Chapter on the emphasis of the obligation of zakah, the explanation of its virtue, and what is related to it: Allah the Exalted said: “And establish prayer and give zakah.”

The reciter: Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions:
He said (may Allah have mercy on him): “Chapter on the emphasis of the obligation of zakah, the explanation of its virtue, and what is related to it:
Allah the Exalted said:

And establish prayer and give zakah

وأقيموا الصلاة وآتوا الزكاة

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And Allah the Exalted said:

And they were not commanded except to worship Allah, [being] sincere to Him in religion, inclining to truth, and to establish prayer and to give zakah. And that is the correct religion.

وما أمروا إلا ليعبدوا الله مخلصين له الدين حنفاء ويقيموا الصلاة ويؤتوا الزكاة وذلك دين القيمة

[Al-Bayyinah 98:5]

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And He said:

Take, [O, Muhammad], from their wealth a charity by which you purify them and cause them increase

خذ من أموالهم صدقة تطهرهم وتزكيهم بها

[At-Tawbah 9:103]

" .

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:
Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his book *Riyad al-Salihin*: “Chapter on the emphasis of the obligation of zakah, the explanation of its virtue, and what is related to it”:
Zakah: It is the third pillar of the pillars of Islam, based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the hadith of Abdullah ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with them both): , and Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) mentions it frequently with prayer in the Noble Qur'an. For this reason, the scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) differed on whether the one who abandons it commits disbelief, just as the one who abandons prayer commits disbelief, or not? There are two opinions.
And zakah: “is the worship of Allah the Exalted by paying a specific amount of money from specific types of wealth”. This specific money is determined: a quarter of a tenth, a half of a tenth, a tenth. And it is paid to a specific group, as will come if Allah wills.
And zakah has great benefits, among which are:
The completion of the servant's Islam, because it is one of the pillars of Islam, and it is better than voluntary charity. That is to say, if a person pays one hundred riyals as zakah or one hundred riyals as voluntary charity, the one hundred riyals of zakah is more beloved to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and better.
And among them: that a person exits the circle of the miserly and enters the circle of the generous, because it is the giving of wealth, and miserliness is the holding back of wealth. So when a person gives it, he exits from being a miser to being a generous person.
And among them: the multiplication of good deeds, because those who spend their wealth in the cause of Allah are like a grain that sprouted seven ears, and in every ear there are a hundred grains: meaning the riyal becomes seven hundred riyals or more.
And among them: that it mends the hearts of the poor and meets their needs and protects from their anger, because if the poor are not given from the wealth of the rich, they may become angry, become bold, and hate the rich. They see that they are in one state and the rich are in another. The Muslim community is one community, and it is obligatory for every person to believe that he is a brick in the wall of a palace with his Muslim brothers, based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): . And among them: that it is a cause for the expansion of the chest, because whenever a person gives something of his wealth, Allah expands his chest for him. This is something tested and real. If a person were to give charity of less than the obligatory zakah, he would find expansion in his heart, he would find expansion in his chest and love for good in his heart. And among them: that it extinguishes the anger of the Lord and averts a bad death. This is a great benefit that averts a bad death: meaning that a person dies in the best state. A good ending—may Allah make my and your ending good—is the most precious thing for a person, because it is the time of parting from this world to the Hereafter, and Satan is most eager regarding the children of Adam at the time of death, because it is the decisive hour, either from the people of the Fire or from the people of Paradise. And in the hadith of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud: : so deeds are by their endings.
And charity, and at its head is zakah, averts a bad death.
And among them: that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed: So the people will have the sun above their heads at a distance of a mile, and these donors, and at the head of their charities is zakah: they will be in the shade of their charities on the Day of Resurrection. And some of the righteous people related to me: that a man used to prevent his family from giving charity from the house, saying: do not give charity. And one day he slept and saw in a dream as if the Hour had stood, and he saw above his head a shade shading him from the sun, except that it had three holes. He said: then dates came and filled these holes. So he was amazed, and what is this dream? How is the cloth torn and dates come to fill the holes? When he related it to his wife, she informed him that she had given charity with a cloth and with three dates. So the first covering was the cloth, but it was torn, and the three dates came and filled the holes. So he rejoiced in that, and after this he allowed her to give charity as much as she wished.
So the result is that this dream is a confirmation of the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): .
And among them: that it softens the heart. Among the benefits of zakah and voluntary charities is that it softens the heart, because when a person gives it to the poor and needy, his heart softens and he has mercy on them. And in that is exposure to the mercy of Allah, because Allah: . And it has many benefits, and the occasion may be too long to mention them all. And the discussion of the verse that the author cited will come, if Allah wills. And Allah is the One who grants success.