Zakat (Poor
Due, Alms)
1-The
term "Zakat" originally means: growth, and purity.
2-In Islamic Law, it
means paying every lunar year a certain percentage of your savings to be used in
certain charitable uses defined by Al-Qur'an.
3-If you have, for that period, an
amount of money equal to the value of 85 grams of pure gold (now, 1985, is
about $1000) or more, you must pay 2.5%.
4-Zakat is paid for the poor and
the needy Muslims, for the wayfarers, for propagating Islam or fighting for
Islam, for helping new Muslims or encouraging non-Muslims to embrace Islam, for
those who are burdened with debts and are unable to pay
them.
5-If you have articles of trade, you calculate their Zakat in the same
way.
6-You can ask some Muslim scholar or refer to any good reference book to
know more about Zakat.