Help your local community
with Zakah

"And establish prayer and give Zakah, and whatever good you put forward for yourselves - you will find it with Allah."

Surah Baqara Verse 110 - Qur'an

Will you miss this opportunity?

Zakah – the third pillar of Islam, preceding even the fast of Ramadhan – is most frequently mentioned in the Qur’an alongside Salah and carries with it immeasurable benefit for the individual and community as a whole. For the giver, Zakah is a means to both purify and increase one’s wealth and break material attachments. It is also an unparalleled opportunity to develop gratitude and humility through giving. For the recipient, it is a means to alleviate hardship and a testament to the community’s solidarity.

Zakah – the third pillar of Islam, preceding even the fast of Ramadhan – is most frequently mentioned in the Qur’an alongside Salah and carries with it immeasurable benefit for the individual and community as a whole. For the giver, Zakah is a means to both purify and increase one’s wealth and break material attachments. It is also an unparalleled opportunity to develop gratitude and humility through giving. For the recipient, it is a means to alleviate hardship and a testament to the community’s solidarity.

With almost half of the Muslim population in the UK entrapped in a cycle of poverty, and soaring food and energy prices, families are under severe pressure. Struggling to feed their children and pay their rent, they buckle under the weight of anxiety as they spiral deeper into debt.

Your Zakah will find few avenues as unique and urgently needed as for these families on our doorstep. Your Zakah will bring direct and lasting relief for those who are close to home, yet too often overlooked.

Distributing Zakah in the UK?

Not just permissible, but obligatory

With so much turmoil taking place across the world, it is easy to feel those most deserving of our Zakah are those abroad; for, surely, how needy can Muslim families in the UK really be? But right on our very doorstep, mothers struggle with rent and bills, households are strangled by debt and children suffer in silence as they go without. 

Whilst not widely known, the scholars of the four classical schools of thought (madhahib) are in agreement that the most deserving recipients of zakah are actually those in your own country and that Zakah should not be paid past the distance from which you would begin shortening your prayers. One of the undisputed conditions of Zakah is to seek the most deserving families from among your local communities. Imam Ash Shafi’I went as far as to say if you pay Zakah outside your local community it is not accepted as Zakah and must be paid again; whilst Imam Abu Hanifah said it is only permissible to send your Zakah abroad after the explicit permission from the governor of your land.

How will my Zakah be used?

There are 8 categories of people eligible for Zakah:

  1. Al-Fuqara – The poor, meaning low-income.  Those who do not possess enough wealth to meet their basic needs. 
  2. Al-Masakin – The needy, meaning someone who is in difficulty. Individuals face financial hardship but have some resources that are insufficient to cover their necessities.
  3. Al-Aamileen – Zakat administrators.  Individuals employed to collect, manage, and distribute Zakat.
  4. Al-Mu’allafat al-Quloob – Non Muslims – friends of the muslim community.  Individuals who are inclined towards Islam or those whose hearts need to be softened towards the Muslim community.
  5. Fir-Riqab – Those in bondage, meaning slaves and captives
  6. Al-Gharimeen – Those in debt who cannot settle them in their current resources.
  7. Fi Sabilillah – In the cause of Allah.  Individuals engaged in activities that benefit the broader Muslim community, such as scholars, educators, and those defending the Muslim community.
  8. Ibn Sabil – The wayfarer, meaning this who are stranded or traveling with few resources

Distributing Zakah in the UK?

Not just permissible, but obligatory

With so much turmoil taking place across the world, it is easy to feel those most deserving of our Zakah are those abroad; for, surely, how needy can Muslim families in the UK really be? But right on our very doorstep, mothers struggle with rent and bills, households are strangled by debt and children suffer in silence as they go without. 

Whilst not widely known, the scholars of the four classical schools of thought (madhahib) are in agreement that the most deserving recipients of zakah are actually those in your own country and that Zakah should not be paid past the distance from which you would begin shortening your prayers. One of the undisputed conditions of Zakah is to seek the most deserving families from among your local communities. Imam Ash Shafi’I went as far as to say if you pay Zakah outside your local community it is not accepted as Zakah and must be paid again; whilst Imam Abu Hanifah said it is only permissible to send your Zakah abroad after the explicit permission from the governor of your land.