‘O you who believe, do not take interest, doubling and quadrupling, and keep your duty to Allah, so that you may proper’
There are several different types of charities. Some are compulsory and some are voluntary.
Zakah is compulsory.
There are five pillars of Islam. The third pillar of Islam is zakah this means, in Arabic, purification and so many Muslims believe that giving zakah purifies their money and jewellery so that no harm can come from it.
‘He is not a believer who takes his fill whilst his neighbours starve’
This means a person is not a true Muslim if they have everything and do not give anything to the poor and needy.
Zakah is to be paid once a year by all wealthy Muslims at the rate of two and a half percent. Zakah should be paid on cash, bank savings and jewellery. Muslims also pay zakah on cattle. Paying zakah is for keeping our wealth clean of greed and selfishness. Muslims pay zakah to gain Allah’s good will.
Some Muslims believe that they themselves and their wealth belong to Allah and they are just the keepers of the wealth. Through zakah Muslims share their wealth with the poor. Money Muslims pay for zakah is not something Allah needs, he is just checking whether you obey him and give to the poor.
The table of zakah:
Zakah is to be given to people, who are poor, destitute, widows and orphans. Muslims also pay zakah on eid-ul-fitr. The head of the household pays this for the other members of the family before reading the eid namaz. Zakah-al-fitr is paid so that the poor can also celebrate along with other Muslims all over the world and they won’t feel left out. Zakah-al-fitr is compulsory.
The voluntary ones are lilah, which is, for example, giving money or helping to build a mosque or Islamic schools.
Sadaqah is also voluntary. This is the giving of charity in Islam. Sadaqah can be given in many forms it doesn’t just have to be the gift of money.
Muslims believe poor is when you have no food, clothing or a place to live because you have no money to get the basic things. Some Muslims believe it is a test for the poor because god wants to see whether they remember him or start doing bad things for food and money such as stealing from others. Some Muslims are poor because of natural disasters such as earthquakes, wars, and floods. They didn’t want them to happen. It is the duty of all rich Muslims to help those in need and it is also compulsory because it is a pillar of Islam.
There is a need for world development in the world today because if people help LDC’s then the world could be a happier place to be on for everyone. Places like Western Europe are not poverty stricken they are rich but they don’t know what it is like being poor. Countries like Bangladesh, India, Singapore are counted as poor countries. America, Japan, Canada, U.K and Australia are counted as some of the rich countries so why can’t richer countries help the poorer countries. The poor countries rely on the rich they are all helpless. Wars, floods and earthquakes destroy everything like crops, schools, hospitals causing even more poverty then people have to go as refugees into other countries as refugees and then that country becomes poor. The children cannot be educated because schools are destroyed and when they’re older they will be poor.
Nowadays there are many charities to help the poor and less developed countries.
Islamic Relief is a charity, which help the Less Developed countries.
Islamic Relief began in 1984 by two students Hany El Banna and Ihsan Shabib. The first donation was just of 20 pence, which was given by a young boy for the starving people of Sudan. Since then Islamic Relief have grown with the support of millions of people.
Islamic Relief’s aims are to: -
- Offer help as soon as they can when misery occurs.
- Set up projects in more poor countries.
- Bring kindness between the rich and poor.
Islamic Relief has two kinds of offices. 9 Fundraising offices in America, Britain, Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Switzerland and Mauritius. They have 13 Field offices in poor countries where they work including Afghanistan, Albania, Bosnia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Pakistan, Sudan and Palestine. They also have charitable projects in almost 30 countries around the world.
The 5 types of projects they work on are:
1.Development Projects
They include:
Education
Water
Family development
Health projects
This project helps fight poverty, ignorance and disease.
2.Emergency Relief Projects
This is when a crisis occurs suddenly and they can help straight away.
3.Orpans Project
This takes care of orphans and includes health care and education in their community.
4.Seasonal projects
Qurbanis- this is when millions of people pay for Qurbanis and are then distributed to many poor countries. Feed the fasting-food parcels are distributed in Ramadan to all the poor people.
5.Waqf projects There are 6 waqf projects. Waqf is a group of continuous charity. It is there for developing work, curing the sick, feeding the hungry and wiping away the orphan’s tears.
Islamic Relief wants the world to become a happy and safe place to be on.
Financial summary
This is a pie chart to show where all the Islamic relief money comes from.
This is one pie chart to show where and how they spend the money.
