Can Forced Collection Of Zakat Be Only Considered A Tax?
I totally agree with you Dr. Irfan. There are two issues with forced collection. 1. What if I had couple of relatives in despere need for help? Forced collection of Zakat takes my tight away to help my close relatives. It also takes away my ability to help them sufficiently after paying Zakat to government. This goes against the teachings in Quran. Government can be run with taxes. Such as leasing all land, sales tax, customs, etc. 2. I do not find consensus between Muslims regarding amount of Zakat to be paid and if government has absolute authority to collect Zakat. If there was a consensus among Muslims regarding amount of Zakat, perhaps government could collect Zakat and then distribute according to the payers wishes or the payer must pay due Zakat himself and provide receipt to government.