M4KTABA

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Zakat in Islam: Beyond Charity, Toward Economic Justice

For many Muslims in the West, zakat is often framed as a personal act of generosity: a religious duty fulfilled annually through a quiet donation to a charitable cause. But to the classical scholars of Islam, zakat was never merely private charity. It was a public institution, an economic pillar, and a divine system for wealth circulation that was meant to be actively governed and enforced.

Zakat as a Financial Right, Not Voluntary Charity

Classical scholars like al-Māwardī (d. 1058) in al-Aḥkām al-Sulṭāniyyah and Ibn Ḥazm (d. 1064) in al-Muḥallā treated zakat as a ḥaqq, a right of the poor, not a discretionary act of giving. Al-Māwardī, writing in a context where Islamic governance was still intact, emphasized that the imam (leader) is responsible for appointing collectors, distributing zakat justly, and compelling those who withhold it. He framed zakat as an administrative obligation of the state, not a mere spiritual preference of individuals.

Ibn Ḥazm was even more forceful. He held that anyone eligible to receive zakat had a claim in front of God and society, and if denied it, could take legal action. In his view, wealth beyond one's needs was a public trust that belonged to the categories Allah specified in Sūrat al-Tawbah (9:60).

Challenging the Modern View: Zakat as Social Redistribution

This classical vision stands in sharp contrast to how zakat is practiced today, especially in the West. Most Muslims treat it as a private transaction: they calculate 2.5% of their wealth, donate it to a cause of their choosing, and consider their obligation fulfilled. The idea that zakat is part of an economic system meant to rebalance structural inequities is rarely discussed.

The early fuqahā’ saw zakat as a way to redirect idle wealth, support the unlanded and marginalized, and prevent hoarding. Al-Māwardī wrote that if local leaders failed to administer zakat, they were violating a key function of governance. Zakat, then, was closer to tax policy plus welfare, not optional generosity.

Ray Dalio and the Rise-and-Fall of Orders

In his book The Changing World Order, Ray Dalio argues that economic inequality and the breakdown of wealth distribution mechanisms often precede the decline of empires. He warns that when the rich hoard wealth while the poor are systemically denied access, the resulting instability leads to internal conflict and collapse.

What Dalio describes in macroeconomic terms, Islamic scholars warned about through the institution of zakat. Zakat was designed to regularly redistribute wealth and prevent the concentration of capital. It was a God-mandated response to the social imbalances that lead to resentment, unrest, and ultimately societal breakdown.

In a world of rising inequality, inflation, and political instability, zakat is more relevant than ever—not as charity, but as economic justice.

What the West Has Lost: From System to Symbol

Muslims in the West often give zakat quietly, alone, with little communal oversight or shared strategy. While the intention is noble, the result is fragmentation. The ummah has lost the institutional power of zakat as a lever for economic transformation.

The Prophet (ﷺ) and his successors appointed zakat administrators. Wealth was collected, verified, distributed. Today, that infrastructure barely exists outside of scattered NGOs. And without it, zakat becomes more symbolic than systemic.

Reimagining Zakat Today

This is not a call to guilt, but to rediscovery. What if we began to see zakat as the early Muslims saw it? Not just as an individual duty, but as a community-wide obligation with social, economic, and even political dimensions? What if we revived local zakat councils? Developed communal funds? Made the distribution of zakat transparent, strategic, and tied to actual economic uplift?

Zakat is not just about feeding the poor. It's about dismantling the causes of poverty. It's not about feeling pious. It's about honoring the haqq that others have in our wealth.

May we not only pay zakat, but also rebuild its purpose.

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في امان الله.