Zakat in the Arabic language means to grow, or to increase literally
(زكى شيء) ( أي زاد ونام) that something experienced زكاة that is to say, it
increased and it grew زاد ونام. And zakat, by paying Zakat, our wealth
grows. And our our wealth is is increased and increases for us in
tangible and intangible ways, we might have less but there's more
barakah and what remains. And it is an increase for those who receive
the Zakat they had less than what they will have after they received
the zakat. It also means taharah it also means purity. And so zakat
purifies our wealth, and purifies it by bringing it into accordance
with those provision and strictures that are pleasing to our Lord, it
purifies our wealth by reminding us associate with the first point that
the wealth we give in zakat is not in reality, our wealth, the
original amount is the wealth of our Lord. Our Lord tells us Allah
(swt) Almighty God tells us (وَآتُوهُم مِّن مَّالِ اللَّهِ
الَّذِي آتَاكُمْ) give them from the wealth of Almighty God that He
has given to you. So in that sense, it's not ours. Once the lunar year,
which we mentioned passes over it, and it's of its value is above the
designated amount is no longer our wealth is the wealth of those who
are due to receive it. And so therefore, the person who doesn't
pay their Zakat is a sinner (آثم). So zakat means to grow and
increase, zakat means to be pure. And so by paying our Zakat, we
purify it from the sin that accrues to one who holds on unlawfully to
the wealth that is no longer theirs, and the language technical
terminology of the Divine Law. Zakat means to spend to convey a
designated portion of wealth to specific categories of recipients,
when certain conditions prevail. The wisdom of the Zakat number one,
is to circulate wealth in the society. So when we pay our Zakat,
a portion of the wealth that might be deprived from people in the
eight categories were mentioned by generally right now we say to the
poor and needy people, that wealth is given and conveyed to them. And
so the wealth doesn't remain the strict possession of those who are
wealthy, but rather, it's given to those who are less fortunate, and
therefore, wealth circulates in society. Another wisdom is it
reminds us, as I mentioned earlier, that the wealth is not ours, the
wealth is our lords, this is very, very important. Because when a
society reaches a point where people consider wealth to be
theirs, then the selfishness on the one hand that prevails, and then
the envy, that that selfishness generates, become very destructive
forces in society. And so one of the wisdom of zakat is to avoid the
prevalence of those destructive forces. Another wisdom of zakat,
and we just alluded to it is to undermine envy on the part of the
poor. So the poor become susceptible to ideologies of
usurpation when the when there's when there's envy, and the envy is
stimulated by a lack of sharing, and a lack of caring and a lack of
compassion. So zakat generates that spirit of sharing that spirit of
cooperation, that spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood that
were connected together. And because we're connected together in
one vast human family, we share that which nominally belongs to us.
And by sharing it, we undermine those destructive forces that can
actually tear apart a society and destabilize it to its root. So this
is one another wisdom of zakat.