ZAKAT: SOCIAL JUSTICE THROUGH RELIGIOUS GIVING

Farmers in drought-ravaged East Africa, schoolchildren in war-torn Syria and people suffering under bombardment and displacement in Gaza were just some of the more than 1 million people supported through zakat donations to Islamic Relief in 2023.

Islamic Relief has brought unprecedented clarity and transparency to our approach to collecting, managing and disbursing zakat funds, thanks to the updated and expanded zakat policy we began rolling out in 2023. The new policy was finalised in 2022 after extensive consultation and expert input from three respected Islamic scholars: Sheikh Abdullah al-Judai, Mufti Abdul Qadir Barkatulla and Sheikh Mohammad Akram Nadwi.

If managed well and distributed responsibly and effectively, zakat is a unique mechanism for poverty alleviation and social transformation because it effects a large-scale redistribution of wealth from people who are better off to the poorest and most vulnerable members of society. The Qur’an teaches that zakat is not a matter of voluntary charity, but a matter of religious obligation linked to social justice and protecting the rights of poor people.

Islamic Relief is in the privileged position of being able to assist Muslims in fulfilling their religious obligations through zakat. We provide a means for their zakat funds to protect life and dignity through emergency relief, to strengthen communities through mutual care and support, and to lift people out of poverty around the world through development programming.

Our new zakat policy seeks to ensure that our global zakat activities comply with all the relevant teachings in Islam, enabling us to fulfil our responsibility in the best and most accountable way. In 2023 we rolled out the policy across our global network of Islamic Relief country offices, providing practical training on zakat and its management to 400 staff.

Our management of zakat funds has also improved with the introduction of our new Amanah integrated digital finance system in 2023. The design for the new system incorporated the need for greater financial transparency and trackability, particularly with reference to zakat funds.

In the past year Islamic Relief has overseen nearly half a million pounds of investment through zakat in projects in the UK, including seasonal food distributions, supporting food banks, providing cooked meals and hardship grants for families living in poverty.

Globally, Islamic Relief distributed more £50 million of zakat funds across 25 countries in 2023. These funds financed more than 100 individual projects ranging from support for flood victims in Somalia and school refurbishment in Syria to a multi-year development programme to boost health, education and livelihoods in Afghanistan. Ramadan food packs in multiple countries were also funded, along with support for developing irrigation systems for farmers in the Horn of Africa.

Zakat is one of the five fundamental pillars of Islam, alongside profession of faith, prayer, fasting in the month of Ramadan, and pilgrimage to Mecca for those who are able.

Donating zakat is a duty of charitable giving that supports those who are less fortunate, mandated for any Muslim in possession of wealth over a certain threshold.

Its importance is reflected by the fact that it is mentioned throughout the Qur’an alongside prayer, emphasising its significance as a sacred act of worship.

The benefits of zakat can be felt abundantly in both spiritual and material terms.

For the payer of zakat, it is an important means of purifying wealth and cultivating the virtues of humility, generosity, and detachment from worldly things.

For its recipients, zakat is a vital means of lifting individuals, families and communities out of poverty in a manner that respects and protects their dignity.