Question 043: What is khums and what is it paid on? Please give examples of things on which Khums is payable?
Answer 043: Khums literally means “one-fifth or 20% (1/5)”. In Islamic legal terminology, it means “one-fifth of certain items which a person earns by means of trade, industry, agricultural work, research or any other ways of earning, like, if he earns some money by working in a government department, and if it exceeds the annual expenses for maintaining himself and his family, he should pay Khums (i.e. 1/5) from the surplus, in accordance with the rules. Read More
