Alhamdulillah for Lloyds TSB Bank

Posted on January 19, 2007 by Amal Abdalhakim-Douglas

This post was sent out through a different forum some time back but it makes sense to repeat it here.
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Bismillah

Yesterday one of the major British High Street banks announced that they are beginning to offer Islamic Banking to their Muslim customers, Allahu Akbar.

They quite rightly state that official figures of 2 million Muslims in Britain is too valuable a market to ignore. Far from denounce the banks I applaud them for their astuteness. Apparently Muslims will have a say in how the money from those accounts gets invested. Some will argue that this is more power and influence being accorded to the Muslims.

Some may wonder why this this announcement a good thing for the Muslims. Ten reasons are set out below:

1. It confirms that by sheer numbers alone the kuffar realise that Muslims are a force to be reckoned with.

2. UK Muslims will themselves realise that financially they represent a significant value to the UK economy

3. Islamic banks will probably not be able to compete with the high street banks and thus hopefully close down.

4. Seeing the kuffar in control of “Islamic banking” will force Muslims to wake up and realise that “something” is wrong with that.

5. Muslims will realise that Islamic banking is absolutely no different than having Islamic pork, Islamic adultery or of course “Islamic Riba” which is exactly what banking is.

6. Muslims and others will realise that the banks do not make their significant money from charging interest or other bank charges but that they make it from literally making money out of nothing, and that any single pound deposited in a UK bank permits them to lend out at least ten times that amount, at interest.

7. Muslims will realise that they must obey Allah in His command of paying the Zakat and in His prohibition of abandoning riba (see Umar Vadillo’s Fatwa on Banking).

8. Muslims will realise that in both establishing Zakat and abandoning riba we must return to using the Islamic Gold Dinar (IGD) and Silver Dirham (ISD)

9. The Open Trade Network (http://www.opentrade.org.uk) and other similar organisations striving to establish Islamic trade will gain increased support from UK and other Muslims.

10. UK based Muslims and others will join the growing movement of communities striving to establish Zakat (http://www.zakatpages.com) according to the Sunnah of our beloved Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

Ma Salama
Technique of the Coup de Banque - A brilliant book by Shaykh Abdalqadir as Sufi

Filed under: Education, Leadership, Money & Finance | 26 Comments »

Zakat – A Question of Muslim leadership

Posted on November 28, 2006 by Amal Abdalhakim-Douglas

In the Name of Allah!

Many people have asked aabout the connection between Zakat and Muslim leadership. Without a doubt, it is absolulely crucial that we address this matter.

Imam al-Sarakhsi (Hanafi) says in al-Mabsut

“Zakat is a right of Allah and is to collected by the leader of the Muslims or his appointees. If anyone pays his Zakat to anyone else, it does not remove from him the obligation of Zakat.”

Imam Ahmad (Hanbali) says in ash-Sharih ar-Rabbani li Musnad Ahmad:

“The khalifa alone has the authority and responsibility to collect and distribute Zakat, whether by himself or through those he appoints and he has the authority and responsibility to fight those who refuse to pay it.”

Imam ash-Shafi’i says in al-Umm About the Qur’anic category of ‘those who collect it:

“…they are those appointed by the khalifa of the Muslims to collect and distribute Zakat.”

Imam Malik says in his Muwatta:

“The distribution of Zakat is up to the individual judgement of the man in charge…There is no fixed share for the collector of Zakat except as the leader of the Muslims sees fit.”

So we can see that all of the four schools of thought (Madhab) point to the necessity of clear Muslim authority in order that Zakat can be collected and distributed properly, and therefore a position contrary to this would be a dangerous one.

Previously we looked at the necessity to pay Zakat in kind (ie. livestock, agricultural produce or, gold and siliver). The fiqh also clearly points out that it is to be distributed locally to specific categories of people.

So bearing all these things in mind, we must ask ourselves how can it be that many people continue to:

1. Send their Zakat to a charity who may send it abroad or use it on general charitable work.
2. Not pay ‘in-kind’, ie. with the right currency (gold or silver)
3. Send their Zakat abroad to relatives, or
4. Not ensure it has gone to te right category of recipient.

What people are doing are very generous and commendable acts of sadaqa, but outwardly they do not fulfil the requirements of Zakat.

If it is simply a matter of us doing our best given the circumstances then may Allah accept it as such, but the question is what are we aiming for?

The truth is that most of us pay much less attention to the fundamental characteristics of Zakat than we do to the Salat or Ramadhan or even Hajj?’

When we look at the fiqh we will see that those things that make zakat valid are:

• Intention
• Collection
• Local Distribution
• Correct Time
• Correct Elements (paid with the right means)

The Muslim charities must also take some of the responsibility. They must desist from calling the donations they solicit and receive Zakat. For unless they implement those things that validate Zakat, under a clear leadership, then they could be guilty of misleading (not necessarily deliberately) Muslims on this very important matter.

If one were to take a picture or even a 3D model of the Kaba and walk around it seven times we would not call it Hajj. Similarly if we were to abstain from all food except water and bread in Ramadhan that would not be fulfilling our obligation to fast. In fact if someone told us these things fulfilled our obligation we would consider them at least ignorant if not deviant Muslims.

So this brings us back to the question of Muslim leadership!

One of the first things we must do is stop putting impossible conditions on our leaders in terms of their qualities and character. We must look for and empower leaders amongst us at the local level.

There are Mosques a-plenty in the UK with appointed Imams and committees so this new breed of leader will not start by challenging either the mosque leadership or the Muslim charities. Those people must be supported and encouraged to ensure the correct establishment of the prayer, teach the deen and support needy Muslims locally and abroad.

However, the two very important things these newly empowered leaders will be charged with are:

1. The collection and distribution of Zakat, and
2. The announcing of the beginning and ending of Ramadhan based on an actual physical sighting of the moon in a geographically relevant/connected place.

These are the two issues that can not only unite the Muslims of any country and any locality, but are also along with the abandoning of riba (usury) be a major source of dawah and forming strategic links with the non-Muslims.

These are the issues that any Muslim activist must put at the top of their agenda because these are not only fard but they are pillars of the deen.

May Allah grant us suceess and show us the truth as truth and make us follow it, and the false as false and make us avoid it. Amin.

Filed under: Leadership, Zakat | 3 Comments »

Is it Practical to Collect & Distribute Zakat in Gold?

Posted on October 13, 2006 by Amal Abdalhakim-Douglas

In the book ‘Zakat – Raising a Fallen Pillar’ the key elements that were identified as being necessary in restoring the proper collection of Zakat included; a) the Gold Dinar (for monetary wealth), b) Local Distribution, and c) Muslim Authority (Amirate).
Gold Dinar
In the first few years of implementing this policy all these elements were duly combined. Islamic Gold Dinars were obtained and someone appointed to act as a Wakil in terms of selling them to those who needed them to pay Zakat and redeeming them (at the same price) from recipients if they wanted paper money to spend. In practice some people already had dinars or got them from other sources and some recipients preferred to hold on to the gold or sell them elsewhere, but at least the option to redeem was made readily available.

Several cities, not just in the UK but also other parts of the world, have followed this Norwich example, and one of the results has been more people contacting local amirs in order to participate, in that they want to pay Zakat properly and see it distributed locally.

However, in many situations we find that the previous system of supplying Islamic Gold Dinars is not necessarily sustainable as both the demand for dinars increases, and the realities of the fluctuation of the gold price plays its part. I’m not unduly worried that the payer might buy a dinar for one price and the recipient redeem it for a little less. I think that is a situation people will readily understand and accept if it is made clear as we do when changing pound into Euros or dollars at any Bureau de Change. A good example of making this clear is the Dinar Exchange website.

My concern is that not insisting on any one of the three elements listed above may mean us edging towards the slippery slope that begins with accepting the use of paper money in Zakat for the sake of expedience and ends somewhere else much too far down the line.

Despite this, I must accept that collecting and distributing Zakat in paper money at this time may indeed be what we have to do in some particular and very specific circumstances, but I also believe that even in these situations we must insist that Zakat is at least valued, assessed and stated in Islamic Gold Dinar value.

Then we have to make it clear to payers of Zakat that they must also make the effort to locate and obtain the appropriate amount of gold in order to fulfil their obligation, just as they would do somthing to establish the prayer should the local mosque close down. We should also not forget that there are many other gold coinages being minted around the world which would all be acceptable as payment for Zakat and indeed may be more readily available. These include the Chinese Panda, South African Krugerrand, American Eagle, Candian Maple Leaf and British Sovereign. The Krugerrand in particular is almost perfect as an 8 Dinar coin meaning the nisab would be the equivalent of 2.5 krugerrand.

Additionally we have to continuously push the boundaries in terms of widespread usage of the Islamic Gold Dinar by shopkeepers, other traders, currency dealers, jewellers and savers, and of course we have to continue striving to make the redemption of gold for paper money as easy as possible for Zakat recipients.

Filed under: Gold Dinar, Leadership, Zakat | 3 Comments »

Assalamu Alaikum!

Posted on September 24, 2006 by Amal Abdalhakim-Douglas

Assalamu Alaikum and Ramadan Mubarak!!

We all know how the reward for good actions is multiplied in this blessed month, so it makes sense to use it to begin to address what else Allah as made incumbent upon us. Namely, the third pillar of the Deen, Zakat.

In this blog I would like to draw attention to a number of articles, websites and other resources that address the matter of restoring this ‘fallen” pillar to it’s rightful splendour and according to the Sunnah, i.e. the practices of the earliest community in Madina and those who followed them, and, of course, the rulings of the scholars of the accepted four madhabs.

What we will discover from the classical fiqh will also be of great importance to a lot of Muslim charities.

Please free to add your comments, suggestions or questions.

This link will take you to an assessment form which many individuals have used to help calculate Zakat due on monetary wealth. A revised version will hopefully be added at some point soon

May Allah show us the true as true and make us follow it, and the false as false and make us avoid it. Amin.

Filed under: Zakat | 2 Comments »

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