Zakat, Khums and Sawm
Giving and fasting in Islam are duties rather than generosity, and Muslims hold that this is exactly what makes them work. Learn what compulsion achieves that choosing could not, and why the exemptions are part of the duty.
Use it, the way the marks are given
Free interactive practice at using the material, which is what the marks are for.
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Duties, not generosity
Two of the three practices in this module are about money and one is about food, which looks like an odd grouping until you see what they have in common. ⭐ None of them is a kind impulse. All three are OWED. Zakat is calculated on wealth a person has held for a year. Khums is owed by Shi'a Muslims at a fixed share. Fasting in Ramadan is required of everybody able to keep it, on fixed days. ⚠️ And Muslims hold that being compulsory is not a defect in them. It is the point. Think about what an obligation delivers that goodwill cannot. Those in need can rely on it rather than hoping somebody feels generous this year. Receiving it is not a favour, so nobody has to be grateful to a particular donor. And because a whole community fasts at the same time, nobody is doing anything heroic on their own. So the question to ask throughout is this: what does making something compulsory achieve that choosing it could not?
What is owed, and what is offered
Islam has both. Keeping them apart is worth marks, because they do different jobs and answers that blur them lose the argument. Sadaqah is the word for voluntary giving, and it is praised rather than required.
Order a day in Ramadan
Put the parts of a day of fasting in the order they happen.
- Suhur, a meal taken before dawn
- The fast begins at first light
- No food or drink is taken during daylight hours
- The fast ends at sunset
- Iftar, the meal breaking the fast, usually shared with others
Who does not fast
Muslims who are ill, travelling, pregnant, nursing, very young or elderly are not required to fast. How should that best be explained in an exam answer?
- The exemptions follow from what the duty is for, since a duty that damages the person keeping it would defeat its own purpose
- They are concessions for people who find it too difficult
- They show that fasting is optional after all
- They are a modern relaxation of the older rule
Words for giving and fasting
Five terms, each defined so that you can use it in a sentence rather than only recognise it.
Find the sentence about obligation
A student writes about zakat. Select the ONE sentence that explains why it is compulsory rather than voluntary.
- Zakat is one of the duties Muslims are expected to carry out each year.
- It is calculated on savings rather than on income.
- Because it is owed rather than given, those who receive it are getting what they are entitled to rather than a favour, and the community can count on it arriving whether or not anybody feels generous.
- Many Muslims pay it during Ramadan.
- I think giving to charity is a very good thing to do.
What being compulsory achieves
Three of these five are genuine consequences of these practices being obligations rather than choices. Choose the three.
- Those in need can rely on support arriving rather than hoping for it
- Receiving is not a personal favour, so nobody is placed under an obligation to a particular donor
- Because everybody fasts at the same time, the experience is shared rather than individual
- Keeping the duty proves that a person is sincere in their faith
- It means voluntary giving is no longer necessary
One question for every practice here
Questions on this topic often ask whether a practice is worthwhile, or ask you to evaluate it. ⭐ Ask what making it compulsory achieves that choosing it could not. And remember the other half: the exemptions are part of the duty, not loopholes in it. A duty that damaged the person keeping it would defeat its own purpose. ⚠️ Attribute as you go. Khums is kept by Shi'a Muslims, and neither tradition is the standard the other departs from.
Match the feature to what it achieves
- Zakat being calculated at a set share rather than left to judgement
- Zakat falling only on wealth above a threshold held for a year
- Fasting not being required of those who are ill or travelling
- The whole community fasting during the same month
- The evening meal usually being eaten with others
- Support that can be relied upon, because it does not depend on how generous anybody feels
- The duty falls on those with a surplus and never on somebody already in need
- The duty does not end up harming the person keeping it, which would defeat its purpose
- Nobody is doing something difficult alone, so it is endurance shared rather than private
- The month is remembered as sociable, with hospitality at the centre of it
Two ways to pay for a fire engine
Leave religion aside. Two neighbouring villages each need a fire engine, and they fund it differently. The first passes a hat round. People are generous, and in a good year there is plenty. In a bad year, or after an argument at the parish meeting, there is not. Nobody knows in March what will be there in October. The second sets a fixed charge on every household above a certain size, collected once a year, with the smallest households paying nothing. ⭐ Now notice three things that changed, none of which is about the total raised. The service can be planned, because next year is known. Nobody who calls the engine out is beholden to whoever happened to be generous. And the households paying nothing are not objects of anybody kindness; they simply fall below the line, which is where the rule says they should be. ⚠️ The hat is not wrong, and both villages contain equally decent people. But a hat cannot do those three things, however full it is. ⭐⭐ Hold that comparison and the difference between what is owed and what is offered stops being a definition and becomes an argument you can make.
Complete the giving and fasting facts
The obligatory share of qualifying wealth, one fortieth, owed once a year by those whose savings pass a threshold, is called _____. A further obligatory share of one fifth, kept by Shi'a Muslims, is called _____. Voluntary giving of any amount at any time is _____, which is praised but never counted as part of what is owed. Fasting during the month of Ramadan is _____, kept between first light and sunset, and the meal that breaks it after sunset is called _____. Those who are ill, travelling or unwell are not required to keep it, because an _____ that harmed the person keeping it would defeat its own purpose.
Build the evaluation
Complete an evaluation of whether giving should be a duty rather than a choice.
Giving and fasting quick-fire
Five quick decisions. Three lives.
Answer an evaluation question
A question asks whether charity is better when it is required than when it is freely chosen. Work through your answer.
- How should you open?
- The question says whether, so you need the other side. What is the strongest counter-argument?
- You need a conclusion. What earns the marks?
Evaluate giving as a duty
Some people argue that giving means less when it is required than when it is freely chosen. Evaluate that view, using Muslim practice in your answer.
- Explain what zakat is and how it differs from sadaqah
- Explain what an obligation delivers that a voluntary gift cannot, for the recipient and for the community
- Give the strongest argument on the other side, attributing it to those who hold it
- Use the exemptions from fasting to show what a duty is shaped by
- Reach a judgement and support it, remembering that no position is being marked as the right one