System of Zakāt in Pakistan: an appraisal

Zakat (and `ushr) is one of the five tenets of Islam. It ranks in importance immediately after the prayers (salah). Literal meanings of zakat are growth as well as purification. The Qur'an says: "Take alms of their wealth, wherewith thou mayst purify them and mayest make them grow..."(9:103). The growth may be either in reference to the recipient poor who are expected to grow on it or leads to increase in material welfare of the payer in this world and to hope that he will be more than compensated in hereafter.1 In practical terms it is an obligatory transfer, by a Muslim,2 of the ownership of a prescribed nisab3 as defined by the Shari`ah (Islamic Law), to the poor. Zakat is not a tax in the ordinary sense. It is an act of worship like prayers, and fasting etc.