And establish prayer and give Zakah (Zakat), and whatever good you put forward for yourselves – you will find it with Allah. Indeed, Allah of what you do, is Seeing. 

[2:110]

Zakat is the amount of money that every able Muslim adult, has to pay to support specific categories people. This category of people is defined in surah at-Taubah (9) verse 60: “The alms are only for the poor and the needy, and those who collect them, and those whose hearts are to be reconciled, and to free the captives and the debtors, and for the cause of Allah, and (for) the wayfarers; a duty imposed by Allah. Allah is knower, Wise.” (The Holy Qur’an 9:60).

The obligatory nature of Zakat is firmly established in the Qur’an, the Sunnah (or hadith), and the consensus of the companions and the Muslim scholars.