Scholars warn community against misuse of zakat funds during Ramzan
Religious scholars and community leaders in Hyderabad have cautioned people against falling prey to organisations misusing zakat funds during Ramzan. They stressed transparency, audits and direct distribution to prevent misappropriation and ensure that zakat benefits the genuinely needy
Hyderabad: With the second ‘Ashra’ (ten days) of Ramzan setting in and zakat donations by the community on the rise, religious scholars and notable citizens have advised the local community and NRI Muslims not to fall prey to propaganda by organisations involved in collecting zakat funds.
The advice follows reports of paid promotions by certain organisations on social media platforms seeking donations to carry out their work using zakat funds and other contributions.
“It is unfortunate that zakat collection has become a big business and certain organisations are hiring agencies for promotional activities. People need to deliberate on it and take corrective steps to prevent the funds from going into the wrong hands,” said social activist and lawyer SM Abdul Samad.
In the competition to collect donations, complaints are being made about certain individuals smearing a particular geographical area, which is inappropriate.
Syed Nabi, an advocate from Kishanbagh, said, “Nobody has the liberty to smear any community or area for collecting funds. Also, wherever organisations claim to be carrying out welfare work, a fact-finding team comprising local youngsters should visit and inspect the work. The money collected is community fund and inspections should be mandatory to check misappropriation.”
The concept of distributing zakat, it is explained, is to enable an individual receiver to come out of poverty and become a zakat giver in subsequent years.
“Here the very concept is defeated by the entry of a few charitable and welfare organisations that are misleading the people. Zakat distribution should begin with relatives, neighbours or local people. In the present scenario, where there are many reports of misappropriation of funds, the distribution process should be taken up directly by the zakat giver,” said Prof Syed Shujauddin Ahmed.
Syed Mohammed Ali Quadri Mumshad Pasha, a community leader who has written several books on ‘Zakat distribution’, said the community should ensure that transparency is maintained and families are directly involved in the process.
“Organisations seeking donations have to make their reports public annually. The community should also ask for audit reports from the organisations to prevent misappropriation of funds,” advised Mumshad Pasha.