War Against Zakat Refusal

REFUSAL

WAR AGAINST ZAKAT

The Quran repeatedly calls the Muslim an Ummah (community).The appellation,i.e the Ummah,by its very definition, presupposes unity, integration and solidarity, not only in external organization but also on the idealogical. The Quran does not mean by this nomenclature a nominally united group-united externally but split up internally.It exhorts the Muslims to remain united and to keep away from schism and disagreement. The prophet after his arrival at Medina formed political purposes a larger community which consisted of the Jews as well. This larger community was shortlived and the non-muslim were eventually excluded from the Islamic community. Now, the solidarity of the Islamic community rests on certain fundamental which can be broadly categorized into law, dogma, and rituals. These formal institutions give an external shape to the community. The Quran talks of the Muslim brotherhood as a blessing from God. Since there was no idealogical disagreement among the Muslims during the time of the Prophet, such as appeared in later times, this idealogical cohesion was vital binding force. The Quran repeatedly talks of the Muslim brotherhood and exhorts them to cooperate with each other. This moral teaching of the Quran for external and internal unity gave a new momentum to the integration of the community. The ideological cementing force during that time of the Prophet was the Quran and the Sunnah. As Allah has stated very clearly in Al-Quran:

The need of integration was actually felt when, during the caliphate of Abu Bakr a number of tribes refused to pay zakat to the state. They believe that zakat only be paid to Rasulullah for his used. Abu Bakr, took the situation seriously and decided to fight with them. He worried because they would influence other Muslims too. Zakat is compulsory to every Muslim. Zakat is one of the basic pillar of Islam and it is stressed many time in the Quran and Sunnah.

The non-payment of zakat was very serious for Abu Bakr, but Umar and some other Companions viewed the situation from a different angle. As the people were neoMuslims, they wanted to treat them with leniency. Umar is reported to have remarked:

“How do you fight with the people while the Prophet has said: I have been commanded to fight with people until they utter “ there is no God but Allah”. But Abu Bakr did not agree with him. He considered those who refuse to pay zakat as apostates and he replied: “ By God, I shall fight with a man who separates what the Prophet had united” . There are different versions of Abu Bakr’s reply to Umar, and his determination to fight with such people is of capital importance for the purpose of inquiry as to how the legal definition of a Muslim developed in later history. Umar seemingly desired to save the community from disintegration, and wanted to include in it the persons who refused to pay zakat .But to Abu Bakr, putting the community on a solid basis and following the practice of the Prophet’s time were more important than integration. This model practice (Sunnah) in the later ages proved to be the unifying force of the community prior to the emergence of the principle of ijma’. Umar changed his stand and ultimately agreed with Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr gave battle to these tribes and brought them to submission. However Abu Bakr did not attack them without warning them first. He sent envoys to the zakat refuser to see if they were still Muslim or not. From this we conclude that, in the early days of Islam ideological integration was emphasized even at the cost of Muslim tribes. Abu Bakr exercised his leadership of the Muslims to maintain the security of Islam. Nowadays, zakat is obligatory upon Muslim who are capable to pay zakat during Ramadhan month.

ISLAMIC LEGAL SYSTEM IJTIHAD OF THE COMPANIONS:

WAR AG AINS T ZA KA T REFUS AL

LECTURER : MR. TAJUL ARIS AHMAD BUSTAMI

GROUP MEMBERS:

1. ATIQA NURANITH (0733096) 2. ‘AWATIF AHMAD BASHIR (0819622)

3. HIDAYATUL AIDA MAHMUD (0816264)

4. AMALINA RAMDZAN (0823168) 5. NUR FARHANA (0829596)