What is Dasond? Is it Necessary Today? (10-12.5 Min. Read)

Exploring the Qur’anic, historical, and spiritual foundations of dasond (zakat) as purification dues

Feb 15, 2026

The Question

What is the meaning and significance of dasond (zakat) in the modern context, and is it necessary today?

The Answer

The meaning and purpose of dasond (zakat) has not changed in modern times. It remains the same as it was at the origin of the practice in Islam. In the Qur’an, the command “Establish the salat (prayer) and give the zakat” appears in more than twenty verses. The fact that zakat is repeatedly mentioned alongside prayer highlights its central religious and spiritual importance in early Islam. This pairing shows that zakat is not a marginal or optional act, but a foundational obligation directly connected to one’s relationship with God.

Today, many people assume that zakat simply means charity or almsgiving, and that its primary purpose is the redistribution of wealth to the poor. From a Qur’anic perspective, however, this understanding is incomplete and ultimately incorrect. While helping the poor is certainly a virtuous act, the Qur’an does not define zakat as charity in the ordinary sense of voluntary giving.

It is true that later Muslim jurists developed legal frameworks in which zakat came to be treated as a form of obligatory charity. However, the Qur’anic concept of zakat itself has a distinct meaning that is not identical to charity. In the Qur’an, zakat refers to a religious act of purification and growth, tied directly to faith, obedience, and spiritual discipline, rather than merely to social welfare. Understanding this distinction is essential for grasping the true significance of dasond.

Key Terms

Zakat is best understood as “purification due(s)” rather than charity. The term is linguistically related to the Arabic verbs zakkā (form II) and tazakkā (form V), both of which mean to purify. These verbs are used throughout the Qur’an specifically in relation to the spiritual purification of the human soul, not merely the transfer of wealth. For example, Qur’an 35:18 and 91:9 use these verbs explicitly to describe the purification and growth of the soul. This establishes zakat as a religious act aimed at inner purification.
By contrast, the Qur’an uses the verb anfaqa (form IV), and particularly the phrase infaq al-mal (spending one’s wealth), when referring to the act of financially supporting the poor, relatives, travelers, and others in need. This terminology clearly describes material assistance and social responsibility, rather than spiritual purification itself.
The word sadaqah is a broad and inclusive term meaning “offering.” In Qur’anic and Islamic usage, it can refer to any form of financial offering, including zakat as well as voluntary charitable giving. As such, sadaqah functions as an umbrella term and should not be confused with the more specific Qur’anic meaning of zakat.

It must be emphasized that in the Qur’an, giving zakat is not the same act as giving one’s wealth to the less fortunate. The Qur’an consistently distinguishes between these two practices. For example, the following verse speaks explicitly about spending wealth on those in need:

“They ask you, [O Muhammad], what they should spend. Say, ‘Whatever you spend of good is [to be] for parents and relatives and orphans and the needy and the traveler. And whatever you do of good — indeed, God is Knowing of it.’”
— Qur’an 2:215

This verse clearly addresses material spending for social and familial support. However, other verses make it equally clear that this type of giving is distinct from zakat.

Two Qur’anic passages in particular explicitly differentiate charitable giving from zakat:

“So give the relative his right (haqqahu), as well as the needy and the traveler. That is best for those who desire the Face of God, and it is they who will be the successful. And whatever you give for interest to increase within the wealth of people will not increase with God. But what you give in zakah, desiring the Face of God—those are the multipliers.”
(Qur’an 30:38–39)
“Righteousness is not that you turn your faces toward the east or the west, but [true] righteousness is [in] one who believes in God, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets, and gives wealth, in spite of love for it, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveler, those who ask [for help], and for freeing slaves; and who establishes prayer and gives zakah.”
(Qur’an 2:177)

In both verses, giving wealth to relatives, the needy, and others is mentioned as a separate act from giving zakat. While zakat does involve the offering of wealth, its primary purpose is not social redistribution, but rather the purification of the soul. This is consistently reinforced by Qur’anic verses that directly link zakat to spiritual purification:

“And the righteous one will avoid it [Hell]: he who gives of his wealth to purify himself (yatazakka).”
(Qur’an 92:18)
“He has certainly succeeded who purified himself (tazakka) and remembers the Name of his Lord and prays.”
(Qur’an 87:14–15)

The Qur’an further clarifies the nature of zakat by explaining to whom it was given and how it functioned. Zakat was not an offering given directly to the poor; rather, it was an offering (sadaqah) that believers were required to submit to the Prophet Muhammad⁽ˢ⁾ himself. Notably, the Qur’an does not specify any fixed percentage for zakat. Instead, it outlines the entire practice and purpose of zakat in a passage describing believers who had committed wrongdoing and were seeking God’s forgiveness:

“And there are others who have acknowledged their faults. They mixed a righteous action with another that was bad. It may be that God will relent toward them. Indeed, God is Forgiving, Merciful. [O Prophet] take offerings (ṣadaqah) from their wealth, and purify them (tuṭahhiruhum) and sanctify them (tuzakkīhim) by means of it, and pray/send blessings over them (ṣalli ‘alayhim). for them. Indeed, your prayer/blessing (salataka) is a source of peace (sakan) for them. And God is the Hearing, the Knowing. Do they not know that it is God who accepts repentance from His servants and receives the offerings, and that God is the Accepter of repentance, the Merciful?”
(Qur’an 9:102–104)

In this passage, those who committed sins are instructed to offer sadaqah from their wealth to the Prophet. The Prophet is commanded to take these offerings and, through them, purify and sanctify the believers. He is also instructed to offer his special prayer or blessing upon them. The verse explicitly states that the Prophet’s prayer is a source of inner peace (sakan) for the believers. Significantly, the Arabic word salat is used here in the sense of both prayer and blessing.

The verb used for “sanctify them” is tuzakkihim, a conjugation of zakka (form II), which refers to purifying another person. This verb shares the same root as zakat itself. Elsewhere in the Qur’an, this same verb is used to describe God purifying human beings (e.g., 4:49; 2:174) and the Prophet Muhammad⁽ˢ⁾ purifying the believers (2:129; 2:151; 3:164; 62:2). This confirms that zakat is a specific ritual offering given to the Prophet for the purification of sins, accompanied by his prayer and blessing, which gives them inner peace.

Through this process, believers receive forgiveness from God, because the Prophet acts as the divinely authorized mediator of this purification. Indeed, Qur’an 9:104 explicitly states that God Himself receives the offering and accepts repentance through this practice. In this ritual, the Prophet effectively manifests and represents God’s mercy and acceptance. For further reading on the spiritual roles of the Prophet Muhammad⁽ˢ⁾, read this article.

Early Muslim exegetical traditions — both Sunni and Shi‘i — recognize this understanding of zakat. Classical commentaries consistently identify Qur’an 9:103 as describing the purpose and function of zakat. There are many hadith in the Sunni corpus that describe how the Prophet received the zakat / sadaqa from the people and blessed them in turn:

Ibn Abi ‘Awfa said: My father was one of those Companions who took the oath of allegiance at the hand of the Prophet⁽ˢ⁾ beneath the tree. The Prophet⁽ˢ⁾ said when the people brought him their sadaqah: “O Allah, bless the family of so and so. When my father brought him his sadaqah he said O Allah bless the family of Abu ‘Awfa.”
(Sunan Abi Dawud Book 9, Hadith 35)

Modern scholarship has also noted this. Suliman Bashear summarizes early Muslim interpretations of sadaqa / zakat as follows:

“One must note here that the position of the exegetes (ahl al-tafsīr) and most legal scholars (al-fuqahā’) that this verse implied the ordaining of regular zakāt upon the Muslims, had to face the more general meaning implied by it, i.e. that the aim of zakāt/ṣadaqa was the purification of sins. And this difficulty is clearly reflected in the variant reading of tuṭahhirhum/taṭhuruhum in reference to either the Prophet or to the ṣadaqa itself as the purifier of sins.
Also noteworthy is the second part of verse IX:103 in which the Prophet was ordered to pray for those who pay the ṣadaqa (wa-ṣalli ‘alayhim inna ṣalātaka sakanun lahum). Ibn Qutayba (d. 276/889) understands prayer here as supplication (du‘ā’).
From the exegetical commentaries on this verse we learn that whenever zakāt/ṣadaqa was paid, the Prophet prayed for the cleansing/forgiveness of the donor’s sins. In the words of Ṭabarī, what was meant by it was that “your (= Muḥammad’s) supplication [du‘ā’] and request for their forgiveness is tranquillity (ṭuma’nina) to them that God has forgiven them and accepted their repentance.”
— Suliman Bashear, “On the Origins and Development of the Meaning of Zakāt in Early Islam,” Arabica 40, no. 1 (1993): 97–98.

In the Shi‘i Ismaili tradition, the essential purpose and meaning of zakat has remained faithful to its Qur’anic foundation, even as its external forms and rates have evolved in response to historical, legal, and intellectual contexts. Writing in the late eleventh century, the Ismaili sage Da‘i Nasir-i Khusraw explains in Wajh-i Din that zakat is an offering through which both the property and the souls of believers are purified by the Prophet Muhammad⁽ˢ⁾ and, subsequently, by the Imam who inherits the Prophet’s authority.

By Sayyidna Nasir-i Khusraw’s time, the legal forms of zakat had become relatively detailed. In simplified terms: zakat on agricultural produce was 10 percent (ʿushr); zakat on livestock such as camels, sheep, and cattle was approximately 2.5 percent (one-fortieth); and zakat on precious metals such as gold and silver was typically 5 percent (one-twentieth). While these forms varied, the spiritual meaning of zakat remained constant.

Despite centuries of persecution, concealment, and political danger, the Nizari Ismaili community consistently maintained the practice of delivering zakat directly to the Imam. Even during periods of warfare and extreme risk, Ismaili murids (initiated disciples) continued to submit their zakat, often at the cost of their lives. This historical reality underscores the spiritual centrality of zakat in Ismaili life: it was understood not as a financial contribution, but as a sacred obligation essential to salvation.

A concise description of this situation in the fourteenth century is provided by Shafique Virani

“The Ginans confirm that religious dues continued to be submitted to the Imam in this period [mid fourteenth century] and that propagation activities were conducted in secret. … Of the sum collected, 20 percent was for local use, while the remaining 80 percent was dispatched to the Imam… emissaries (rāhī) traveled… to convey the funds to the Imam, who was in concealment (alop).
Such a system of delivering religious dues is presumed in the Counsels of Chivalry (Pandiyāt-i Jawānmardī) of the fifteenth century Imam Mustansir bi’llah. Similarly, the sixteenth-century Ismaili author…Khayrkhwah Harati, also refers to the comings and goings of Ismaili dignitaries… to see the Imam as well as to submit religious dues.”
— Shafique N. Virani, The Ismailis in the Middle Ages: A History of Survival, A Search for Salvation (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 41.

In modern times, Ismaili Muslims give zakat in the range of 10% to 12.5% of net income, commonly referred to among South Asian Ismailis as dasond (literally, “one-tenth”). While the form and calculation of dasond has changed with the modern economy, the essence of zakat has not. As defined by the Qur’an, zakat remains a “purification due” given to the Imam of the Time, through which the Imam bestows his prayers, blessings, and spiritual purification upon the murids—just as the Prophet Muhammad⁽ˢ⁾ did during his lifetime.

Modern historical scholarship has increasingly affirmed this original understanding. Fred Donner, for example, argues that zakat in the Qur’an is better understood as a purification payment, rather than charity in the modern sense:

Later Muslim tradition refers to such charity under the terms zakat or sadaqa, usually rendered “almsgiving”; these two terms are closely associated with prayer in numerous Qur’anic passages, and later Muslim tradition considers them, like prayer, to be one of the “pillars of the faith” that define a Believer.
Recent research suggests, however, that the original Qur’anic meaning of zakat and sadaqa was not almsgiving, but rather a fine or payment made by someone who was guilty of some kind of sin, in exchange for which Muhammad would pray in order that they might be purified of their sin and that their other affairs might prosper.
Indeed, even in the [Qur’anic] verse [2:177]… one notes that payment of zakat is mentioned after prayer, suggesting that it was something different than the giving of wealth to the poor (what we usually mean by almsgiving), which is treated in the verse before mention of prayer.
This understanding of zakat or sadaqa as a payment for atonement or purification of sins is clearest in the following verses: “Others have confessed their sins … Take from their property sadaqa to cleanse them, and purify [tuzakki] them thereby, and pray for them, indeed your prayer is a consolation to them. God is all-hearing, all-knowing” (Q. 9:102-103); the verb “to purify” is from the same Arabic root as zakat.
The fact that Believers were sometimes required to make such purification payments, however, underscores how the community was, in principle, focused on maintaining its inner purity, on being as much as possible a community that lived strictly in righteousness, so as to set themselves apart from the sinful world around them and thus to attain salvation in the afterlife.
— Fred M. Donner, Muhammad and the Believers: At the Origins of Islam (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010), 64.

In the Qur’an, zakat is given to the Prophet Muhammad⁽ˢ⁾, who alone was divinely authorized to receive it and determine its use. Likewise, in Ismaili Islam, zakat or dasond is the exclusive right of the Imam of the Time, who inherits the Prophet’s spiritual and temporal authority. From this perspective, donations to charitable organizations or NGOs—however noble—do not constitute zakat, because zakat is defined by its divinely designated recipient and its function of spiritual purification, not by social benefit alone.

The Imams have consistently emphasized that when they accept zakat, they do so not out of need, but to purify their murids. Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq⁽ᶜ⁾ states:

“[If] I take a dirham from one of you, and even though I am one of the wealthiest people in Medina, in doing so I wish nothing else than that you should be purified (tuṭhirū).”
— Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq⁽ᶜ⁾, al-Kulayni, Usul al-Kafi, Book 2, p.44

A well-known narration recorded by the Ismaili da‘i Qadi al-Nu‘man further illustrates this principle. When al-Mufaddal b. ‘Umar brought offerings to Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq⁽ᶜ⁾, the Imam explicitly stated that he accepted them “only as a means of purifying the donors,” not out of material need. He then revealed a jewel of extraordinary value, demonstrating that the Imam possessed wealth far beyond any worldly requirement (Qadi al-Nu‘man, Da‘a’im al-Islam, tr. Fyzee and Poonawala, The Pillars of Islam, Vol. 1, pp. 75–76).

In the modern period, numerous Farmans from the Kalam-i Imam-i Mubin [KIM] of Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah⁽ᶜ⁾ reaffirm and further describe the purpose and importance of zakat or dasond (summarized below):

Dasond must be given willingly, sincerely, and with full trust in the Imam to yield spiritual and worldly benefit (KIM, Farman No. 1, Bombay, September 1, 1885).
The Imam alone determines distribution of dasond (KIM, Farman No. 1, Bombay, September 1, 1885).
Without dasond, acts of worship (‘ibadat) are incomplete and not accepted (KIM, Farman No. 2, Bombay, September 8, 1885).
Giving dasond is a covenantal obligation of every murid and a means to spiritual liberation (KIM, Farman No. 2, Bombay, September 8, 1885).
Failure to give dasond — the right of the Imam — entails accountability before God on the Day of Judgment (KIM, Farman No. 21, Manjevadi, January 2, 1894).
One’s earnings and sustenance become lawful (halal) only after giving dasond (KIM, Farman No. 24, Amdavad, December 2, 1896).
Faith (iman) is safeguarded through dasond (KIM, Farman No. 125, Nairobi, October 6, 1905).
Through accepting dasond, the Imam forgives the sins of the murids (KIM, Farman No. 125, Nairobi, October 6, 1905).
Without giving dasond, all other deeds lack spiritual validity, and one attains nothing in the hereafter (KIM, Farman No. 155, September 22, 1899).

Having clarified zakat as purification dues rather than charity, it follows that zakat belongs exclusively to the Imam, who is the purifier of the believers. From a spiritual perspective, how the Imam uses zakat is irrelevant to the murid. The act of purification occurs through the faithful submission of zakat to its rightful recipient — the Imam of the Time — and does not depend on knowledge of its subsequent use. The Imam’s allocation of zakat has no moral or spiritual effect on the giver.

Nevertheless, both modern Imams and historical scholarship have discussed the practical uses of zakat/dasond. This question will be explored in a forthcoming article.

Ya ‘Aly Madad,
Ismaili Gnosis
February 14, 2026

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“Whether you are giving to an Imamat institution or to any other organization which works for good, these are the same in my eyes. All giving is an act of faith. All giving is of spiritual benefit.”

— Imām Shāh Raḥīm al-Ḥusaynī⁽ᶜ⁾
(Dallas, Texas, November 10, 2025)