Human Solution
\r\nWith the proclamation of zakah, Islam began to take on the contours of a social movement. It no longer functioned only as a religion. Zakah only took on its true weight with the formation of the Medinan political community. A certain indication of this character of zakah is the fact that it is mentioned in the Quran eight times in the Mekkan suras, and twenty-two times in the Medinan suras.
\r\nZakah is a response to a phenomenon which by itself is not one-sided. Misery is not only a social issue. Its cause is not only the privation but also the evil in human souls. Deprivation is its external side, and sin is its internal side. How else can we explain the existence of misery in affluent societies? In the second half of the twentieth century, one-third of mankind is chronically under nourished. Is that owing to a lack of goods or to a lack of feelings? Every solution to the problem of misery must include the confession of guilt and, in addition, must serve as a penitence. Every social solution must include a human solution. It should not only change economic relations but also the relations between man and man. It should bring about the just distribution of goods as well as proper upbringing, love, and sympathy.
\r\nPoverty is a problem, but it is also a sin. It is not solved only through a shift of the ownership of goods but also through personal striving, aim, and good will. Nothing would be done in the true sense of the word if the ownership of this world's goods changed, but hatred, exploitation, and subjugation remain in man's soul. Man needs a religion which is politics and politics which are ethics, or charity which can become a social obligation, a tax. Thus we come to the definition of zakah.
\r\nPeople are mirrored in zakah. It depends on them whether it will be a tax or a voluntary giving from man to man. Zakah demands money chests and hearts to be opened. Zakah is a great river of goods flowing from heart to heart, from man to man. Zakah eliminates poverty among the poor and indifference among the rich. It reduces material differences between people and brings them closer to each other.
\r\nCompiled From:
\r\n "Islam Between East and West" - Alija Ali Izetbegovic, pp. 205-207