A Glance at the Fundamentals of

utilising Religious Taxes under the Rule of a Faqih

In this article, the writer, after alluding to the state of disarray prevailing in the payment and expenditure of religious taxes, gives a reply to the following question: Is such a system acceptable at a time when a faqih is in power? He first points out to the mode of payment, receipt and expenditure of religous taxes from the beginning of Islam up to the present 

time by dividing it into four periods:

1- The period of presence (of the Prophet(s) and the Imams(a)) along with possessing power [2]. The period of their presence without having political power [3]. The period of occultaion and being without political power [4]. The period of occultaion and the rule of a faqih.

Then, in accordance with the fundamentals present, he emphasises that during the first and fourth periods, the mode of receipt and expenditure of the religious taxes is similar because the element of possessing power (on the basis of the shariah) is common between them.

The Wajib Instances of Khumus and Zakat

In this article the items on which khumus and zakat are wajib are scrutinised with the aim of determining whether these instances are permanently fixed or are alterable on the basis of the needs of the society and the. priorities of the Islamic ruler.A discussion about limiting the instances of zakat to nine items - concerning which a lot of observations, criticisms and ana lyses by the ulama are available is undertaken, and the conflicting opinions, along with the proofs of each of them, have been diligently analysed.

From the same angle the relationship of Khumus on income from profits of business (and salatres) with zakat is studied.

Khumus: The Prerogative of Governance

In this article, the writer, mentions the views concerning the questions: To whom does khumus belong? To whom should it be paid? Is half of it the property of the needy sadat (the descendants of the Prophet (s)), and the other half the personal property of the office of imamat, or is it not so, with all of it belonging to the imamat? ... and critically analyses them by delineating the proofs of each of them. He then gives his own opinion as follows: Khumus is the prerogative of the leadership of the society and the leader can spend it in whatever manner he thinks fit. He supports his view by providing proofs and highlights assidluously the weakness of the proofs perfaining to the popular opinion that: Khumus is divided into two parts, half of it being the share of the sadat and the other half the personal share of the Imam.

Zakat: Islamic Tax

The writer begins his research with the question: Should the expenditure of zakat be left to the person by whom zakat is payable, or should it be placed under the authority of the Islamic ruler, and in the absence of such a ruler, under the authority of a full - fledged faqih (faqih - e - jame al - sharait) so that he may undertake the responsibility of spending it?

The writer, after mentioning the various views and their proofs, goes on to consolidate the foundation of the view which considers zakat as a governmental tax which should come into the hands of the Islamic ruler, and in our time wherein a faqih is the ruler and in his hands is the destiny of the country, it should be paid to him so that he may spend it on the basis of his knowledge of the social exigencies.

The Necessity of Collecting Religious Taxes

In this article, the writer discusses an important contemporary problem facing the Islamic community concerning religious taxes. The crux of the problem lies in that the people have been left to themselves in the matter of payment of religious taxes.

The writer studies the query: how could the Duine shariat, which emphasises the importance of religious taxes and relies on them and strongly condemns those who evade them..., leave their payment to the will of the people and let this important task remain unorganised and unplanned?

Then he raises this question that: In the present state when an Islamic government has been formed and is capable of collecting the religious taxes, can it, on the basis of the Holy Quran and the Prophet's (s) sunnat, collect these taxes and compel those refraining from it to pay their dues, on can it not do so?

He replies that in accordance with rational and narrated proofs, especially the sirah of the Prophet (s) and Ali (A), a ruler should collect the religious taxes and compel the evaders to perform their duty.

Religious Taxes and Taxation

From the early days of the formation of an Islamic government in Iran, specially at the time of framing the constitution, this issue attrac ted the attention of scholars and researchers that, the compulsory tax which the Muslims are liable to pay in an Islamic society is limited to the religious taxes, and the Islamic ruler can only demand these taxes from the people to fulfil the needs of the society, or is it that the changed circumstances, changes in the governmental structure, the task of providing services to the people and increase in social expenditure, entail that taxes in consonance with the needs of the just government should be laidupon the people and the govenment should exhort them to pay.

The present effort is a glance at the taxation system of the Islamic goverment and its relationship with the religious taxes. The writer initially presents two views, for and against, and dicusses their proofs. Finally he comes to the conclusion that an Islamic ruler can introduce other taxes apart from the religious taxes for solving the problems of the people and the society.

Liability Concerning Religious Taxes

The writer of this article embarks upon the study of a very important and critical issue which is, negligence and purposeful default in the payment, colletion and expenditure of religious taxes which brings about liability.

He after provoiding a literal and technical definition of the word dhaman (liability), explains its significace in relation to khumus * on the manner of incidence of khumus and zakat i.e. is the incidence of khumus and zakat upon wealth or is it the personal responsibility of the individual? Then he elucidates the impact of these two viewpoints on the issue of liability concerning religious taxes and enumerates and discusses one by one the instances which give rise to liability.

* and zakat and oliscusses two important viewpoints.

FIQH /Issue No. [3], -

RELIGIOUS

TAXES

SPRING 1374/1995