An interesting all-India survey conducted by the Association of Muslim Professionals has revealed that Zakat which is an Islamic religious tax which has the potential to transform the Muslim community in the country is being given for various purposes without any specific focus and is not serving as useful a purpose as it could.
Significantly, 77 per cent of the survey’s respondents believe that the donors are also not keen to check whether the money they are giving is having any tangible impact on the lives of those who receive it.
The shariat law provides that any Muslim who owns assets worth more than 75 grams of gold after deducting his liabilities ought to pay Zakat at the rate of 2.5 per cent of his total income, assets and savings. The amount is expected to be given to needy people. As per the survey, which has been reported in a major national newspaper, there are 17.18 crore Muslims in the country accounting for 14.2 per cent of its population.
According to the survey, estimates on how much Zakat is collected in India range from Rs 7,500 crore to Rs 40,000 crore annually. This amount is either distributed in small amounts as charity or goes into madrasas to fund religious education. Clearly, very little is done for empowerment of the community.
Nearly 38 per cent of the respondents said they preferred to pay charity to their less well off relatives while 16 per cent paid Zakat to NGOs or community organisations. Regrettably, the opportunity for upliftment of the entire community through such a huge donation is not adequately met.
