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:

What is Khums? On what it is to be paid? What is its Rate? Is it obligatory? What is Wajebat which Kothar ask for? Is it islamic for kothar to fix wajebaat at Rs. 4552 or 5552 for an individual who wish to go for salam to sydena in ramdahan?

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Answer:

Zakaat and 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.

Your comment: What is Khums?

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

Allah says in the Holy Quran, Chapter 8 Surah Anfaal verse 41: And know whatever spoils of war you have got, the ‘khums’ (a fifth) of these is for Allah and His Messenger, and for the relatives and the orphans, and the needy and the wayfarers.

Your comment: On what it is to be paid?

Khums was paid ONLY on the war-booty that the believers collected when they won the wars with the disbelievers. In the whole history of Islam, this ‘khums’ was never levied on the wealth of the believers!

Your comment: What is its Rate?

When all the war-booty that the muslims got when they won the wars with the disbelievers, they deposited this war-booty in the Central Treasury (or Bayt-ul-Maal). From this war-booty, a khums or 20% was for Allah and His Last Messenger (saws), and the balance 80% was distributed amongst the muslim army.

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 amongst you and give that all back to you, and keep very little for myself, if any.”

Your comment: Is it (paying of khums) obligatory?

The khums or 20% tax on the war-booty was obligatory during the times of the Prophet (saws), and would be obligatory in the case of the war-booty collected after a war between an Islamic and a pagan army!

But without an Islamic State, or a war against the pagans, there is no war-booty, and thus there is no question of the collection of war-booty from the common believers. To collect ‘Khums’ from the believers is absolutely absurd in today’s times!! Some unscrupulous leaders and cheats try to defraud the believers and demand their hard-earned money in the name of Islam. They use and abuse Islam, to illegally fill their own coffers and defraud the believers. They give fancy and Quranic names to their thefts, and call them khums, najwa, zakaah, sadaqa, sabeel, etc. These people and supposed leaders and holy men who collect the ‘khums’ and other such illegal wealth from the hard-working believers, should be ashamed of themselves and fear the reckoning and accounting of Allah on an Inevitable Day! The common believers pay these dues only because they are told by these unscrupulous leaders and holy men that Allah has commanded them to pay these dues to these unscrupulous thieves! They have invented a lie against Allah; but little do they realize, that Allah is watching over everything they do and will hold them to a severe Reckoning on the Day of Judgement!

Allah says about these kinds 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".

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 9 Surah Taubah verses 34-35:O you who believe! There are indeed many among the priests and the holy men who devour the wealth of others by evil means, and debar the people from the Way of Allah. Give them the good news of a painful torment, who hoard up gold and silver and do not expend these in the Way of Allah. The Day shall surely come when the same gold and silver shall be heated in the fire of Hell, and with it will be branded their foreheads, their bodies and their backs. (And it will be said): “Here is that treasure you had hoarded up for yourselves! Taste now the evil of your hoarded treasure!”

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 7 Surah Aaraf verse 37:Then, who can be more wicked than the one who invents falsehood and attributes these to Allah, or treats the True Revelations as false?

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 clear aayahs of the Glorious Quran, there is no way he/she would ever pay the ‘khums’ to these unscrupulous thieves in the garb of holy men!. ‘Khums’ was never ever collected from the muslims in the history of Islam!! No wonder, these unscrupulous leaders do not allow their followers to understand the Holy Quran! It would close down all their sources of illegally and immorally ‘milking’ their followers in the name of Allah!

All Power and All Strength is with Allah Alone, and He is enough as a Reckoner! These cheats and frauds in the garb of holy men can fool their followers, or maybe even themselves; But they can never deceive Allah Subhanah … and when they do meet him on the Day of Judgement, they will bear the brunt of their lies and cons that they invented, and cheated the believers in the Blessed Name of their Lord!

Your comment: What is Wajebat which Kothar ask for?

Wajebaat is the plural of ‘wajib’, and literally means some things that are ‘waajib’ or obligatory on you. It is nothing more than a term which has been invented by the unscrupulous kothar, to fill their coffers with the honest and halaal money, which Allah has bestowed from His Bounty of the believers.

Your comment: Is it islamic for kothar to fix wajebaat at Rs. 4552 or 5552 for an individual who wish to go for salam to sydena in ramdahan?

This is the ticket price the kothar have fixed, if one wants to meet the leader of those whose only job is to increase the coffers of the ‘kothar’! There is absolutely nothing Islamic about the collection of wajebaat from the believers! And there is absolutely nothing Islamic about doing salaam to the high priest, or bowing down to him in ‘sajdah’….. In fact, it is un-Islamic and outright and manifest ‘shirk’, if one bows down in sajdah to something other than Allah Subhanah!

The only thing the ‘kothar’ is interested in is your money, and your total submission and subjugation to their will! If you pay them handsomely, they will keep you close…. If you pay them sparingly, they will disown you like you never existed! And the only reason the Bohra followers pay them and treat the ‘Royal Family’ like demi-gods, is because they believe that these people can somehow help them in the Court of Allah with their intercession! And the Bohra leadership have taken full advantage of the Quranic ignorance of their followers, and having worn the pious garb, and taking the name of Islam, they have ‘milked’ their followers until they are dry!!!!

May Allah guide our brethren to read and understand the clear and open guidance of the Holy Quran, so that they can come back to the True Deen of Islam!

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