Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Dear Brother, The kothar is now demanding that we pay them an amount over and above the zakat, and they have called it ‘khums’. I talked to the aamil saheb (who is a bhaisaheb) and he showed me from an aayah of the Quran regarding ‘khums’. They wanted to collect 20% of my salary, which is just not affordable by me, therefore I had to lie about my salary. Could you please explain to me what is this ‘khums’ issue in detail, giving evidence from the Quran. Your emails are informative and explains everything giving evidence only from the Quran and the Traditions of our Prophet (saws). Jazak Allah. Brother, I now feel, after reading your sabaqs and answers to the questions, that I must read and understand the words of Allah. I need a translation in easy lay-man English, which will help me understand the message of our Lord. Which one should I read? I hope you reply to my question as soon as possible, as my heart says something is not right with the way we have been practicing our religion in the name of Islam.

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Answer:

Khums

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Khums literally means 1/5th in Arabic, which is equal to 20%. In the Holy Quran, the Khums is a commandment for the distribution of booty collected by the muslims in wars with the ‘Kaafirs’

Allah says in the Holy Quran, Chapter 8 Surah Anfaal (and Anfaal by the way means war-booty itself!) aayat 41:And know whatever spoils of war you have got, a fifth of these is for Allah and His Messenger, and for the relatives and the orphans, and the needy and the wayfarers.

Allow me give you small description of what used to happen during the war and its booties collected, in the days of jahiliyaa (before Islam). Whenever a war was fought, the people who won the battle, would collect the war booty of the defeated army, like their weapons, shields, horses, camels, food, etc. or anything else they could lay their hands on. And the way the war-booty was distributed in the days before the Prophet (saws), was, whoever got his hands on the booty, it belonged to him.

Thus after the first and most important battle of Islam, the Battle of Badr, where the muslims got a lot of war-booty from the victory at Badr, the question of the distribution of the war-booty arose and thus the Surah Anfal was revealed by Allah. In the very first Aayat, Allah says, that the war-booty belongs only to Allah and His Messenger ... Thus everybody who believed in Allah and the Last Day, were told to deposit all the war-booty they had collected from the battlefield, with the Prophet (saws) and then the above aayat regarding the distribution of ‘Khums’ was revealed. Therefore, the Prophet (saws) kept 20% and the rest 80% was distributed evenly between the soldiers who fought in the war.

The Prophet (saws) said in an authentic narration: “Even the 20% of the war-booty that is kept by me(saws), I distribute it to the poor and needy and give that all back to you, and keep very little for myself, if any.”

I hope that clarifies the khums issue... The Khums was a 20% cut from the war-booty, and even this the Prophet (saws) distributed to the poor and the needy. But today there is no war, and thus there is no question of the collection of war-booty. To collect ‘Khums’ from Muslims is absolutely absurd in todays times!!

These people give fancy names to the money they demand from the poor souls!!! First they called it Zakat, then wajebaat, then what not. Now they want to collect Khums!!! And they try to prove these actions from the Quran to take out money from these people.

Allah says about these kind of people in The Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah aayat 174: "Indeed those, who conceal the commands that Allah has sent down in His book and barter them away for paltry worldly gains, fill their bellies with Fire!! Allah will not speak to them on the Day of Resurrection, nor will He regard them as pure, and there is a painful torment for them".

The reason they are able to collect these monies from the believers is that these poor souls have never read and understood the Quran. If one knew the meaning of the aayats of the Quran, there is no way he/she would ever pay the ‘khums’. This is from the war-booty the muslims collected when they fought with the ‘kaafirs’. ‘Khums’ was never ever collected from the muslims in the history of Islam!! No wonder the guidance and understanding of the Holy Quran is kept so far away from the mumineen!

The second part of your question is: Brother, I now feel, after reading your sabaqs and answers to the questions, that I must read and understand the words of Allah. I need a translation in easy lay-man English, which will help me understand the message of our Lord. Which one should I read?

Jazak Allah Kheir for reading our sabaqs and the answers to the questions. Alhamdolillah (All Praise is due to none but Allah), you have decided to read and understand the Quran for yourself. You cannot believe the favor you are about to do to yourself. You have, Insha Allah, made an intention to read the Holy Quran! The Holy Quran is undoubtedly one of the biggest Blessings and Mercies from the All-Knowing, All Wise, Allah. He, in His Divine Wisdom, sent us the message to show us the Straight Path. If you read and understand the Holy Quran, even once, nobody will ever be able to misguide you in the name of Islam, Insha Allah. May Allah open your heart to understand the simple message of the Quran, which are the very Words of the All-Wise, All-Knowing, Allah, Lord of the Worlds!!

Brother you can actually read any translation of the Holy Quran you want. They are all the same in meaning. There is absolutely no difference in their meanings whatsoever. You will realize, once you start reading, how easy it is to understand the words of wisdom from our Lord and Creator. You will realize, Insha Allah, that all this talk of the Quran being impossible to comprehend by fools like us is a myth, and a plan to keep us away from the guidance sent by our Creator. The one that I would recommend is the one, which is universally accepted by most muslims in the world, as being one of the most authentic translations of the Holy Quran in the English language. The translator’s name is Yusuf Abdulla Ali, who incidentally was a Dawoodi Bohra himself, and was born in Surat and died in England. There are many other eminent scholars who have translated the Holy Quran in English, and you can read any one of them, and I again assure you, there is absolutely no difference in their meanings. Another good translation is one by Abul A’ala Maudidi, who was born in India and died in Pakistan.

May Allah make us of those who read and understand the Quran to understand Islam in its entirety. May Allah open our hearts to the wisdom and guidance of the Quran. May Allah protect us and take retribution from the people who try to conceal the guidance of the Holy Quran from us with their illogical reasoning that the Quran is only to be understood by them alone.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan