Establish Local Zakat & Strengthen Community Wellbeing
We want Shifa Mosque to become one of Britain’s first truly local zakat hubs, where zakat collected from the community goes straight to locals in need...
Our community has been collecting and distributing zakat locally in South London for almost a decade and we’ve seen, up close, the life-changing impact it can have on both recipients and the community as a whole. We feel so passionately about it that we’ve even started a campaign called the Local Zakat Initiative which has been featured in 5 Pillars, Amaliah and the Muslim Vibe.
From Shifa Mosque, we will be able to reach far more local Muslims in need and set a shining example that can be replicated in other communities across the country. We think, with Allah’s permission, it could utterly transform the situation of the Muslims in Britain.
‘Take Zakat from their wealth to purify and cleanse them and pray for them. Your prayers bring relief to them. Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.’ (Qur’an 9:103)
HELP US REVIVE THE SUNNAH OF LOCAL ZAKAT:
Reducing Muslim Poverty in Britain
Currently, the vast majority of UK Muslim zakat is spent overseas, despite the fact that poverty is a much more common experience among Muslims than other religious groups in the UK. Research has shown that around half of Muslim households in the UK are living in poverty.* Muslims face enormous social mobility challenges, holding us back from reaching our full potential. There is, therefore, a compelling social case to be made for paying Zakat locally.
Reconnecting with our Tradition
During the time of the Prophet ﷺ, the zakat collected in a specific area was also distributed in that same area. When the Prophet ﷺ sent his companion Mu’adh to Yemen, he said: “[…] Inform them that Allah has made the zakat obligatory for them, collected from their wealthy and distributed to their needy.” This hadith, which opens the very first chapter in Sahih al Bukhari’s Book of Zakat, highlights not only the obligation of paying zakat, but also the localised way in which it was to be carried out. This is the example our Prophet ﷺ set: care and concern for our neighbours and community.
Forging a More Considerate Community
We want to live in a community where people are looking out for each other, and where people feel a sense of social responsibility towards those around them. This is the example our Prophet ﷺ set: care and concern for our neighbours and community. Aisha (RA) reported: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “He is not a believer who spends the night satiated while the neighbour to his side is hungry.” When Al-Hasan was asked about who our neighbours are, he said: “The term “neighbour” includes the forty houses in front a person, the forty houses behind him, the forty houses on his right and the forty houses on his left.” (Ahmad)
“We gave zakat to [a Syrian refugee family], just down the road. They were newlyweds when the war began in 2011. A missile destroyed their home and left the man unable to walk. When we gave them the money, they insisted we came in and then invited us back for another visit. It wasn’t just the financial help they appreciated; it was the human transaction, the du’a, the conversation. It was the thought that people had told me as the collector that they were in need. It was the thought that people cared for them.”
— Ahmed Peerbux, Founder of the Local Zakat Initiative and Shifa Mosque Lead
*https://www.gov.uk/government/news/young-muslims-in-the-uk-face-enormous-social-mobility-barriers