Do we have to pay Khums?

Assalam Alaikum,

Alhumdulillah, we are doing well out here and hope the same for all of you. Just the other day I was telling a friend about my plans for performing Hajj, Insha Allah next year. He asked me to perform other things as well which has been made obligatory on Muslims and mentioned that "Khums" is one such thing beside Salat, Saum, and Zakat. To be honest with you, I had heard this word earlier, but did not know that it is some obligatory charity to be made by Muslims. I searched it on your web site but there is no article on the subject. I was able to get a few articles from the net but what I am able to gather that it comes from the Arabic word "Ghanima" and  there is some ambiguity on the interpretation of its meaning, and only Shia' Muslims opt for it while the Sunni Muslims consider it as Bidat. Please elaborate on the subject and let us know how it is applicable to us.

Please do remember us in your prayers.

Allah Hafiz

Yours

Nusrat

Answer:

Walekum Assalam WRWB!

May Allah give you reward for trying to acquire knowledge, Amen!

Let me clarify here a very important point, before I proceed to answer your question in detail. Every worship, Hajj or salat or zakat or Saum, has its own importance, and none depends upon the performance of the other. If someone performs an obligatory worship in time, he gets its reward; on the other hand, if someone does not perform an obligatory worship, he is liable to get punishment for it. Non-performance of one type of worship does not condone the non-performance of the other.

Khums is not something other than a type of zakat. Khums, in Arabic, means one-fifth or twenty percent. This zakat is levied on war booty (i.e. on the goods of enemy won over after a war by the Muslims. It is called Mal-e- Ghanimah in Arabic) only, according to an overwhelming majority of the scholars of Ahl-e-Sunnah (i.e. Sunni Ulama’). However, some (very few) present day Sunni Ulama’ think that Khums is also levied on the dividends earned from investments; the majority says that only two and a half percent zakat is sufficient. According to my knowledge, you need not pay Khums or twenty percent zakat on your dividend income, if you are paying two and a half percent on it, too.

Allah knows the best.

Wassalam

Dr. Syed Hasanuddin Ahmad