Tapping the enormous Zakat pillar of Islam to benefit refugees in 2019

ASDA'A BCW

The world is facing a refugee crisis, with 68.5 million people around the world displaced by conflict, out of which 40.8 million are Muslim. But there is a way to help. For eligible Muslims around the world, fulfilling Zakat, a major pillar of the Islamic faith that compels them to contribute 2.5 per cent of their wealth to good causes, can play an important role in alleviating their suffering and restoring their dignity as human beings. This led UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, to launch its Zakat initiative in 2016. Its success among the Muslim community prompted ASDA’A BCW to recognise that even more lives could be helped if the initiative could be structured more formally and made to appeal to decision makers at the world’s biggest Islamic finance house. The result: A more successful campaign in 2019 that raised over US$38.1 million.