CII deliberates whether Zakat funds can be spent on minorities

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: The government has asked the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) to give its opinion on whether Islam allowed spending Zakat funds on the welfare of minorities or not.

The Religious Affairs Ministry sent this query to the CII to ensure that any step taken in this regard was in line with the conjunctions of Islam, sources told Daily Times.

The sources said that CII Chairman Dr Muhammad Khalid Masud had formed a two-member committee comprising Haji Hanif Tayab and Dr Manzoor Ahmed to deliberate the issue. Tayab, when contacted by Daily Times confirmed the information. “We are reviewing the government’s query and a final decision in this regard will be taken in a week or two,” he said.

Sharing his personal opinion, Tayab said that Zakat was collected from the Muslim citizens of the state and should be distributed among poor Muslims. “It is not possible for the government to collect money from Muslims and spend it on the welfare of minorities because it would not only be un-Islamic but would also be unjust to the poor Muslims of the state,” he added.

He said that it was the responsibility of the government to initiate development work in areas where minorities were living. He said the government should allocate money from the Public Sector Development Programme for the uplift of minorities. “I will recommend the government not to spend Zakat funds on minorities,” he said.

Home | National