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Islam presents humanity with a complete package. It deals with our relationship with other creations of God, as well as our own relationship with God. However, the financial responsibilities that Islam teaches us touches on both. From one perspective, it is a form of worship and a means to get closer to God. From another, it is an act of sharing the wealth that God has given us for causes permitted by the Sharia.
One of the major financial obligations, as commanded by the Qur’ān[1] and explained by the Ahl al-Bayt [a], is khums – the one-fifth levy. It is different to zakāt al-māl, as the latter pertains only to particular forms of wealth above certain thresholds.
In general terms, khums is the financial obligation that requires Muslims to pay a fifth of their savings from the income of the year that has just ended. The payment is divided into two equal parts: the portion for the Imam [a] (Sahm al-Imām [a]) and the portion for the Hashimites who are poor and require financial assistance (Sahm al-Sādah).
Through this payment, the wealth that remains becomes purified and lawful for one to use, as well as a fulfilment of a duty. Beyond the duty and the purification of wealth, it is a test of faith. It has been reported from Imam Mūsā al-Kāẓim [a] that he said that none shall be able to undertake this obligation except those “whose hearts have been tested for faith.”[2] Imam ʿAlī al-Riḍā [a] has been narrated to have said that the payment of khums is “the key to your sustenance, and the purification from your sins.”[3]
As per the edicts of His Eminence, al-Sayyid al-Sīstānī, the Sahm al-Sādah can be distributed amongst the deserving Hashimites by the believers themselves. However, Sahm al-Imām [a] must be passed to those who represent the Awaited Imam [a] during his occultation. For those who follow His Eminence, al-Sayyid al-Sīstānī, this is to be passed to him as one’s Marjiʿ, as an obligatory precaution, or anybody who has been given permission by him to use it in the permitted causes.
From one side, the obligation of khums is an Islamic tax that honours the Ahl al-Bayt [a] and the offspring of the Hashimite clan, for whom Zakāt – mandatory charity – has been made forbidden. In this manner, the Sayyids and Hashimites who find themselves in difficult times can receive a God-given right.
From another side, it is the means by which Islamic institutions and organisations, mosques and centres of learning can be completely free and independent from political, social and economical pressures. Through Sahm al-Imām [a], all those who are in need, but have not received the mandatory and non-mandatory charity given by the believers, can have food and basic amenities, pay their bills, and pay for medication and treatment. Through Sahm al-Imām [a], and through the blessings that come from this, the Muslim community that looks to the Ahl al-Bayt [a] and to the Imam of the Time [a] can be uplifted and carry itself through the thick and thin of this world.
There are many causes that can be supported and helped through the payment of the dues of khums. However, when we refer to the Holy Qurʾān, there is one group of people that is mentioned throughout as a special category of those who need our help, and we are the conduits through which God wishes to help them. They are the poor and the orphans.
Through organisations such as Al-Ayn, who have the permission of His Eminence, al-Sayyid al-Sīstānī, to receive khums funds to support the orphaned children of Iraq, there is a great opportunity to truly doing what God has obligated upon us in the best of ways.
We pray to Allah Almighty to accept from us our good deeds that we undertake to gain greater proximity to Him, and that it has the desired effect in this world and in the Hereafter.
Sheikh Ali Abbas Malik
[1] The Holy Qurʿān, 8:41.
[2] Al-wasāʾil, v. 9, pp. 484-5.
[3] Al-wasāʾil, v. 9, p. 538.
