took me by the hand and he started to count five."

The Five Principles of Spiritual Excellence

First Principle: Avoiding the Forbidden

اتَّقِ الْمَحَارِمَ تَكُنْ أَعْبَدَ النَّاسِ

"Be mindful of those things which Allah has forbidden. You will be the most worshipful of people."

Second Principle: Contentment with Divine Decree

وَارْضَ بِمَا قَسَمَ اللَّهُ لَكَ تَكُنْ أَغْنَى النَّاسِ

"Be content with what Allah has allocated to you. You will be the richest of people."

Third Principle: Excellence to Neighbors

وَأَحْسِنُ إِلَى جَارِكَ تَكُنْ مُؤْمِنًا

"And be good to your neighbors and you will be a believer."

Fourth Principle: Universal Love and Brotherhood

وَأَحِبَّ لِلنَّاسِ مَا تُحِبُّ لِنَفْسِكَ تَكُنْ مُسْلِمًا

"And love for people what you love for yourself. You will be a Muslim."

Fifth Principle: Moderation in Laughter

وَلَا تُكْثِرُ مِنَ الصَّحِكِ فَإِنَّ كَثْرَةَ الصَّحِكِ تُمِيتُ الْقَلْبَ

"And do not laugh a lot because lots of laughing will kill the heart."

Preparing for Ramadan Through Spiritual Purification

Notice that the Prophet (peace be upon him) is giving us keys that will open up for us the benefiting from the short period of time that we have left between now and Ramadan. Every Ramadan we get excited about coming to the masjid every night for tarawih, about gathering with our families in the morning for suhoor, gathering with our communities for iftar, praying the night in tarawih, reading the Qur'an, doing so many things.

And then after about 3-4 days, the burnout hits us. We start to say to ourselves: "I wish I was able to go longer, I wish I could stand longer, I wish I had more time, I wish I had prepared more." In this hadith, the Prophet (peace be upon him) is giving us a very easy solution for preparing ourselves spiritually, and especially for the momentous spiritual event known as Ramadan.

The Foundation of Worship: Avoiding Sin

اتَّقِ الْمَحَارِمَ تَكُنْ أَعْبَدَ النَّاسِ

"Be mindful of those things that Allah has forbidden. You will be the most worshipful of people."

A lot of times, when we think about being a worshipful person, we think of it as having prayed a lot, as having fasted a lot, as having given a lot of sadaqah, as having read the Qur'an the most, as having the most austere appearance on the outside.

But in reality, it all starts with the mindfulness of Allah - Taqwa. To be mindful of those things which Allah has forbidden. Notice that he (peace be upon him) connected being worshipful to Allah not with an action, but with the absence of action, with removing oneself from an instance in which they may do something haram.

Many times, it's not the good deeds that slow us down, but it's the weight of our sins and our mistakes that stop us from reaching the heights that Allah has destined for us.

Al-Hasan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

مَا عِنْدَ الْعَابِدِينَ أَفْضَلُّ شَيْءٍ مِنْ تَرْكِ مَا نَهَاهُمُ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ

"Those who worship Allah have no better matter of worship than leaving off those things that He has forbidden for them."

The Purification Process: Cleaning the Vessel of the Heart

When a person is able to train themselves to leave off what Allah has forbidden, then it's like someone going on a diet. Everyone complains of weight loss, of diabetes, of all different types of physical maladies. We go to the doctor, we see those long commercials on television that tell us: "take this and it's gonna solve your problem." And at the end in a very quick voice, they mention all the bad things that it can do to us as well.

And you go to the doctor and he says: "you know what, if you just stop eating sugar, you'll be good."

Because sometimes before you can drink out of a glass and enjoy it, you have to clean it out.

Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) used to say:

إِنَّ الْقُلُوبَ أَوْعِيَةُ

"Your hearts are vessels."

Until you purify the vessel which is your heart, until that glass that you're going to pour water into and drink from is clean, you'll never be satisfied. You'll never be satiated. You'll never feel comfortable with yourself because something inside of it was turning you off.

The Spiritual Sickness of the Heart

Have you ever noticed sometimes that even food when we're sick doesn't taste good? Even drink feels like something that's harming us because of what's in our bodies. And spiritually our hearts are the same way. Just as our bodies get sick, our hearts get sick.

And just as we have to abstain from certain things to cleanse the body of those things, we have to abstain from certain things to cleanse the heart from them as well. This is a process that scholars of suluk call التَّخْلِيَةُ وَالتَّحْلِيَةُ - to remove something that's harmful and then to clean it and sweeten it afterwards.

The Quranic Concept of Zakat: Purification of the Soul

Allah points to this when He says:

"Successful is the one who purifies it (the soul), and failed is the one who corrupts it."

The word zakat in the Arabic language doesn't just mean charity. It doesn't mean obligation. It doesn't mean giving money. The word zakat is used for a plant. When it has reached a certain level of growth, it can't grow anymore unless it sheds its foliage, it drops its leaves, it removes disease from itself and its outer hull. It's then supple and sweet, vulnerable but able to grow stronger.

The process of ridding oneself of what's harmful and taking on nutrients to be able to grow stronger, this is the process of zakat. Which is why Allah called the pillar of Islam as zakat. Because it's a process where we give away what we love to help ourselves grow stronger spiritually and financially.

قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَن زَكَاهَا - "Successful is he who purifies his soul." Purifying, removing those things inside of it that cause it to never be satisfied.

وَقَدْ خَابَ مَن دَسَّاهَا - "And failed is he who corrupts it" - who buries his heart, disregards his heart.

دَسَّاهَا comes from the meaning of burying something underground like a dog buries a bone, or like a person will go and bury trash, thinking that the trash is gone, it's out of sight. But it's seeping into the ground and polluting the water and the land.

Understanding Allah's Boundaries: The Small Circle of Prohibition

If we think about what Allah has forbidden for us, many times when we hear the word haram, we don't smile and become happy. But we should understand that those things which Allah has forbidden are very small. They exist in a very small sphere in the corpus of Islam, in the body and the ethos of Islam.

Those things which Allah has allowed for us are everything outside of the small circle of what He has forbidden. But when our mindset is set only on the negative reaction that we have to these small things, they become sweet and delicious. As they say: "Everything new is tasty. Every forbidden fruit is sweeter."

But when we realize that Allah has forbidden these things - and they're a small number of things - but He's forbidden them so that we can enjoy so much more, this changes our mindset and allows us to understand what it is that Allah wants from us by leaving off those small things.

The Distinction Between Good and Evil Actions

Some of the salaf used to say:

أَعْمَالُ الْبِرِّ يَعْمَلُهَا كُلُّ أَحَدٍ يَعْمَلُهَا الْبَرُّ وَالْفَاجِرُ

"Good deeds are done by good people and by evil people."

وَأَمَّا الْمَعَاصِي فَلَا يَتْرُكُهَا إِلَّا صِدِّيقُ

"But as far as sins, they're not left off except by a person who is a siddiq - truthful with Allah, truthful with himself, and truthful with the people."

The Divine Enumeration of Prohibitions

Allah enumerates for us those things which He has forbidden - those things which are the greatest things which He has forbidden: