Zakat nisab update is N1.2m, as compensation for killing by mistake is N59.232m – Astro-Qiblah Initiative
The nisab (eligibility) update for Zakat as at the month dated 16th Ramadan 1439AH equivalent to 1st June 2018 has been released for those who got their wealth same date last year.
This was posted on the Twitter handle of the National Moonsighting Committee (NMC) of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) on Friday.
The tweet, which quoted its source from the Islamic Timing and Research Organisation, summarized, “Zakat Nisab date: 16th Ramadan 1439 /1st June 2018 Zakat Nisab: N1,184,640 Dowry/ Theft: N14,808 Blood Money/Diyyah: N59,232,000.”
Confirming the post to The DEFENDER Saturday morning, the Secretary General of Asro-Qiblah Initiative (ASQIN), Mallam Ja’afar Abubakar, clarified and said the amount written against each of the items as posted on the NMC twitter was the minimum as at this time.
Mallam Abubakar, who spoke with us on phone from Kaduna, said, “It is the minimum or I can say the benchmark that is due as at the date under review. In the case of zakat, if you have got your money on 16th Ramadan last year, we are saying that as at 16th Ramadan this year, due to update in the prevailing exchange rate, N1,184,640 is the minimum accumulated amount it becomes compulsory you pay zakat from.”
On how the value is determined, Ja’afar Abubakar, who is also a member of the National Moonsighting Committee of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) said, “The central point is the price of gold. You take the price of a given measure of gold in dollar and you look at the value of that in Nigerian currency and that value in Naira is the N1,184,640 that you have seen.”
Speaking on the dowry/theft, he said, “If a woman will dowry as at this period, the minimum value she can take is N14,808 although he agrees she can take more” but the Prophet of Islam said the most loved among women by Allah is one who takes the smallest of dowry from her man. Same, he said, goes for somebody who has stolen. He pays same amount as compensation.
The ASQIN chief scribe then explained that somebody who mistakenly kills another person must pay N59,232,000 as compensation.
“If he has mistakenly killed another soul unknowingly, he will pay N59,232,000 and this is the current value for that just like the amount of zakat is based on the current value.
“But if that person deliberately kills another soul, there is no compensation for it other than his own life should be taken. This is the commandment of Allah as stated in the Qur’an. If you have willfully killed a soul, you must be killed, that is the verdict.”
He however clarified that, “The judgment on penalty for taking of soul is function of a court of law not by individual person or a scholar. And in the case of Nigeria, it is the function of the Sharia court except other courts will be fair and just enough to so rule,” he said.
A Respondent also speaking on this, told The DEFENDER in Lagos at Saturday morning that, “It is clear from this revelation that what Islam actually brings to humanity is peace. If you know for killing a soul mistakenly you pay N59,232,000 you will guard yourself carefully not to even fall in such mistake like driving rough on the road.
“This goes to our public transporters, doctors and nurses in the hospitals, police men on the roads, meal makers and others that have to do security and safety. If you know that by accidental discharge you pay N59,232,000 one soul you mistakenly kill by your bullet, you will never be careless with your handling of gun ditto, doctors who prescribe drugs through which many people have died. Islam has come to say ‘stop’ all of that.
“And, as for those that knowingly kill because of politics, money, robbery, cultism, and so on and so forth, that is deliberate and the judgment has no substitute but death sentence until life departs from your body. If you know this as your fate and that there will be no corruption in the delivery of justice in this regard, the real security of life will be guaranteed,” he said.
