43وَأَقيمُوا الصَّلاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكاةَ وَاركَعوا مَعَ الرّاكِعينَMuhammad Asadand be constant in prayer, and spend in charity,1 and bow down in prayer with all who thus bow down.In Islamic Law, zakah denotes an obligatory tax, incumbent on Muslims, which is meant to purify a person's capital and income from the taint of selfishness (hence the name). The proceeds of this tax are to be spent mainly, but not exclusively, on the poor. Whenever, therefore, this term bears the above legal implication, I translate it as "the purifying dues". Since, however, in this verse it refers to the children of Israel and obviously implies only acts of charity towards the poor, it is more appropriate to translate it as "almsgiving" or "charity". I have also adopted this latter rendering in all instances where the term zakah, though relating to Muslims, does not apply specifically to the obligatory tax as such (e.g., in 73:20, where this term appears for the first time in the chronology of revelation).