Most cultures have a tradition of encouraging charity and generosity, of enjoining those who have enough to give to those who do not. Most cultures tell their children cautionary tales about what happens to those who do not give to the needy. In legends throughout the world and across the ages one can be pretty sure that the poor stranger who asks for only a crust of bread and a corner of a stable to rest in and is refused will turn out to be an angel or other powerful creature.
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 any Moslem is a profession of faith, an act that is related to Islam's absolute commitment to monotheism. The profession of faith--the Shahadah--is simple: ôThere is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet.ö This profession must be made publicly by every Muslim at least once in his or her lifetime ôby the tongue and with full assent from the heartö; it defines the membership of an individual in the Islamic community and is a sign that the person ...