PETALING JAYA: A US-based professor of Islamic studies expects resistance from some Islamic scholars to the idea of extending zakat distributions to non-Muslim recipients.
Such scholars would need to improve their Islamic literacy, said Ebrahim Moosa of Notre Dame University in a comment on PKR president Anwar Ibrahim’s proposal of the idea.
They could be unaware of opinions that poor non-Muslims could legitimately receive zakat, he said. “So it’s a matter of developing advanced Islamic literacy among them.”
He spoke of “changing norms” that some religious scholars had not been acclimatised to and said education was the key to addressing this.
But he told FMT the giving of zakat to non-Muslims was a practice going back to classical times.
Zakat is a religious obligation for Muslims who meet several criteria of wealth. A Muslim owning wealth above a minimum amount is obliged to pay an annual rate of 2.5%.
Anwar made his proposal recently when he called for reforms to Malaysia’s zakat institutions.
He said Islam encouraged the distribution of zakat funds to non-Muslims in a multi-religious society although he spoke of the need to ensure that needy non-Muslims were not sidelined.
Moosa said he was in support of including non-Muslims as zakat recipients because it would help in improving the lives of the poor of all religions and promote unity across all faiths.
“Several fatwas have already confirmed the benefits of this move,” he said. “All it requires is the proper political will and a sound moral sensibility.”
But he told FMT the giving of zakat to non-Muslims was a practice going back to classical times.
Zakat is a religious obligation for Muslims who meet several criteria of wealth. A Muslim owning wealth above a minimum amount is obliged to pay an annual rate of 2.5%.
Anwar made his proposal recently when he called for reforms to Malaysia’s zakat institutions.
He said Islam encouraged the distribution of zakat funds to non-Muslims in a multi-religious society although he spoke of the need to ensure that needy non-Muslims were not sidelined.
Moosa said he was in support of including non-Muslims as zakat recipients because it would help in improving the lives of the poor of all religions and promote unity across all faiths.
“Several fatwas have already confirmed the benefits of this move,” he said. “All it requires is the proper political will and a sound moral sensibility.”
