RSB14Living the Muslim Life: Zakah and Khums, Hajj, Jihad and Festivals

Zakah (‘purification’) is the compulsory giving of 2.5% of savings each year by every adult Muslim whose wealth is above a minimum amount, the nisab. It is the third Pillar and one of the Ten Acts.

• How it works: it is due on savings and certain goods held for a full lunar year above the nisab (linked to the value of gold or silver). A person’s home, car and everyday belongings don’t count.
• Surah 9:58–60 (named in the specification) lists who receives it: ‘The alms are only for the poor and the needy, and those who collect them, and those whose hearts are to be reconciled, and to free the captives and the debtors, and for the cause of Allah, and (for) the wayfarer; a duty imposed by Allah’ (9:60, Pickthall’s translation).
• History: the Qur’an pairs prayer and Zakah again and again (‘Establish worship, pay the poor-due’, 2:43); it became a fixed duty in the Prophet Muhammad’s time in Madinah.
• How it is given: directly to people in need, through the mosque, or through Muslim charities in Britain. Many Muslims give it during Ramadan.
• Why it matters to Sunni Muslims: it is one of the Five Pillars, commanded by Allah; it purifies wealth and the giver from greed: ‘Take alms of their wealth, wherewith thou mayst purify them’ (9:103, Pickthall’s translation); everything belongs to Allah, so wealth is held in trust; it closes the gap between rich and poor and binds the ummah together.
• Sadaqah is different: voluntary charity at any time, in any amount, including kind acts.

Zakah

Compulsory giving of 2.5% of savings above the nisab each year: the third Pillar.

Nisab

The minimum amount of wealth a Muslim must have before Zakah is due.

Sadaqah

Voluntary charity, given at any time.

Khums (‘one-fifth’) is one of the Shi’a Ten Obligatory Acts: giving 20% of surplus income each year, after living costs. Shi’a Muslims pay it as well as Zakah.

• Surah 8:36–42 (named in the specification): ‘a fifth thereof is for Allah, and for the messenger and for the kinsman (who hath need) and orphans and the needy and the wayfarer’ (8:41, Pickthall’s translation). The verse speaks of what was gained in war; Shi’a scholars teach that it covers all gains, including income.
• How it is divided: half is the Imam’s share (sahm al-imam), given to a senior religious scholar (marja’) to fund mosques, schools, scholarship and the needy; half is the share of the sayyids (sahm al-sadat), for needy descendants of the Prophet.
• Why it matters to Shi’a Muslims: it is a duty commanded in the Qur’an and one of the Ten Acts; it shows loyalty to the Prophet’s family and the Imams (tawalla); it keeps Shi’a religious life independent, paying for teachers and institutions; and, like Zakah, it purifies wealth.
• Sunni Muslims read 8:41 as being about the spoils of war in the Prophet’s time, so they don’t pay Khums on income.
• Benefits of receiving Zakah or Khums: basic needs (food, housing, debts) are met; because it is the right of the poor, set by Allah, people can receive it with dignity, not shame; it helps them become self-supporting; it gives a sense of belonging to the ummah; and Khums supports students and teachers of Islam.
• Community benefits: less poverty and envy, more trust between rich and poor, and money for mosques and schools.

Two kinds of compulsory giving

Khums

A Shi’a duty to give one-fifth of surplus yearly income.

Marja’

A senior Shi’a scholar whom believers follow, who receives and distributes the Imam’s share of Khums.

Sayyid

A descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.

Hajj is the pilgrimage to Makkah in the month of Dhu al-Hijjah. It is the fifth Pillar and one of the Ten Acts, a duty once in a lifetime for every adult Muslim who is healthy enough and can afford it.

• Who must go: ‘pilgrimage to the House is a duty unto Allah for mankind, for him who can find a way thither’ (3:97, Pickthall’s translation). Pilgrims must also be able to support their family while away and pay off debts.
• Ibrahim and Isma’il (Surah 2:124–130): Muslims believe Ibrahim and his son Isma’il raised the foundations of the Ka’aba: ‘when Abraham and Ishmael were raising the foundations of the House’ (2:127, Pickthall’s translation), and were told to purify it for those who worship there (2:125).
• Hajar and Zamzam: Muslims remember how Ibrahim left Hajar and the baby Isma’il in the valley of Makkah, trusting Allah. Hajar ran between the hills of Safa and Marwah looking for water until the spring of Zamzam appeared.
• The call (Surah 22:25–30): Allah told Ibrahim, ‘proclaim unto mankind the pilgrimage. They will come unto thee on foot and on every lean camel’ (22:27, Pickthall’s translation).
• The Ka’aba: a cube-shaped building in the Great Mosque in Makkah, which Muslims believe was the first house built for worship of the one God (3:96). It is the qiblah for every prayer.
• The Prophet Muhammad cleared the Ka’aba of idols in 630 CE, and in 632 CE led the Farewell Pilgrimage, which set the pattern of Hajj followed today.

Hajj

The pilgrimage to Makkah in Dhu al-Hijjah: the fifth Pillar.

Ka’aba

The cube-shaped house of worship in Makkah that Muslims face in prayer.

Zamzam

The spring in Makkah that Muslims believe appeared for Hajar and Isma’il.

• Ihram rules: no perfume, no cutting hair or nails, no sexual relations, no hunting (5:95), and ‘no lewdness nor abuse nor angry conversation on the pilgrimage’ (2:197, Pickthall’s translation).
• Standing at Arafat is the essential rite: a pilgrim who misses it hasn’t completed Hajj.
• Umrah is a shorter pilgrimage to Makkah that can be made at any time of year; it doesn’t replace Hajj.

The main stages of Hajj

Ihram

The state of purity, and the simple clothing, of a pilgrim on Hajj.

Tawaf

Walking seven times anticlockwise round the Ka’aba.

Sa’y

Walking seven times between the hills of Safa and Marwah.

Wuquf

The standing in prayer at Arafat on 9 Dhu al-Hijjah.

Jamarat

The three pillars at Mina at which pilgrims throw pebbles.

• Obedience: it is a Pillar, and the Qur’an calls it ‘a duty unto Allah’ (3:97).
• Forgiveness: many Muslims believe a sincere Hajj wipes away past sins, so pilgrims return with a fresh start.
• Equality and unity: pilgrims rich and poor, from every country, wear the same simple clothes and pray together; Sunni and Shi’a Muslims perform Hajj side by side.
• Following the prophets: pilgrims walk where Ibrahim, Hajar, Isma’il and the Prophet Muhammad walked.
• Afterwards: many pilgrims say it changes how they live; a pilgrim may be called Hajji (or Hajjah).
• Challenges: the cost (often several thousand pounds from Britain); limited places, set by Saudi quotas; crowds; heat, which in 2024 caused many deaths; illness and physical strain, especially for older pilgrims; time away from work and family; and scams by unlicensed travel agents.
• For Muslims who can’t go: they aren’t blamed, as the duty applies only to those able; many save for years, and they share in the season by fasting on the Day of Arafat and celebrating Id-ul-Adha.

Hajji / Hajjah

A man or woman who has completed Hajj.

Umrah

A shorter pilgrimage to Makkah that can be made at any time of year.

Jihad means ‘striving’ or ‘struggle’ in the way of Allah. It is one of the Shi’a Ten Acts, and a duty for Sunni Muslims too, though not one of the Five Pillars.

• Greater jihad: the inner struggle to live as Allah wants: resisting temptation and selfishness, praying on time, fasting, being honest and patient, controlling anger, and studying the Qur’an.
• Source: ‘As for those who strive in Us, We surely guide them to Our paths, and lo! Allah is with the good’ (29:69, Pickthall’s translation).
• A saying attributed to the Prophet, after returning from a battle, calls the inner struggle the ‘greater jihad’. Many hadith scholars grade it as weak, but the idea that the inner struggle comes first is widely held.
• Lesser jihad: the outward struggle for Allah: speaking out against injustice and, as a last resort and under strict conditions, defending Islam and the community.
• Origins: in Makkah the early Muslims were persecuted and didn’t fight back. After the move to Madinah in 622 CE, the Qur’an gave permission to fight to those who had been wronged (22:39).
• Divergent understandings: most Muslims see greater jihad as more important for daily life; some stress that lesser jihad is also a real duty when the conditions are met; many Shi’a scholars teach that only defensive jihad is allowed while the twelfth Imam is hidden; Sufi Muslims especially stress the inner struggle.
• Importance in Muslim life: for most Muslims, jihad means daily effort, such as getting up for Fajr, fasting in a long summer Ramadan, giving when money is tight, or standing up for someone treated unfairly.

Two understandings of jihad

Jihad

Striving or struggle in the way of Allah.

Greater jihad

The inner struggle to live as a good Muslim.

Lesser jihad

The outward struggle, including defending Islam under strict conditions.

Mainstream Muslim teaching, Sunni and Shi’a, sets strict conditions before lesser jihad can be declared, and strict rules for how it is carried out.

• Surah 2:190–194: ‘Fight in the way of Allah against those who fight against you, but begin not hostilities. Lo! Allah loveth not aggressors’ (2:190, Pickthall’s translation); ‘if they desist, then let there be no hostility except against wrong-doers’ (2:193).
• Surah 22:39: ‘Sanction is given unto those who fight because they have been wronged’ (Pickthall’s translation). The next verse speaks of protecting ‘cloisters and churches and oratories and mosques’ (22:40).
• Conditions for declaring it: a just cause, such as self-defence or protecting people who are oppressed (4:75) or the freedom to worship; declared by a legitimate authority, a recognised Muslim leader, never an individual or self-appointed group; a last resort after peaceful ways have failed; and never to force anyone to convert: ‘There is no compulsion in religion’ (2:256).
• Rules in fighting: no harm to civilians (women, children, older people), religious leaders, crops, trees or animals; force kept to what is needed; prisoners treated well.
• Ending: fighting must stop when the enemy stops or seeks peace: ‘if they incline to peace, incline thou also to it’ (8:61, Pickthall’s translation).
• These conditions mean lesser jihad is rare. The Peace and Conflict topics apply them to war today.

Legitimate authority

A recognised leader or government with the right to declare a war or a lesser jihad.

Last resort

Used only when every peaceful way has been tried and has failed.

‘Id’ (often spelt Eid) means festival. Both Ids are celebrated by Sunni and Shi’a Muslims, and both go back to the Prophet’s time in Madinah.

• Surah 37:77–111 (named in the specification): Ibrahim tells his son of a dream that he must sacrifice him, and the son answers, ‘O my father! Do that which thou art commanded’ (37:102); Allah calls out that he has ‘fulfilled the vision’ and ‘ransomed him with a tremendous victim’ (37:105–107, Pickthall’s translation). The Qur’an doesn’t name the son; Muslims usually say Isma’il.
• The meaning of sacrifice: ‘Their flesh and their food reach not Allah, but the devotion from you reacheth Him’ (22:37, Pickthall’s translation).
• In Britain, animals must be slaughtered in a licensed slaughterhouse, so many families order qurbani from a butcher or pay a charity to give meat to people in poorer countries. The Ids aren’t bank holidays, so families ask for time off.
• Place in Shi’a Islam: Shi’a Muslims celebrate both Ids in much the same way; the date can differ by a day because of moon sighting.

Where the festivals fall in the lunar year

Id-ul-Fitr

The festival at the end of Ramadan, celebrating the completed fast.

Id-ul-Adha

The festival of sacrifice, remembering Ibrahim’s obedience.

Zakat al-Fitr

A set gift to the poor, paid before the Id-ul-Fitr prayer.

Qurbani

The sacrifice of an animal at Id-ul-Adha.

• Id-ul-Ghadeer (18 Dhu al-Hijjah) is a Shi’a festival remembering the Prophet Muhammad’s sermon at Ghadir Khumm in 632 CE, on the way back from his Farewell Pilgrimage. A hadith (in Sunan al-Tirmidhi and other collections) reports him saying of Ali, ‘for whoever I am his master, Ali is his master’. Shi’a Muslims believe this appointed Ali as his successor.
• Surah 5:3: ‘This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed My favour unto you, and have chosen for you as religion al-Islam’ (Pickthall’s translation). Many Shi’a Muslims link this verse to Ghadir Khumm; Sunni Muslims usually link it to the Prophet’s sermon at Arafat.
• How it is celebrated: prayers, fasting, sermons about Ali, gifts, festive meals, and visiting family. Place in Sunni Islam: Sunni Muslims accept that the sermon happened and honour Ali, but read ‘master’ (mawla) as ‘friend’ and don’t celebrate it as a festival.
• Ashura (10 Muharram): for Shi’a Muslims, a day of mourning for Husayn, the Prophet’s grandson, killed with his family and companions at Karbala (in present-day Iraq) in 680 CE after refusing to accept a ruler he saw as unjust.
• Shi’a practices: gatherings to hear the story (majalis), processions, re-enactments, wearing black, public signs of grief, and giving free food and water, recalling the thirst at Karbala. Many visit Husayn’s shrine in Karbala.
• Why Ashura matters to Shi’a Muslims: Husayn is a model of standing up to injustice and of sacrifice for the truth; it renews loyalty to the Prophet’s family (tawalla); mourning together unites the community; many believe sharing in the grief brings them closer to Allah.
• Place in Sunni Islam: many Sunni Muslims fast on Ashura, often with the day before or after. A hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari reports that the Prophet fasted on it because it was the day Allah saved Musa and the Israelites. Sunni Muslims also remember Husayn with respect.

Id-ul-Ghadeer

The Shi’a festival remembering the Prophet’s sermon at Ghadir Khumm, believed by Shi’a to appoint Ali as his successor.

Ashura

10 Muharram: for Shi’a Muslims, mourning for Husayn at Karbala; for many Sunni Muslims, a day of fasting remembering Musa.

Husayn

The Prophet’s grandson, son of Ali and Fatimah, killed at Karbala in 680 CE.