Islam's Reformers .pdf

countries.After quoting the preceding âyat, he says, “Allâhu ta’âlâ hasdistributed possessions and property to society. Society isobliged to use these possessions well. Society essentially ownsall possessions. Heirs [trustees] have the right to use thesepossessions only with the permission of society,” thusslandering Islamic religion and attempting to reform it. Hestruggles to imbue the younger generations with his socialisticideas under the name of tafsîr.9) In his books World’s Peace and Islam and IslamicStudies, he says, “The zakât is a tax. The government collectsthis tax. It is not an interaction that takes place between twoindividuals face to face. It is not an individual gift or alms that ispassed over from hand to hand. It is not a mode of order whichIslam prescribes to separate the zakât of one’s property withone’s own hands and to distribute it with one’s own hands. Theword which says that the property of which zakât has beengiven cannot be counted as stocked property [kanz] is notcorrect. The government can lay hands on it.” These words ofSayyid Qutb are not suitable with Islam, and they are his ownwrong thoughts [1] . It is written in all the books of fiqh that theproperty of which zakât has been paid is not kanz and that thegovernment can by no means lay hands on it. It is written in al-Ahkâm as-sultâniyya and also in many valuable books, “‘Zakât’ and ‘alms’ are used in the same meaning in the Qur’ân.Nobody has any share from Muslim’s property besides its zakât.A hadîth declares, ‘There is no claim to [others’] propertybesides zakât.’ The possessions for which zakât has to be paidare of two kinds: al-amwâl az-zâhira and al-amwâl al-bâtina. Alamwâlaz-zâhira are the possessions that cannot be hidden.Examples of these are crops, fruits and the four-footed stockanimals that graze in the field. Al-amwal al-bâtina are thosepossessions that can be hidden. Examples of these are gold,silver and commercial goods. The government cannot demandthe zakât of al-amwâl al-bâtina. The owner has the right to paytheir zakât. If he pays it to the government with his own wish,then the government takes it and distributes it to the kind ofpersons defined by Islam, thus helping the owner. The[1] See the paragraphs 49-53 above, and Endless Bliss, V, chapter onzakât.- 244 -