Opinion Editorials, March 2004, www.aljazeerah.info
Human Price of the Israeli Occupation of Palestine
Israeli daily aggression on the Palestinian people
Mission and meaning of Al-Jazeerah
Cities, localities, and tourist attractions
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Paying Zakah to Employees
Adil Salahi
Arab News, 3/15/04
Q. Is it appropriate to pay zakah to some workers, such as drivers, housekeepers, guards, etc. assuming that such employees also have to pay their zakah?
S. Akhtar, Jeddah
A. If such employees are poor or needy, they qualify as beneficiaries of zakah. If their salaries are sufficient for their needs and the needs of their dependants, they do not qualify as zakah beneficiaries. In this latter case, they should refuse to take zakah if they are aware that what is being given to them is zakah money.
A Mother’s Living Place
Q. My mother, who is very old, is planning to move after finishing her waiting period following my father’s death to an apartment he bought at her request. He repeatedly referred to the apartment as being my mother’s, but he had to register it in my brother’s name for convenience. My brothers are telling our mother that she does not have sufficient reason for moving into that apartment. May I ask whether she could do so, and whether the apartment is hers or part of my father’s inheritance?
(Name and address withheld)
A. It appears to me that the apartment belongs to your mother, as it was intended by your father. Otherwise, he would not have repeatedly referred to it as such. It seems as if he insisted on repeating that in order to make this fact clear to all concerned. If you are aware of the fact and you and your brothers and sisters try to make the apartment part of your father’s estate, then you are not only taking something that does not belong to you, which is forbidden, but you would also be undutiful to both your parents. Besides, your mother’s property will come back to you all, in the same proportions, when she dies, unless any of you dies before her.
I do not understand your brothers’ objection to your mother’s intention to move into her apartment. It is her place which she owns in full. Your family home now belongs to all your father’s heirs, which means that she only has a one-eighth share of it. Each heir and those who benefit by his estate also have their shares in it. So, when your mother moves into a place which is completely hers, this is much more comfortable and convenient.
The fact that in the same building lives a member of your family makes things even easier for her. To object to this arrangement requires your brothers and yourself to find a more convenient and suitable place for her. You have indicated that this has not proved possible for a variety of reasons. Well, you really have to take good care of your mother. If all of you cannot provide her with good and comfortable accommodation, where she is happy, you have no right to object to her staying in her own apartment. Indeed, you cannot object to that on any grounds, unless you want to really make her life more comfortable and happier.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python. (Alquds,10/25/03). |
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