THE SIXTH CHAPTER
On the esoteric meaning of Almsgiving (Zakat)
Know, my brother, that the term Zakat indicates two meanings: one is purity (tahara), and the other is lawful growth (al-numu al-shar'i). It is the charity that God—Glorified and Exalted is He—mandated for all believers and Muslims to extract from their pure wealth at the end of every year's cycle.
Another aspect is its outward extraction, which is [distributed] among eight categories, those whom God named in His Book, saying: "Prescribed charity is only for the poor and the needy, and those employed to collect it, and those whose hearts are to be reconciled, and for freeing captives, and for those in debt, and for the cause of Allah, and for the traveler—an obligation from Allah. And Allah is Knowing and Wise" 1 .
The mandatory amount to be extracted is five dirhams for every two hundred dirhams. Its supererogatory part is whatever the Muslim wishes, even to the point of self-sacrifice (al-ithar),