AOA,
Per above video (In Urdu by Javed Ahmad Ghamidi), if our zakat to pay is 3000 and we have paid 2500 in income taxes, then we should only pay the difference which is 500 in zakat.
Does this seem correct?
I have always paid taxes and zakat differently.
No, it’s incorrect. Taxes and zakat should be paid differently. Pay attention that tax and zakat have different concepts and are used in different aspects so they should be paid differently. Some of their important differences are:
Paying zakat is an Islamic order but tax is a government order.
Tax is spent for government needs but zakat is spent for Muslim needs.
Zakat is used to remove poverty but tax is used to supply expenditure of government.
Zakat has specified limitation and is belonged to specified materials but tax doesn't have specified limitation and government experts specify its limit.
Etc...
(Reference in Persian: Al-Jami li-Ahkam, volume2, page732)
government order at the time of Abu Bakr. 2- Since tax was collected by government in Abu Bakr(RA) time, it was most likely used for running govt and for helping people 3- Government also works to remove poverty. They set minimum wages etc to protect every one rights. Govt is necessity, not frugality. 4- Zakat is far less money than tax money. Therefore if one pays excess of Tax, that should cover Zakat. Zakat was collected by govt at Abu Bakr, Umar, Usman and Ali (RA) time that means it can be collected by force which basically become tax money.
I would tend to agree with this. Zakat was not enforced at the time of Prophet Muhammad. If we look at the situation back then, it was probably never needed to be enforced since the Sahahbas usually would fully obey by the order of Muhammad (PBUH). There was not need to enforce such a thing strictly.
After The Prophet (PBUH) died, people started a revolt and refused to pay Zakat. Abu Bakr (RA) fought against these people and collected Zakat by force. Excerpt from this link
The second major problem faced by Hadrat Abu Bakr Siddiq ra was that many people refused to pay the Zakat, which was essential for fulfilling the needs of the Islamic state and caring of the poor. Hadrat Abu Bakr ra vowed to collect Zakat from every one and took all the necessary measures to achieve this goal.
This link (Shia view) says that the first two caliphs took Zakat revenue using tax collectors. This means it was made compulsory at the time of first two caliphs. There was no option of not taking it. This article also says, Ali (RA) also took Zakat by force but he introduced some leniency in it. That is people may choose not to pay.
I think it obvious from the links that everyone paid Zakat at the time of the prophet so there was not need of enforcing it. But after the prophet (PBUH), people did not want to pay Zakat as their Iman weakend. The caliphs did the right decision to take Zakat for force.
In my opinion, Zakat was always enforced in Islam. We have proof that the first four caliphs collected Zakat as tax so Tax is Zakat. You do not need to pay Zakat and Tax separate.
Islam does not put extra burden on people. There is no need to pay Zakat and Tax separate. If you have paid 2500 tax, and you own 3000 Zakat, you can simply pay 500 as Zakat and you are all set.
Even if we pay zakkat singly or collectively under a team (the latter is preferred most, so a community got benefitted) it should be scrutinized and we should assure that A single penny is not wasted. But in team work it's their duty to distribute among poor as Islam said. We are paying them in the Name of Allah and giving them trusts too. So the leaders and the authority are questionable (not only here but also in every situations that's why the khaleefaS RA were more tensed be worried than the locals). Whether they are utilising it for the good or bad, necessarily or in unnecessarily is left to them in this Duniya but not in Aakhira. All the nation's great leaders like Ambedkar from INDIA were so passionate towards Prophet Muhammad SwA concepts. They included his voices in every nations constitutional agendas. So don't worry dears. It's only my small knowledge about these things like urs and everybody's. Allah a'alam. But he takes after every body and every thing. And please don't do unnecessary debates and quarrels among ourselves. They are strictly against his visions. There are a lot of different solutions in every problems with different thoughts as Quran said
I thought about this a little and by no means am I a scholar of any sort. I partially agree with the concept of income taxes paid covering zakaat. As mentioned in one of the earlier posts, the government uses monies earned through individual income taxes for several purposes including infrastructure maintenance, possibly government employee payroll, helping the less fortunate for food, heating, medical care. I would not consider income tax in itself as a replacement for zakaat. So the question is, how much of the income tax is used to pay for food stamps, foreign aid, Medicaid, etc. because this helps those in need directly which is the intent of zakaat. If anyone on this thread can accurately state the percentage of the federal and state taxes paid going into Medicaid, food stamps, home heating, etc., that amount, I believe should be considered zakaat already paid. Thanks
This is wrong incometax in UK is used to look after the poor in society and as such is the equivalent of zakat. In the time of the prophet there was no such thing as social care and the poor were not given benefits. That is why zakat was introduced. In the West income tax is much higher than the zakat most people will ever pay hence it is not relevant today.if you work and pay income tax you are contributing to help the poor with you tax
