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KHUMS KYA HAI?
kya nabi saw k dor mein b ahle bait ko khums dia jata tha ? basically ye kya chiz hai?
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1 Reply
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KHUMS KYA HAI?
updated 2 days, 22 hours ago
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Khums literally means one-fifth, i.e. 20%.
The Qur’anic reference is Surah Al-Anfal 8:41. Its immediate subject is wealth obtained in war. The verse says that one-fifth is to be set aside for Allah, the Messenger, dhī al-qurbā, orphans, the needy and the traveller.
The interesting question is: who exactly are dhī al-qurbā?
The Arabic expression itself literally means “near relatives / close kin.” It does not actually contain the words “the Prophet’s relatives,” nor does it mean “dependants.” So the identity of these relatives has to be understood from context.
Most classical Sunni scholars understood dhī al-qurbā here as the Prophet’s relatives. They then disagreed about exactly which relatives were included for example Banu Hashim, Banu al-Muttalib, or a wider group and also about how this share should operate after the Prophet’s death.
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi also understands dhī al-qurbā as the Prophet’s close relatives. His explanation,(Al Bayan) however, is more functional: he says these were especially the near relatives whose maintenance was the Prophet’s responsibility. After the Prophet’s death, he does not say that all support simply ended; rather, the responsibility for those surviving dependants passed to the Muslim public administration. He therefore treats this as support from public wealth, not as private hereditary property belonging forever to every descendant of the Prophet.
There is also an alternative modern contextual reading which looks at the whole passage primarily as a system for managing public war wealth and providing social support to people affected by war such as families whose livelihood was disrupted, orphans, the needy and stranded travellers. On this reading, dhī al-qurbā is understood within that wider social-welfare setting rather than as establishing a permanent hereditary financial privilege. However, this is an interpretation of the context; linguistically, dhī al-qurbā itself still simply means “near kin.”
The Twelver Shia position goes further in another direction. They also understand the relatives as the Prophet’s family, but they do not restrict khums only to battlefield booty. In Twelver fiqh, khums also applies to certain other gains, especially annual surplus/profit after expenses. Traditionally, part is associated with the Imam and part with eligible descendants of the Prophet. During the occultation of the Twelfth Imam, the Imam’s share is administered according to Shia juristic rules through qualified religious authorities.
So there are really two separate debates:
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Who are dhī al-qurbā?
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Mainstream classical Sunni: the Prophet’s relatives.
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Ghamidi: the Prophet’s close relatives, especially those whose maintenance was his responsibility.
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Some modern contextual readings: the phrase is read within a broader war-related social-welfare framework.
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Twelver Shia: the Prophet’s family/descendants.
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What wealth does khums apply to?
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Qur’anic context: war gains/booty.
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Mainstream Sunni law: basically tied to war booty and related categories.
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Twelver Shia law: extended to annual surplus/profits and some other gains as well.
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Food for thought: the Arabic says dhī al-qurbā : “near kin” : but does not explicitly say “the Prophet’s kin.” At the same time, the overwhelming traditional understanding has been that it refers to the Prophet’s relatives. So the real question is whether that identification comes directly from the wording of the verse, or from its historical context and the way the verse was understood and applied. That, to me, is where the genuine interpretive issue lies.
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