Zakat (Tax)

Non-Muslims

There is scholarly consensus (ijma`) that non-Muslims are not to benefit from the zakat.^[4][5][6][7] This has led to mainstream Islamic charities, like Islamic Relief, almost exclusively focusing their humanitarian work in Muslim majority nations or areas in non-Muslim countries which are heavily populated by Muslim minorities.^[8] In the aftermath of the 2010 Pakistan floods, many Christian survivors were denied aid supplied by Muslim charities for this very reason.^[9]

On the other hand, it is permissible to give sadaqah (regular, voluntary charity, not the obligatory zakat) to poor non-Muslims, on the preconditions that they "have not carried out any hostile actions against the Muslims" and that the charity is provided only "to soften their hearts towards Islam".^[10]

Jihadists

It is obligatory to distribute zakat among only eight categories of recipients. One of the most important categories is "those fighting for Allah, meaning people engaged in Islamic military operations for whom no salary has been allotted in the army roster (but who are volunteers for jihad without remuneration)."^[11][12] This has lead to numerous Islamic charities all over the world funding terrorism.^[13]

An example of modern-day conflicts where those who are participating are considered in Islam to be fighting in "the Way of Allah" and where "zakat must be spent", include, "Palestine, Kashmir, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Chad, Somalia, Cyprus, Samarqand, Bukhara, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Albania and several other occupied countries."^[14][15]

Islamic Terms

Islamic terms are often not completely analogous to the commonly-accepted/non-Islamic concepts they are mostly associated with. In Islamic terms, zakat is both a tax and a charity, and no problem is seen with discussing it as both, along with actual voluntary Islamic charity (i.e. the sadaqah). But by its commonly-accepted definition, it is strictly a tax.

Donation and Taxation

When considering compulsory taxation in most non-Islamic nations, it is charged on certain goods and is taken by the state from individual yearly earnings and then in part distributed to those within the state who are unemployed, or other public services, such as the state's military services. In essence, this tax functions exactly as zakat does, however those who pay taxes do not consider it charity, nor are they viewed as charitable. They are simply paying what they have to pay in order to live in the society they live in.

Like taxes, zakat is a fard (obligatory) requirement from Muslims, amounting to about 2.5% of one's wealth over the course of a year. It is levied on five categories of property—food grains; fruit; camels, cattle, sheep, and goats; gold and silver; and movable goods—and is payable each year after one year’s possession.^[1]

The collection and expenditure of this zakat throughout Islam's history has been a function of the state. The compulsory payment was collected and distributed by the state under the Prophet Muhammad, the Rightly-Guided Caliphs, the later Caliphate, and is even collected and distributed by the state in some theocracies today (for example, Saudi Arabia).^[1] Likewise, the beneficiaries of the zakat are generally the less wealth members of the Muslim Ummah and those who are participating in violent conflicts (Jihad).

Thus a proper understanding of zakat makes it, in all but name, a tax, not a form of charity. And although there no longer remains a global caliphate to enforce this tax on every Muslim, it does not change what it is or how it is viewed, inside and outside of Islam.

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