Moves afoot to boost Zakat funds
Web posted at: 7/5/2009 2:40:56
Source ::: The Peninsula / BY MOBIN PANDIT
DOHA: State-backed Zakat Fund hopes to urge the authorities concerned to make it mandatory for companies listed on the Qatari bourse (Doha Securities Market-DSM) to pay 2.5 percent of their annual profits to be distributed among the needy.
Islam makes it obligatory for individuals and companies to set aside 2.5 percent of their surplus yearly income for Zakat payment.
Fund managers say they also help companies calculate Zakat payment due from them and last financial year, some 33 DSM-listed companies sought their voluntary service.
�But only one of them came forth and paid Zakat,� said the General Manager of Zakat Fund, Jassem bin Mohamed Al Kubaisi. The company was Qatar Flour Mills which gave away QR6m as alms made obligatory by Islam.
The total sum receivable from these companies in the form of Zakat worked out to a whopping QR1.5bn, the official told the Arabic daily Al Sharq in an interview.
He said a study had been conducted to assess ways to collect Zakat from companies and a proposal will be submitted to the authorities concerned to make it mandatory for DSM-listed entities to pay these obligatory alms to the Fund every year.
Zakat collecting agencies from all over the GCC met recently to discuss this issue but it was decided to leave it to the agencies in each country to deal with Zakat collection in their own way.
Al Kubaisi said only Saudi Arabia and UAE among the GCC states had made it legally binding on listed entities to pay the obligatory alms each year. Zakat Fund, he said, was the only official Zakat collecting agency in the country.
Talking about problems in accessing genuinely needy beneficiaries, the official said there were many families, both national and expatriate, which were poor and needed immediate relief but they were reluctant to approach the Zakat Fund for fear that their identity would become public.
�We try and reach out to such families with the help from community workers and provide them assistance without compromising their self-esteem.�
Donations collected by the Fund rose last year despite the global recession having set in during the latter part of the year. According to Al Kubaisi, the focus of the corpus is on providing financial assistance to the needy in Qatar first.
The surplus is subsequently routed overseas to be distributed to the needy.
And for this, the corpus actively coordinates with international agencies which are recognised by Qatar�s Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs under which the Zakat Fund falls.
THE PENINSULA