Charity · a Light
The word for alms means growth, not deduction
Zakat is the obligatory portion of accumulated wealth handed over each year. The root z k w means to grow and to increase, and also to be pure, and the noun is used of a plant that thrives. Arabic takes purity and increase from the same three letters because a thing cleaned of what spoils it grows better. So the term for taking a fortieth out of your savings is a word about the pile getting larger. The Qur'an uses the same verb of the self in the chapter of the sun: he has succeeded who causes it to grow, and he has failed who buries it. One verb covers a bank balance and a person.
Root z k w, growth and purity
Source · Qur'an 91:9-10
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The words
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