Zakat, Fasting, and Hajj in Al-Wajiz

The remaining three pillars of Islam — zakah (obligatory almsgiving), sawm (fasting), and hajj (pilgrimage) — receive systematic treatment in Al-Wajiz, where al-Ghazali presents the Shafi'i school's rulings with his characteristic clarity and precision.

zakah is an obligatory annual transfer of a portion of one's qualifying wealth to designated recipients. The Shafi'i school holds that zakah is owed on five categories of wealth: gold and silver (or currency reaching the equivalent threshold), trade goods, livestock (camels, cattle, and sheep meeting minimum numbers), grains and dried fruits, and minerals/treasure (rikaz). The nisab — the minimum threshold of wealth below which zakah is not due — is set for gold at approximately 85 grams and for silver at approximately 595 grams. zakah on these categories becomes due when the wealth has been held for one lunar year (hawl), with the exception of agricultural produce and mineral wealth, which are due at harvest or extraction.

The rate of zakah on gold, silver, trade goods, and livestock is 2.5% (one-fortieth) of the total. Agricultural produce is subject to a higher rate: 10% if watered by rain or natural means, and 5% if watered by irrigation requiring effort and expense. Al-Ghazali presents these rates in Al-Wajiz as established Shafi'i positions grounded in prophetic hadith.

The eight categories of zakah recipients are specified in the Quran (9:60): the poor (fuqara'), the needy (masakin), zakah administrators, those whose hearts are to be reconciled (mu'allafat al-qulub), those in debt for communal benefit (gharimin), those in the path of God (fi sabilillah), those in bondage (riqab), and travelers in need (ibn as-sabil). The Shafi'i school holds that zakah must be distributed to all eight categories present in a given locality — a stricter position than some other schools, which permit concentrating the distribution on a single category.

Fasting (sawm) during Ramadan is the fourth pillar of Islam. The Shafi'i school defines the obligatory fast as abstaining from food, drink, sexual intercourse, and anything that reaches the body cavity (jawf), from the true dawn (fajr sadiq) until sunset, with the intention (niyyah) formed the night before. Al-Ghazali outlines in Al-Wajiz the acts that break the fast — including vomiting intentionally, cupping (in some positions), and sexual intercourse — and the different levels of expiation required. Sexual intercourse during a Ramadan fast requires the heaviest expiation (kaffarat): freeing a slave, fasting two consecutive months, or feeding sixty poor persons.

The Shafi'i school permits breaking the Ramadan fast for travelers (those on a journey of minimum qualifying distance) and the ill, with the obligation to make up the missed days later. Al-Ghazali addresses the conditions for these concessions in Al-Wajiz.

Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) is obligatory once in a lifetime for every adult Muslim who is financially and physically capable. The Shafi'i school identifies the essential rites of hajj: entering the state of ihram (consecration), standing at Arafah on the ninth of Dhul Hijjah, the tawaf al-ifadah (circumambulation of the Ka'bah after Arafah), and the sa'y between Safa and Marwa. Al-Ghazali enumerates these rites in Al-Wajiz and discusses what requires compensatory sacrifice (dam) when omitted or improperly performed.

Al-Ghazali's treatment of these three pillars in Al-Wajiz demonstrates the Shafi'i school's characteristic attention to evidence, its logical sequencing of rulings, and its precision in distinguishing the obligatory from the recommended, and the permissible from the prohibited. Students of Shafi'i fiqh find in this section a reliable and authoritative guide to three of Islam's most consequential obligations.