The Houthi's march surpasses those who preceded them in secularism!
News:
The media circulated on Monday, July 14, 2025, the decision of the head of the Supreme Judicial Council in Sana'a regarding the establishment of the Primary Zakat Court.
Comment:
Zakat is one of the greatest acts of worship in our true Islamic religion; it is the third pillar of its five pillars, and the religion is not valid without it. Allah Almighty has enjoined it in His Book, and the Prophet ﷺ confirmed it in his Sunnah, and the Companions agreed to fight those who withhold it. Zakat has been taken in the Islamic state for more than 13 centuries in the legitimate manner, and its effect has been that some periods of the Islamic state witnessed a scarcity in the number of the poor due to the abundance of Zakat funds.
Under the capitalist system that the infidel West imposed on our country, Zakat is not taken in its correct form as a legitimate obligation in terms of its collection and distribution as defined by the constitution. The Houthi authority has followed the same path; they do not care about the welfare of the people, but only about collecting money. Whoever looks at the reality of these collections that are taken will find that they contradict Islam in the following ways:
First: It is taken from taxpayers based on personal estimation and arbitrary estimations instead of adhering to the prescribed legal controls. It is legally assumed that Zakat is due on trade goods if their value reaches the equivalent of 20 gold dinars (85 grams of gold), with the condition of Hawl (a full year) on this money, but what happens in reality is negotiation and debate between the collector and the Zakat payer, which usually ends with an agreement on an approximate amount that is not based on legal controls!
Second: The old and amended Zakat law stipulates the determination of Zakat categories. In addition to what is mentioned in Sharia regarding the obligation of Zakat on currencies and livestock, the law added the obligation of Zakat on trade goods, including land, real estate and their benefits, crops and fruits, and poultry prepared for sale for the purpose of trade. However, this expansion led to taking Zakat from the assets of these properties, not from the profits resulting from them, which is not permissible according to Sharia, as this law violated the Sharia texts that limit the obligation of Zakat on crops and fruits to what the Sharia stipulates only, not on everything that is grown or produced.
Third: Zakat funds are distributed through intermediaries and favoritism, and their distribution often takes into account loyalty to the group, not the legal entitlement, and some of it is spent on those who are not entitled to take it according to Sharia, in clear violation of the specified Zakat categories. An example of this is financing mass weddings from Zakat funds, while the principle in Islam is that these expenses should be from the state's money as it is one of the affairs of care, while Zakat must be spent exclusively on the eight categories stipulated by Sharia.
The Houthi authority was not satisfied with violating Islam as indicated. Instead of abolishing the laws imposed by the infidel West that violate the provisions of Islam, a court is established under the name of the "Zakat Court," not to hold accountable those who exceed the limits in collection and distribution, but to pursue the weak and needy who may be unable to pay or object to injustice, so Zakat is transformed from an obligation of mercy and solidarity into a means of oppression and punishment in flagrant violation of the spirit and justice of Islam, where the principle is that invalid legislation should be repealed, not that the vulnerable should be pursued by it. This will only happen under the second righteous caliphate, which establishes justice and preserves the humanity and dignity of those who live under its protection and are subject to its authority, whether Muslims or non-Muslims.
Written for the Media Office of Hizb ut-Tahrir
Sadiq Al-Sarari – Yemen Province