Zakat and Fasting in Nur al-Idah

The zakah and fasting chapters of Nur al-Idah present the Hanafi school's rulings in the concise, accessible format characteristic of ash-Shurunbulali's approach. The student emerges from these chapters with a clear understanding of their obligations in these two pillars of Islam.

zakah is defined and its conditions presented: Islam, freedom, sanity, puberty (bulugh), complete ownership (tamam al-milk), the wealth reaching the nisab, and the completion of a full lunar year (hawl) in ownership. The categories of zakatable wealth are listed: gold, silver, trade goods, and livestock (camels, cattle, sheep). Agricultural produce is noted as subject to 'ushr (the agricultural obligation) rather than standard zakah.

The nisab for gold is twenty mithqal (approximately 85 grams); for silver, two hundred dirhams (approximately 595 grams); for trade goods, the silver nisab by value. The rate is 2.5% for all monetary wealth and trade goods. The student learns when to calculate and pay zakah — at the end of the lunar year in which the nisab was reached.

The eight categories of zakah recipients are presented with brief descriptions: the fuqara' (the poor who have some means), the masakin (the destitute who have nothing), the 'amilun (zakah administrators), the mu'allafat al-qulub (those whose hearts are to be won), the riqab (slaves seeking freedom), the gharimun (those in debt), those fighting in Allah's cause (fi sabilillah), and the ibn as-sabil (stranded travelers). The student learns that zakah must go to these categories and may not be given to non-Muslims or to one's own dependents.

For sawm (fasting), Nur al-Idah presents the obligations and conditions clearly. The intention (niyyah) for Ramadan fasting may be made any time during the night until midday of the fasting day — the Hanafi leniency compared to the Shafi'i requirement of a nighttime-only intention. The fast requires abstaining from all nullifiers from true dawn (subh sadiq) until sunset.

The nullifiers are listed: eating and drinking intentionally, sexual intercourse (which also requires kaffarah), deliberate vomiting of a mouthful or more, anything entering the body through a natural opening (including medicine administered through the nose or ears), and cupping — the Hanafi school does not adopt the Hanbali position that cupping breaks the fast, following instead the later hadiths indicating the Prophet cupped while fasting.

Ash-Shurunbulali notes the special emphasis placed on Ramadan in both Quran and Sunnah: it is the month in which the Quran was revealed (2:185), the month in which the gates of paradise are opened and the gates of hell are closed (al-Bukhari, Muslim), and the month in which the Night of Power — better than a thousand months — is to be found. The student who approaches Ramadan with understanding of both its legal requirements and its spiritual significance is prepared to benefit fully from this blessed month.