Islamic View of Charity

Islam, and predominantly Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia, has formalized this generally held human inclination towards charity. While Christians are told how Mary and Joseph were turned away again and again out of the lack of charity, it is Moslems who have incorporated the importance of giving as one of the five essential elements of their religion--just as those Christians who still tithe have made a formal incorporation into their faith of the importance of charity to a religiously observant life.

After providing a brief background on Islam and on Saudi Arabia, this paper looks at how the concept of Zkhat, or the practice of giving to the needy. Zkhat is one of the five pillars of Islam and its importance to observant Moslems can best be understood within the context of these five commitments. They will be described briefly here before this paper considers how contemporary Muslims, and especially those in Saudi Arabia, fulfill this obligation.

The first pillar of Islam, the first duty of a

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e rest of society û such as the Amish or to some extent the Mennonites û may have a similar experience of life as a religious person in a society in which life is defined by the religiously obligated actions of others of the same faith as does the Moslem in Saudi Arabia, but it is hard for most Americans to imagine the way that action, belief, individual identity and social identity are blended seamlessly for the Saudi Moslem (Karwan, 1992, p. 105). Burrell makes this point with cogency and insight and so is worth quoting at some length. These core beliefs profoundly shape Muslim society. They are put into practice via the famous ôfive pillarsö of Islam: (1) confessing that God is One and Muhammad is God's prophet (the shahada); (2) communal ritual prayer, five times daily; (3) fasting during the lunar month of Ramadan, which ends with (4) an annual obligatory almsgiving; and (5) for those able to do so, making the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lifetime. The first and last of these are eminently personal actions, yet as the first profession of faith initiates one into the umma (the community), the other gives eloquent expression to that inclusive community itself. The three other "pillars" underscore the communal c
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Saudi Arabia, Kaaba Mecca, Muhammad Muslim, Modern Islamic, Women Islamic, East Indonesia, Muhammad Prophetö, Ages Islamic, Wahhabis Saudis, Muslims Kaaba, saudi arabia, wiley 1999, obligation zkhat, pillars islam, benthall 1997, five pillars islam, five pillars, encyclopedia britannica 1999, 1999 cd-rom, daily prayers, burrell 1997, call prayer, 1999 cd-rom version, britannica 1999 cd-rom, cd-rom version entry,
Approximate Word count = 4030
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page)

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