ABU DHABI // Today may be the last day Muslims can make their Zakat donations.
Those who have yet to make their Zakat payments have been urged to do so on Friday before it may be too late, depending on whether Eid Al Fitr begins on Saturday or Sunday.
After prayers at daybreak on the first day of Eid, donations will not be counted towards Zakat Al Fitr but as regular charity.
"Unfortunately, there are many people who have not yet paid their Zakat Al Fitr until now, which could be in the billions of dirhams," Abdullah Al Muhairi, the Zakat Fund's secretary general said. "If everyone paid all their alms, there would not be a single poor person."
Mohammed Al Bloushi, the director of recipients at the fund, said Zakat was compulsory for every Muslim who has more food than he or his family need for a whole day and night, and compensated for any slip-ups during Ramadan.
Each person should give 2 kilograms of dates, wheat or barley or its monetary equivalent, about Dh20, to the Red Crescent or the fund.
