Monday, October 23, 2006

Zakat Harta

Hi All

Tomorrow will be Hari Raya as festive day for us Muslims around the world. A time of joy and happiness for some but usually for all especially the poor. We at Bahapa Kitani we're all about helping others. Right kiddo! Bukan kan puji diri but rather sharing. That's why we have this blog in the 1st place is to share with all what good things we can do di Negara Brunei Darussalam. We share information, we share songs, we share photos, and we're happy that we made friends along the way. Maybe not close friends - internet friends. The likes of kellz, cuboi, bebehsan, gferro, 04, puzian and many more.

Been contemplating on what to post for Hari Raya. Don't wanna post on the typical Hari Raya stories but other things that may concern us all - since we are in the topic of sharing. hehehe Thanks to our reader 'puzian' for reminding us about Zakat. Zakat ada 2. Zakat Fitrah and Zakat Harta. The former is ubiquitous. Everyone and anyone knows this but the latter is a bit of a not so obvious but very important indeed. This I learnt a couple of years ago after started working and making my own money.

Zakat Harta is compulsory for all Muslims with a minimum sum of money. It is as strict as us having to do puasa and Sembahyang - which I didnt know before. Well I should from ugama school but leaving ugama school for so long all you know is what you practise and that is sembahyang 5 waktu and zakat. Nevertheless we forget the 5 pillars of Islam.

  1. Membaca 2 kalimah Shayadah
  2. Sembahyang 5 waktu
  3. Membayar Zakat
  4. Berpuasa di bulan Ramadhan
  5. Naik Haji (if Mampu)
I am definitely not an expert and who am I to say about this. However would like to share with all of those who were as blind as me so we can all know. 1st time I paid my Zakat was difficult cos it can be a lot for some especially knowing how hard you earned it. You can criticise me all you want but this is true but over the years you become wiser and learn new things. That thing I learnt is that, that money does not belong to you. God Allah gave to you and God says we should give Zakat and that the money we have is for us to manage wisely. So when now when you pay your Zakat, that money is God's money and I only learnt this year that if you don't pay Zakat for all those years you need to Qadha' just like you Qadha for puasa and sembahyang. Again I only knew this year after talking to the Amil.

One thing also is that when you do pay your Zakat at the religious department, you will get to meet many people of different background than yourself. When you hear their cries asking for Zakat you know you have done something good to help them. Seriously just go there especially during pembayaran Zakat to them. It is heart wrenching.. especially when you hear innocent childrens talking freely. Cam nya, 'Bah mama tani bole membali ah kalau mama dapat duit'. I've heard some ask for Zakat cos they dont even have money to buy for clothes.

We think orang Brunei kaya.. we hardly see the other side. The serious side of life atu yang membari kasian. so if you have a minimum sum please pay your Zakat Harta not just cos it's wajib but because you want to and you want to help the poor. Shukur the number of populations over the years - looking at the charts they have there, is definitely growing.. from a couple of hundreds in the 90's then early 2000 went up to 3000 ppl paying Zakat Harta to about 4000 recently. Shukur the number is increasing but still a long way to go. Our population is about over 300,000 people compared to 4000 people paying Zakat Harta and compare that to 3000 over people entitled to Zakat. I don't need to calculate the percentage but that definitely speaks for itself.

So since today is still Ramadhan and the last one. Make your way to the religious department to pay Zakat Harta. If you can't make it you can do so for the whole year. So spread the wealth so other less fortunate then us can enjoy what we enjoy too for Hari Raya.

Selamat Hari Raya to all and thanks to puzian for reminding us. Maaf Zahir & Batin just in case kami at Bahapa Kitani ada tersilap kata kata.

Here's the attached Zakat calculation I got from the religious department.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good effort, highly appreciate msg2 berkaitan dgn nasihat like this. but however, just to point out that Inda dapat di zoom gambar on the zakat harta calculation from KHEU ah.. kan di baca tah sudah nie..

Anonymous said...

Thank you for reading our blog. Minta maaf as it has been over 2 years since I blogged this particular topic. I might've not remembered where I put the paper. Insyallah if I can get the new one from the Ministry of Religious affairs this year, insyallah will post the new calculation.

Thank you again for reading. Let us know what else you want to see more in here.