The Quran

Preface

۞ إِنَّمَا الصَّدَقاتُ لِلفُقَراءِ وَالمَساكينِ وَالعامِلينَ عَلَيها وَالمُؤَلَّفَةِ قُلوبُهُم وَفِي الرِّقابِ وَالغارِمينَ وَفي سَبيلِ اللَّهِ وَابنِ السَّبيلِ ۖ فَريضَةً مِنَ اللَّهِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ عَليمٌ حَكيمٌ

Yusuf Ali

Alms are for the poor and the needy, and those employed to administer the (funds); for those whose hearts have been (recently) reconciled (to Truth); for those in bondage and in debt; in the cause of God. and for the wayfarer:¹ (thus is it) ordained by God, and God is full of knowledge and wisdom.

Zakah or charitable gifts are to be given to the poor and the needy and those who are employed in their service. That is, charitable funds are not to be diverted to other uses, but the genuine expenses of administering charity are properly chargeable to such funds. Who are the needy? Besides the ordinary indigent, there are certain classes of people whose need is great and should be relieved. Those mentioned here are: (1) men who have been weaned from hostility to Truth, who would probably be persecuted by their former associates, and require assistance until they establish new connections in their new environment; (2) those in bondage, literally and figuratively; captives of war must be redeemed; slaves should be helped to freedom; those in the bondage of ignorance or superstition or unfavourable environment should be helped to freedom to develop their own gifts; (3) those who are held in the grip of debt should be helped to economic freedom; (4) those who are struggling and striving in God’s Cause by teaching or fighting or in duties assigned to them by the righteous Imām, who are thus unable to earn their ordinary living; and (5) strangers stranded on the way. All these have a claim to charity. They should be relieved by individual or organised effort, but in a responsible way. In this verse, the word sadaqah refers to obligatory charity (zakah). See n. 1318 above. (R).