76 chapter two
Second: Zakàh levy
Zakàh is an earmarked tax stipulated in the Qur"àn, operationally
organised by the Prophet and politically emphasised as a state right
by the first caliph Abù-Bakr (d. 634 A.C.). The Qur"àn stipulates
the earmarking characteristics of Zakàh by specifying the manner in
which its revenue should be spent, but without determining the tax
base, the threshold or the rate. The Prophet organised the tax by
clarifying the type of wealth on which it is levied, the threshold and
the tax rate. The political dimension of Zakàh was stressed by the
first Caliph when he successfully fought a group of Muslims over it
after the Prophet’s death; Zakàh has been known since as one of
the state’s prerogatives with no individual’s discretion. It was not
until the reign of the third Caliph Uthmàn (d. 656 A.C.) when the
state’s revenues became very large that the Caliph decided that, with
the exception of Zakàh on pecuniary wealth, individuals may pay
their Zakàh, on the Caliphs behalf, to whichever extent they saw fit
judged by their own religious conscience (Al-Neim, 1969). The new
practice seemed to have opened the door for various state collection
policies throughout history, ranging between compulsory state admin-
istrations to situations where the collection is organized by non-state
institutions on a voluntary basis.
Special caution ought to be exercised when referring to Zakàh as
tax. Muslim writers, in general, object to associating the term tax to
Zakàh in defense of it, as it is one of the sacred five pillars of Islam.
But if Zakàh is regarded as a tax, and in this case it will have to
be regarded as a very special religiously motivated tax, it is a tax
of the following characteristics:
- It is a religious tax that is considered as a type of worship. (Zakàh
is regarded as one of five pillars of Islam; the other four are: wit-
nessing that there is no God but one and Muœammad is His mes-
senger, prayers, fasting the month of Ramadan, and pilgrimage
for whoever can afford it). - It is an earmarked tax the proceeds of which should be spent in
a certain manner specified in the Qur"àn, in which the beneficiaries
are “the poor, the pauper, the people who collect it, the new con-
vert, the liberation of slaves, the indebted, in the cause of God
and the wayfarer” (Qur"àn, 9:60). - Zakàh has a broad tax base and a rate differential according to
the type of economic activities, which are defined in the Sunnah.