ABU DHABI // With Eid just a few days away, members of the Filipino Muslim community are making arrangements to send zakat al fitr back home.
Zakat al fitr is an amount every Muslim is required to give to the poor before Eid. It is given directly to the needy before Eid prayers.
“The main purpose of zakat is to provide the poor with the means to celebrate Eid with other Muslims,” said Dr Nasser Raciles, administrator at the New Muslim Centre in Abu Dhabi.
Since 2004, the centre has been sending zakat al fitr to imams at poor villages across the Philippines. The funds are used to buy goats, rice, coffee, sugar and other ingredients for their Eid feast.
“It’s equivalent to one full meal or the cash equivalent of the cost of one full meal,” Dr Raciles said.
One full meal costs Dh25, but many Muslims have donated between Dh50 and Dh100.
Each week, about 500 to 600 Muslim converts attend Islamic lectures at the centre.
Since the start of Ramadan, 70 residents have embraced Islam with the help of the centre.
Eight per cent were Filipinos, while the rest were from China, France, Uganda, India, Cameroon, Nigeria and the UK.
“Our students, friends and the Muslim community contribute to the fund,” Dr Raciles said. “Thousands of underprivileged Muslims back home have benefited from our Eid zakat donations for more than a decade.”
Yahya Maquiran, a preacher at the Islamic Information Centre in Dubai under the Dar Al Ber Society, said zakat al fitr was intended to make up for mistakes during Ramadan.
The centre hands out 200 packets of rice to those who break their fast at its iftar tent in Dubai. Dar Al Ber also distributes food packs filled with rice, meat, cooking oil and other goods to those who have no means to celebrate Eid.
“We’re encouraging our students to donate rice packets, which we’ll then distribute to low-wage earners or unemployed Muslims in Dubai and Sharjah,” Mr Maquiran said.
Eid Al Fitr this year is expected to fall on Wednesday.
rruiz@thenational.ae
