At the Annual Convention of the Ahmadiyya Community at Rabwah, in the year 1975, I was afforded the opportunity of speaking on the subject of Zakāt and its philosophy. In my speech I dilated upon the importance and the beneficence of this signal tenet of Islam. This talk was first published in Urdu. But because of the weighty import and significance of the subject I had also been approached several times for the printing of a translation for the benefit of the English-speaking readers, especially those who join our fold and also for the benefit of our younger generation so that they may also grasp the essence and the true spirit of this article of faith.

The booklet now being published had been translated by Mr Muhammad Akram Khan Ghauri, who deserves our sincere thanks, and had been featured in the February 1977 edition of the Muslim Herald.

It must be remembered that a clear understanding of this tenet of Islam is of great importance. But putting it to practice is far more important and weighty in consequence. Every Muslim, therefore, must understand that Zakat, when due, must be paid without fail.

Western nations may well be proud today for their welfare states. But history is an irrefutable witness that long before the Western nations understood even the true meanings of a welfare state, Islam had laid the foundation of a truly welfare state fourteen hundred years ago, when every affluent Muslim was commanded to contribute a fixed share of his wealth for the benefit of the poor and other social services.

We hope and pray that this booklet may serve its purpose well and those who read it may become interested to find more truths about Islam, the faith chosen for mankind by God Himself. Amen.

Sheikh Mubarak Ahmad,
Imam of the London Mosque

London
March 1, 1983