zakat. Article #18. Vol 12, pg 888.
Along with declaring your faith, praying every day, fasting and heading to Mecca, zakat (almsgiving) is one of the five pillars of Islam. Zakat, however, appears to be more of a pseudo-obligatory tax than a random donation to the poor.
Zakat is levied on: food grains, fruit, camels, cattle, sheep, goats, gold, silver and all movable goods. In other words, you pay zakat on basically everything you own, except your house, large hunks of concrete and old Bee Gees record collections. I.e. Stuff you couldn’t possibly move.
You pay zakat to poor people or “those whose hearts it is necessary to conciliate”. In other words, you pay zakat to angry people who really want your money.
Depending on how angry they are, though, you could at least try starting with the Bee Gees collection.
“zakat.” Encyclopedia Britannica. 15th ed. 2010. Vol 12, pg 888.
