Blessings of the Fasting
Life of Worship
Rituals Lead to a Life of Worship
How Does Fasting Develop Us?
Exclusively Private Worship — Sure Sign of Faith — Month-long Training — Practising Obedience — Communal Fasting
Where Are the Results?
18. True Spirit of the Fasting
Spirit and Form
The Outward Replaces the Real
Wrong View of Worship
Fasting as a Way to Piety
Conditions of True Fasting
Abstention From Falsehood — Faith and Selfscrutiny — Shield Against Sins — Hunger for Goodness
PART V: ZAKAH
19. Fundamental Importance of Zakah
Meaning of Zakah
Zakah, a Test
Early Practice
Categorical Imperative
The Sign of Faith
Foundation of the Ummah
Conditions for God’s Help
Warning to Muslims
Fate of Zakah Defaulters
20. Meaning of Zakah
Becoming God’s Friends
Wisdom and Understanding — Moral Strength — Obedience and Dutifulness — Sacrificing Wealth
Requirements for Admittance to God’s Friendship
Large-heartedness — Magnanimity — Selflessness — Purity of Heart — Giving in Adversity — Giving in Affluence — Giving for Allah Alone — Stressing Benevolence — Amassing Wealth — Making Excuses — Spending Reluctantly and Resentfully — Considering Spending a Fine — Niggardliness
The Real Test
21. Zakah, a Social Institution
Allah’s Unique Beneficence
Man’s Selfishness
What Selfishness Leads To
Individual and Collective Welfare
What is the Solution?
22. General Principles of Spending
Remembrance of God
Spending in the Way of Allah
Essential Prerequisite to Guidance
Spend Only to Please Allah
Do Not Stress Your Benevolence
Give Only Good Things
Give Unobtrusively and Secretly
Guard Against Misuse
Do Not Harass Debtors
Take Due Care of Family
Give to the Deserving
23. Specific Injunctions of Zakah
Produce of the Earth
On Wealth and Financial Assets
Jewellery
Who Are Entitled to Receive Zakah
Fuqarā’: the poor — Masākīn: the destitute and needy — ‘Amilīna ‘alayhā: who administer Zakah — Mu’allafatu ’l-qulūb: who need to be reconciled — Fī’r-riqāb: freeing from bondage — Al-gharimīn: overburdened debtors — Fī-sabīli ’llāh: in the way of Allah — Ibnu ’s-sabīl: travelers
Other Important Principles
Need For Collective System
PART VI: HAJJ
24. Origin and Significance of Hajj
Life and Mission of the Prophet Ibrāhīm
Ibrāhīm’s Times
Commitment to the Truth
Tribulations and Calamities
Migration
Raising a New Generation
The Greatest of Trials
The Universal Islamic Movement
Lūṭ in Sodom — Isḥāq in Palestine — Construction of the Ka’ba
Prayers of Ibrāhīm
25. Restoration of True Hajj
Idol Worship Among Ibrāhīm’s Descendants
How Corrupted Hajj Became
A Yearly Carnival — Perverse Rites — Sacrilege of Sacred Months — Self-imposed Restrictions
Restoration of Hajj
Fulfilment of Ibrāhīm’s Prayer — Revival of Ibrāhīm’s Ways — End of Idolatry — Prohibition of Indecent Acts — Bragging and Showing Off — End of Ostentatious Generosity — Spattering of Blood and Flesh Banned — Prohibition of Perverse Rites — Changing the Months of Hajj Forbidden — Hajj Provisions Made Obligatory — Permission to Work During Hajj — End of Other Customs — Fixing Boundaries — Ensuring Peace and Security
Importance of Hajj
26. Renewal of Self
The Journey
Virtue and Piety
Iḥrām and its Conditions
Talbiyyah: the Cry of Response
