Hello there, my young scholars of religion.

My name is Ms. Marx and I'm going to be your religious education teacher today.

Today we're going to be doing about a really important Muslim practise to do with almsgiving, giving money to charity, of zakah.

Now, this is found in the Five Pillars and in the Ten Obligatory Acts.

We're gonna look at what it is, why it's important, and who can be the beneficiaries or what the purpose of this zakah is.

By the end of this lesson today, you'll be able to explain the importance and use of zakah and khums as charitable taxes within Islam.

So let's start with our key terms. Giving alms: giving to those in need, e.

g.

, food, money, time; this is a key practise in Islam.

Khums: one fifth; an additional 20% tax paid by Shi'a Muslims as alms. Zakah: to purify; a charity tax where Muslims give 2.

5 of their yearly wealth as alms. And Ummah: community, the worldwide community of Muslims who share a common religious identity.

So watch out for those in today's lesson.

So our lesson today is going to have three sections, Zakah: the charity tax, The purposes of zakah, and Khums in Shi'a Islam.

So let's start with our first section then, Zakah: the charity tax.

In religious education, we can use different tools to better understand the importance of beliefs and practises within religions and worldviews.

Social scientists are interested in how worldviews are lived by different people.

They use tools such as surveys and interviews and photographs to better understand how worldviews are lived.

And by using the tools of social science, we can better understand the importance of Muslim practises, such as zakah.

So as social scientists, we can really look at how people live this faith out, what things do they do, and we can study their behaviours as a better way of understanding the importance of this super important pillar of Islam.

So how could we then use the tools of social science to investigate the importance of the Five Pillars to different Muslims then? What could we do? Pause the video and have a think, and you could talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, one way we could do it is to survey Muslims, asking them if they complete the Five Pillars or asking them whether they're important to them.

We could actually ask them questions about it.

And different organisations have done surveys just like that.

So the Pew Research Centre surveyed over 38,000 Muslims from across the world in 2012.

So they asked all these Muslims to self-report if they completed the Five Pillars.

So 38,000 Muslims were asked whether they did the Five Pillars, and we know zakah is one of the Five Pillars.

Before we look at the data, what could be a strength of actually asking Muslims to self-report on completing the Five Pillars? What could be a good thing about that? And what could be a weakness about asking people to self-report on whether they complete the Five Pillars or not? Pause the video and have a think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, as social scientists, we need to look at the strengths and weaknesses of using different methods to gather this data.

If people are self-reporting, we might get a really good view of what people are doing and what kind of practises they're performing, but maybe a weakness could be that we don't actually know if they really have done them if they said they have.

So let's look at the data then.

Here are some of the figures from this report that they did into how many Muslims self-reported that they completed these Five Pillars.

So we got the shahadah, salah, zakah, sawm, and Hajj.

So the shahadah, the statement of faith, salah being prayer, zakah being the charity tax, sawm being fasting during Ramadan, and Hajj being the pilgrimage.

So from this we can see there's a difference in how many of the pillars are being completed.

This is the same people answering here whether they've completed these different pillars or not.

And we can see from this that 77% of people surveyed said they had completed zakah.

So 77% of people are paying this charity tax.

But why might there be a difference between how many people say complete the charity tax to the other pillars? Why could there be this big difference? Look at the difference here between the shahadah and Hajj, Hajj being the pilgrimage to Mecca, the shahadah being a statement of faith.

Why could there be such a difference between those? Pause the video and have a think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, we can start to think about the fact that Hajj costs a lot of money, it happens once in a lifetime and people have to save up a lot of money for it, and even special visas have to be issued because the numbers of people who want to go and complete that pilgrimage, whereas the shahadah is a statement that somebody can say if they want to become Muslim and they say it as part of their daily prayers.

So perhaps that's an easier practise to kind of physically do than going on a Hajj.

What I find really interesting about this data is that you've got more people completing the fasting for sawm during Ramadan than you have doing the prayers for salah, and I think that's really interesting because fasting can be very difficult, can't it? To not eat or drink during those daylight hours.

So I think that's very interesting.

And between the two there, we've got people paying the zakah.

Let's do a quick check.

Which pillar was the most practised pillar by the Muslims surveyed in 2012 by the Pew Research Centre? Which one was the most practised? Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you came up with in a moment.

Well done.

It's the shahadah, up there at nearly 100%.

So here we've got an image showing the Five Pillars.

We've got shahadah, salah, zakah, sawm, Hajj.

We were just talking about these as the different actions that Muslims do.

These pillars are said to hold up the faith for a Muslim.

They were very super important actions for Muslim to do.

Zakah is the third of the Five Pillars, and zakah is also one of the Ten Obligatory Acts.

So within Shi'a Islam, there are four of these Five Pillars that are within the Ten Obligatory Acts of Shi'a Islam and zakah is also included as one of them.

So we know it's a very important practise for all Muslims. But what does this term zakah mean then? Well, it comes from Arabic and it has this root.

Zaka, meaning to purify or make righteous.

So it's an action that can help someone to be more righteous because they are performing this good deed, and also it can be a sign of someone purifying their wealth.

So by donating some of their wealth elsewhere, it purifies the wealth that they have.

So zakah is 2.

5 of the wealth of a Muslim given as alms to help the needy and the cause of other, and for Muslims, paying the zakah can be an expression of their belief in Allah as well as a submission to Allah's will.

Because yes, it's my money, I've earnt it, it's my money that I've got, but actually, I've only got it because God has decreed that I should have it or everything that I have comes from God, so I should willingly give some of this back up to help others in need.

So we can look to sources of authority to understand these practises a little bit more then, and the ultimate source of authority in Islam is the Qur'an.

And here we've got zakah being mentioned, so let's have a look.

It's in Surah 9.

"God is sufficient for us; God will give us of His bounty, and so will His Messenger; to God we eagerly return.

Charities, zakah, are for the poor and the destitute, those who administer them, and for reconciling hearts, for freeing slaves, for those in debt, and in the path of God, and for the traveller in need, an obligation from God." So here we've got quite a clear list of different people who can be the ones that the zakah is used for or the purposes for that zakah.

What does it tell us about the charity tax then? What things does this tell a Muslim to do with why they might pay this charity tax or where that charity tax might go then? Pause the video and have a reread, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well done.

Here we've got so much about zakah, haven't we? And they've got that idea that it comes from God in the first place.

All this wealth, all the good things that people have have come from God, and so it can be eagerly returned back to God.

And then we've got the list of who this could be paid to: the poor, the destitute, administration, reconciliation, freeing slaves, debt, and travellers.

And what's interesting here is administration.

So it's a recognition that people have to work hard to also kind of gather this and then make sure it gets out to the right people, and we'll come back to that later.

Now, we can see zakah as an expression of some really important Muslim beliefs, and earlier we said it could be an expression of a belief in Allah.

And so Sam is asking Nadia, "How does paying zakah link to tawhid, the oneness of Allah, for you, Nadia?" And Nadia says, "By paying zakah, I'm showing I only worship Allah, not my wealth or my status.

It purifies the wealth that I have.

Also, I know the wealth I have is given to me by Allah, so it belongs to him.

It's a way for me to support the Ummah as the worldwide community of Muslims, one united community that worship one united God." So how could zakah link to the other four of the Five Pillars then? If this links to the idea of tawhid, of there being one God, but all of the Five Pillars together hold up Muslim faith, could it link to any of the other pillars? Pause the video and have a think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

What pillars such as sawm, which is fasting during Ramadan, can really help Muslims to feel connected to the rest of the Muslim Ummah and wanting to help those in need, especially if you're feeling hungry and thirsty whilst you're fasting.

So that might encourage a Muslim to pay their zakah too.

Let's do another check.

Which three of these statements are correct about zakah? Zakah is the third of the Five Pillars, zakah is a Greek term that means purify, zakah is linked to a belief in Allah, and zakah was completed by 77% of the people surveyed.

Which three of these are correct? Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

A, C and D were correct.

B was incorrect because it's an Arabic term which means purify, not a Greek term.

Well done.

So we looked at the Qur'an as a source of authority to understand this practise of zakah, paying the charity tax, but we can also look to the Hadith to understand it a little bit more.

And in the Hadith, we have a piece of evidence about why is it 2.

5%.

So here we've got a Hadith, which is the sort of sayings and narrations to do with the Prophet Muhammad, what he said and what he did.

And here he says, "For the silver the zakah is one-fortieth of the lot, i.

e.

2.

5%, and if its value is less than 200 Dirhams, a currency, zakah is not required, but if the owner wants to pay, he can." So let's just reread this again.

What amount does this Hadith set the zakah at? And this is particularly for silver here, but what amount is it set at? Pause the video and have a think, and we'll see what you've come up with in a moment.

Well done, this is setting it at 1/40 of the lot, so 2.

5%.

But what this Hadith also shows is that it's not required if people don't have enough.

So if you've got a very small amount of this silver, you do not have to pay the zakah.

So this also comes into play when people are calculating how much zakah they have to pay.

The amount of money a Muslim needs to pay in an annual zakah is calculated as 2.

5% of a Muslim's savings and wealth above a baseline amount.

So just like that Hadith we just saw, if somebody doesn't have that much, then they don't have to pay it.

They can choose to, they don't have to, and this is called the nisab.

So also, saving for religious duties such as Hajj and other payments that you might have to be making very soon are also deducted.

So the nisab is a baseline amount.

If someone doesn't have enough money, they don't have to pay zakah.

They can choose to be, but they don't have to.

So recognition that not everyone can afford to donate this much money.

And so it's calculated as being the worth of an amount of gold or an amount of silver, and it's calculated in different currencies of where Muslims live.

Muslims live all over the world today.

So you can calculate this and work out how much your nisab is.

What do you need to pay zakah on top of this? And in 2024, this amount was 435 pounds of silver and 5,000 pounds of gold, and Muslims can choose which one they want to go with.

Now, charities like Muslim Aid, Islamic Relief, they suggest that people go with the lower amount so they're able to donate more money, but it's permissible to do either.

So if someone doesn't have 5,000 pounds in wealth and savings, then they don't have to pay the zakah that year.

So 2.

5% of any savings, wealth, and earnings above that amount is given in zakah each year.

But like I say, you have this nisab, this amount to recognise that not everybody can pay zakah every single year.

So let's work out an example with Nadia here.

So Nadia is a doctor and she has some savings in gold and silver and she's got a bank account, but she's also saving up for taking the Hajj pilgrimage, and she's got some rent and other taxes still to pay this year.

She's got some payments coming out, but she has her savings, but some of that she's saving up to take her Hajj pilgrimage, 'cause that can cost thousands of pounds.

What she has is 500 pounds in silver, 1,500 in gold, 30,000 in her bank savings.

Then she's also got separate savings for Hajj of 2,000, and soon she's got some payments coming out of 3,000 pounds.

So how much would her zakah be then? If we add all of that up together and then we think about the nisab, we can work out how much money she needs to pay her zakah on.

So we can see from this that she's got 31,000 pounds in assets, so in the wealth that she's got that's kind of taxable for zakah.

If we take off the nisab, we take off the Hajj savings, and taxes and rents to be paid soon, she's got 31,000 pounds.

So we can work out 2.

5% of 31,000 is, 2.

5% of 31,000 is 775 pounds.

And there are calculators online that people can use from the charities I mentioned earlier that can help people to figure out how much they owe in their zakah, the 2.

5%.

So her zakah payment would be 775 pounds.

Thank you, Nadia.

Let's do a quick check.

Muslims donate 2.

5% of all their wealth in a year as zakah.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've come up with in a moment.

That is false, isn't it? Although we've got the 2.

5% and zakah, it's false because there is a baseline amount that people do not pay zakah on.

Also, if people are saving up for Hajj, then that doesn't have to count as part of the zakah payments either.

Well done.

Let's do a practise task to see what we've learnt then.

We're going to explain two reasons why zakah is important to Muslims. We're going to refer to sacred writings or another source of religious belief and teaching in our answer.

And your guidance is, for both reasons about paying zakah, you're going to give a reason and develop it, and I love the phrase this means that to develop it.

And then for one of them, you are going to give a source of authority, it could be the Qur'an or Hadith, we've had those earlier, and say what it teaches.

It could be a general quotation or belief or a teaching from this source.

And then how does that apply to zakah? So it could be this means or this shows.

So it's two reasons why zakah is important to Muslims. You're going to refer to sacred writings in one of the points that you give.

Pause the video and have a go.

We'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done, some great thinking there about zakah and why it's important to Muslims. So you might have said, one reason why paying zakah is important to Muslims is 'cause they're instructed to pay alms in the Qur'an.

In the Qur'an it says, "Zakah is for the poor and destitute, an obligation from God." This means that paying zakah is an obligation and is a reason why it's one of the Five Pillars.

Another reason why paying zakah is important to Muslims is because it can help support the Ummah, as many of the funds can be used by charities like Muslim Aid, Islamic Relief to help Muslims in need around the world.

Well done.

So onto our second section then, The purposes of zakah.

So who does zakah support then? We had some ideas from the Qur'an then earlier as to who are the people who can be given the zakah, who can it help.

Well, it can help the poor, the needy, the zakah collectors.

Remember, there was that phrase about the administration of zakah.

So the people who are actually administrating and making sure that this gets to the right people.

The supporters of Islam, those enslaved and in bondage.

So remember, the phrase in the Qur'an was about freeing people from slavery.

Zakah could be used for this.

Those in great debt.

And within Islam, there's strong teachings about not charging people a huge amount of interest on loans, and that can really topple people into a lot of debt.

So here we've got this idea of supporting people who are facing these problems with debt as well.

And then also those fighting for a righteous cause.

So supporting those people who are fighting for the cause of Allah.

And finally, zakah can also be used to support travellers or wayfarers.

Maybe you could think about how some charities might help people with that in today's world too.

Let's do a quick check.

Which three of the following types of people can be beneficiaries of zakah? So they can be given the zakah or they are linked to the purposes of zakah.

The zakah collectors, those in great debt, those on holiday, those who are poor and needy.

Which three of these types of people could be beneficiaries of zakah? Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you got in a moment.

Well done.

The zakah collectors, those in great debt, and those who are poor and needy, not those who are just on holiday having a nice time.

Well done.

So we've said that the worldwide community of Muslims is known as the Ummah, so the idea that all Muslims are kind of connected in this family of being a religion together.

So often Muslims might say brother and sister about one another, this idea of a worldwide Muslim community.

And donating zakah is one way that Muslims in one part of the world can support Muslims in a different part of the world.

And there's charities like Islamic Relief, Muslim Aid, lots of other charities too that can help to distribute that money raised through zakah to those who need it the most.

So someone in one country who's a Muslim might have some money, some zakah that they can then donate which can go to help Muslims in other parts of the world.

But in order for the money to be collected from people in one part of the world and then be used effectively for people in another part of the world, that also costs money.

It costs money to have an office maybe in the UK, to have ways of maybe collecting money online or going out and collecting money from people, and then it's gonna cost money to actually get the things across countries, if you're donating items, or to have a base in the country where people need to have that support and be able to run effectively there, have systems there to make sure things get to the people who need it the most.

So how could zakah also support those charities to run more effectively? Rather than just the money going directly to the people, why might some be needed to go to those charities and the zakah collectors then? Pause the video and have a think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Fantastic, yeah, because it does cost money to actually make sure this happens effectively.

And you can see on the websites for organisations like Islamic Relief and Muslim Aid where they explain this, in that they can't.

Let's look at a case study of zakah being used to support the Ummah.

Here we've got a picture of Mali, which is a beautiful country in Africa.

Zakah can be used to free and help enslaved people.

Now, you might think, well, slavery's been abolished, it doesn't happen as much in the world, so how can zakah be used to help free enslaved people? Well, actually, in Mali in West Africa, slavery's illegal, but it is still practised.

And even today in Europe as well, we have human trafficking and forms of slavery too.

So it does still go on in the world even if it's not legal.

So in Mali in West Africa, slavery's illegal, but it's still practised, and there's many Muslims who live in Mali.

And so Islamic Relief is a charity that's using zakah funds to help people in Mali.

So the funds that can be used to help enslaved people are being used by Islamic Relief to help people there in Mali.

The things that they're doing is providing food, shelter, and clothing.

So if someone's managed to get free, sort of break free from being living in enslaved condition, then they can provide food, shelter, clothing, and support for them.

And by supporting education for children.

So they have education programmes there to try and help the children get the qualifications they need to go and have jobs and provide for their families later.

And so you can see here that a charity like Islamic Relief is using the zakah funds, one of the purposes of it is to help enslaved people, and here's some people who are kind of facing enslavement in Mali, even though it's illegal, are being helped by that zakah fund.

So you can see on different websites or charities like Islamic Relief, you can look up some of these different case studies to see the kind of projects they're actually getting involved with on the ground.

Let's do a quick check.

What term means the worldwide Muslim community? Pause the video and have a think, and we'll see what you've got in a moment.

Well done, it's the Ummah.

Well done.

So we've just looked at a case study of zakah funds being used in Mali in West Africa, but the zakah funds are also used in the UK to support people in need here.

So here we're gonna see what Meyrem does volunteering at a food bank in the UK, which is supported by Muslim Aid.

We just saw an example from Islamic Relief.

Here's an example of what Muslim Aid do.

Meyrem says, "Along with donating my zakah, I also like to donate my time volunteering here at the food bank.

The Prophet Muhammad said that no one can be a believer if their neighbour is going hungry next to them.

I want to help families who may be going hungry in my town.

There's poverty in the UK and those who can help, should." So Meyrem here is paying her zakah, but also her time in order to help get things to those people who need it the most.

Thank you, Meyrem.

So Sam and Lucas now are discussing how zakah is used.

Sam says, "Sometimes zakah is used to support people in other countries who are part of the Ummah, like after there's been a natural disaster in a country zakah might be used to help those in need." And Lucas says, "Yes, but zakah can also be used here in the UK to help people suffering in poverty or in great debt.

It could be used to support the organisation of charities that manage zakah to make sure they can do this effectively." Thank you, Sam and Lucas.

Let's do a practise task to see what we've learnt then.

We're gonna use the image of Meyrem as a prompt to complete the table and explain how zakah could be used both abroad and in the UK.

So we've got here zakah be used abroad in other countries and zakah can be used in the UK.

What could we say as examples for how it could be used? Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done, some really good thinking there, and we've got those examples that we had earlier in the lesson, haven't we? So zakah can be used abroad.

So charities like Islamic Relief and Muslim Aid can use zakah to help those in countries with poverty, children without parents, displaced people, those in need.

This can help especially after humanitarian disasters.

And zakah could be used in the UK.

Local charities and mosques can use zakah to help those people in need in the UK, as many people face poverty here too.

One example is through supporting food banks which are providing food to families who are struggling.

Well done.

So onto our third and final section then, Khums in Shi'a Islam.

So we said at the start of the lesson that zakah is one of the Five Pillars of Islam as well as being one of the Ten Obligatory Acts of Shi'a Islam.

In addition to zakah, in the Ten Obligatory Acts of Shi'a Islam, we also have khums, which is another form of almsgiving or a charity tax.

And a source of authority that supports this is found in the Qur'an in Surah 8, where it says, "And know that whatever spoils you gain, to God belongs its fifth, and to the Messenger, and the relatives, and the orphans, and the poor, and to the wayfarer." Now, how could this passage in the Qur'an link to a charity tax then? Pause the video and have a think, and you can reread it and talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, here we have this idea of a fifth belonging to God and it being able to be paid to the Messenger and the relatives, and then we've got orphans, the poor, and the wayfarer or a traveller.

So here we've got this idea of a fifth being paid.

Earlier we had 2.

5%, here we've got this idea of it being a fifth of whatever spoils you gain.

So let's try and understand this a little bit more.

Well, at the time of the Prophet Muhammad, Muslims would give one-fifth of any large gains of wealth or money at one time, such as the spoils of war, to him and his family to distribute to those who needed it the most.

Now, since the death of the Prophet Muhammad, branches of Islam have developed different approaches of how to apply this one-fifth instruction today.

So in Sunni Islam, this instruction is interpreted to apply to only the spoils of war, and the majority of Muslims are not fighting in wars and getting gains from fighting in these wars.

The money that they have has come from other ways, and so the zakah applies to them.

However, in Shi'a Islam it's interpreted in a different way.

And the Arabic term khums means one-fifth.

So you can start to see how this links to the idea of khums in Shi'a Islam.

In Shi'a Islam, this one-fifth khums instruction, a fifth of your gains, is followed by Muslims giving 20% of their unspent savings as alms. So for most Shi'a Muslims, this is then given to orphans, the poor, the traveller, and representatives of God, Muhammad, and the Imams because of that instruction to give it to God, the Prophet Muhammad, the relatives, and poor, orphans, and travellers.

So for most Shi'a Muslims, this is where this 20% goes, and it's any unspent savings as alms, as charitable giving.

So the Qur'an quote said about the money being given to God, the Prophet Muhammad, and the relatives.

So how could this idea of the Imams link to that, thinking about the Shi'a beliefs that you know? Pause the video and have a think, and you could talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, for Shi'a Muslims, a belief in the Imamate is very important as one of the five roots of faith, and a belief in the Imamate links to the idea of the Prophet Muhammad's relatives, 'cause all the Imams are born from the Prophet Muhammad's bloodline.

Let's do a quick check to see what we've learnt.

Which three statements are correct about khums In Shi'a Islam? It's a tax of 2.

5% of savings for almsgiving, it's a tax of 20% of savings for almsgiving, it's paid to the poor and orphans, and it's paid to representatives of the Imams. Which three of these are correct? Pause the video and have a go.

We'll see what we've got in a moment.

Well done.

It's the last three, B, C, and D.

It's 20%, it's paid to the poor and orphans, as well as being paid to representatives of the Imams. Well done.

So let's have a look at an example of Hassan.

So Hassan is an office manager, and at the end of this year, after all his expenses are paid, he has 12,000 pounds in unspent savings.

So as a Shi'a Muslim, he pays a fifth of that in khums. So that is 2,400 pounds he's paid in khums. And he says, "When I pay the khums, it does feel like a large amount of money." It does look a lot of money, doesn't it? 2.

4 thousand pounds.

"But I know that really, this belongs to Allah.

I pay this to a charity that's supported by the leaders of my religious community.

They represent the teachings of Allah through Muhammad's example and the Imams' guidance.

And one thing this charity does is sponsor orphans in conflict areas, and I'm pleased my khums donation supports this." So Hassan pays his khums, it feels like a lot, but he knows it belongs to God, and he's doing that because it's a fifth from that instruction in the Qur'an.

And then we have Zainab who's a Shi'a Muslim who attends mosque in London, and here she explains how she helps with activities which use the funds from khums. Zainab says, "I donate my khums each year and I also get involved with different activities at the mosque to help those in need.

One group the Qur'an says we must help is those who are travelling.

We give support to those who travel to the UK to flee danger and are asylum seekers or refugees.

I help them by teaching English to young people and children so they can settle quickly into school." Thank you, Zainab.

Let's do another practise task to see what we've learnt then.

You're going to complete this table and explain two different ways that Muslims may give alms, or we could say perform almsgiving.

So two different ways, and we're going to do zakah and khums, which is paid in Shi'a Islam.

In your explanation for each, you should give an example of who the money can be used to support.

So pause the video, think about the examples we've looked at in the lesson so far.

Have a go, we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done, some really good thinking.

So I asked you to explain two different ways that Muslims might give alms, and you could have said, zakah is 2.

5% of the wealth a Muslim has within a year period.

This money can support eight categories of people, including the poor, needy, and those who administer zakah.

Khums. In Shi'a Islam, khums is 20% of the unspent savings a Muslim has in a year.

This money can support the poor and the needy, as well as orphans and relatives of the Prophet Muhammad, the Imams. Well done.

So let's summarise everything we've learnt today then.

Almsgiving is an important Muslim practise for all Muslims. Paying zakah is one of the Five Pillars and usually relates to 2.

5% of someone's wealth and assets in a year being donated to charitable causes.

Zakah is also one of the Ten Obligatory Acts of Shi'a Islam.

Orphans, travellers, those who are poor, in need, the administers of zakah can all be donated the funds.

And in Shi'a Islam, the instruction to give 20% of gains is given through khums as alms. So well done for your hard work today, and I hope to see you again soon.

Bye-bye!.