The present state of the Ottoman Empire containing the maxims of the Turkish politie, the most material points of the Mahometan religion, their sects and heresies, their convents and religious votaries, their military discipline ... : illustrated with divers pieces of sculpture, representing the variety of habits amongst the Turks, in three books / by Paul Rycaut Esq. ...

Fourthly, Of their Zacat

Which is another necessary point to the constitution of a 〈◊〉〈◊〉, which is the bestowing alms according to certain rules prescribed by four principal Doctors of their Law: the word Zacat signifies as much as increase, because that alms procure the blessing of God, and multiply the store of the merciful. According to this command every man is ob∣liged to give one in the hundred of all their Estate to relief of the poor; and though this Precept is enjoyned as an essential ingredient to consti∣tute a true Mahometan, yet Covetousness and Policy so much prevail with the Turks, that the Rich are both unwilling to part with so much of their Estate, and fearful to evidence their Wealth by a true calculate according to the Zacat; so that the Poor are the best observers of this injunction, the Rich conceiving it superfluous, and never intended by God to make the performance of Religion a snare to their Estates.