Issues and
Questions
Zakat on Line, Divorce, Mosques and Political Candidates
By
Dr Muzammil H. Siddiqi
Q1. I’ve been to a site that has Zakat
online service. This means we can pay Zakat through
Internet using our credit card. My question: Is
it permissible to pay Zakat using credit card?
As I understand the concept, it means we owe someone
(the credit card company) to pay the Zakat?
A1. It
is permissible to use credit card as long as you
pay the credit card bill on time and do not incur
any interest. You can use credit card for purchasing
items as well as for making donations and paying
Zakat. When you purchase something and pay through
the credit card, you give the money to the seller.
The credit card company helps you by advancing these
funds for you and bills you later. In a similar
way when you pay your Zakat by using a credit card,
you give the money to the deserving person or institution.
You are not giving Zakat to the credit card company.
However, credit card company is advancing those
Zakat funds for you, so as soon as you receive the
bill, you should pay it off. Do not give Zakat and
then interest as well.
Q 2. If a person performed “Umrah”
the first time in his/her life time, is it necessary/obligatory
to go to the very next “Hajj”? What
happens if the person does not go to the very next
“Hajj”?
A 2.
Hajj is Fard (obligatory) once in life for those
who can afford it physically and financially. ‘Umrah
is Sunnah Mu’akkadah (highly recommended).
One should not do the Sunnah by delaying or neglecting
the Fard. Hajj has an appointed time, while ‘Umrah
can be performed at any time during the year. Those
who can afford should first plan to make Hajj. One
can make Umrah along with Hajj.
A person who has not performed Hajj, it is not right
for him/her to go for ‘Umrah only and neglect
Hajj. Many scholars say that those who have not
performed their Hajj, if they go for ‘Umrah
then they should stay there until they perform Hajj.
If it is not possible for a person to stay in Makkah
until Hajj time, then he/she must make sure to return
for Hajj the same year. It is a sin to delay Hajj
when itbecomes obligatory. Once a person has performed
Umrah, it becomes more binding on that person to
make Hajj without any delay.
Q3. Is
it Islamic to use mosques to endorse/support political
candidates running for office? It appears to be
all right to remind the congregation to go out and
vote on the Election Day, but telling the congregation,
directly or indirectly, to vote for a particular
candidate seems to be an unwise/unintelligent/unethical
practice.
A3.
There is nothing un-Islamic about endorsing or supporting
a candidate, if that person is capable of the job
and can do good for the society and the community.
There is nothing wrong in introducing good candidates
to the community in the mosque without endorsing
them or asking people to vote for them. However,
if you have registered your mosque or organization
as “a religious and non-political” entity
then you should abide by its rules and conditions.
It is indeed unwise, unethical, and perhaps illegal
also, to register an organization as religious and
non-political and then getting it involved in direct
support or endorsement of political candidates.
If a community is interested to endorse and support
political candidates then it should have a political
organization and register it as such.
Q 4. If a man writes for his wife on a piece
of paper “I divorce you” three times,
does it count as one, or three times, and what would
a person do then?
A 4.
There are many Muslims who are not fully aware of
the rules of divorce. Some people think that the
divorce cannot happen unless they say or write the
word of divorce three times. This is wrong. The
Islamic divorce takes place even if the husband
says the words of divorce one time. Of course he
must be sane, not having lost his senses due to
extreme rage or intoxicants.
If a husband writes a paper for his wife and tells
her that he divorced her three times then we should
ask that person what was his intention. If he wanted
to give three time divorce all at once, then it
will be counted as such. Then his wife is irrevocably
divorced from him. He cannot cancel this divorce.
She is no more his wife and they must separate.
He cannot remarry her, unless she marries another
person and after having lived with him, is also
divorced and wants to get back to her former husband.
However, if he wrote the words of divorce three
times only to emphasize his intent to divorce his
wife or if he was under the impression that one
time is not sufficient then this will be counted
as one divorce only. If this was the first time
or second time in his life that he has made such
statement, then he would have a right to cancel
his divorce and get back to his wife, if he wanted.
Q5: What was the original form of Torah
according to Islamic belief and what has been changed?
It is easier to understand the justification for
Christians to accept Islam as there are many contradictions
in their belief which are quite obvious. However,
unlike Christianity, Judaism also preaches oneness
of God, hereafter, and almost the same teachings
as given in Qur’an and Islam, then what is
the reason for the people of Jewish faith to make
a switch to Islam?
A5. Originally
the Torah was a book that Allah revealed to Prophet
Moses - peace be upon him. What is known today as
Torah is first five books in the Bible. These books
are called: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers
and Deuteronomy. Christians call them Pentateuch
and Jews call them Thorah. These books are not as
Prophet Musa - peace be upon him - did leave them.
There are many changes that have occurred in these
books in their historical narrative as well as the
laws.
These books went through a lot of editorial changes
and many writers and narrators added things in them.
Many Jewish and Christian writers have written on
this subject and it is now recognized by almost
all Jewish and Christian scholars that these books
are not from the time of Prophet Moses - peace be
upon him - but developed by a number of writers
over a period of one thousand years. There is a
small number of Fundamentalist Christians who do
not acc ept that, but majority of the people do.
Allah sent Prophet Muhammad - peace be upon him
- as a Messenger for all humanity. All people whether
Christians or Jews or of any other faith should
accept him as Allah’s Messenger. It is true
that in theology we have more similarities with
Judaism than with Christianity, but in ethical matters
and in universality Islam is closer to Christianity.
However, the message of Islam is for every one and
it is the most authentic message of Allah
DrSiddiqi@aol.com
