In a bid to educate the Muslim community around the importance and process surrounding Zakah, the South African National Zakah Fund (SANZAF) will be hosting a seminar at the Madinah Institute this coming weekend. The seminar will cover various aspects of Zakah, from the calculation, business aspect, and on the estate of the deceased.

SANZAF national vice chairperson Shouket Mukaddam said they were looking to educate the Muslim public with regards to Zakah, and how they could go about calculating their contributions.  There would be a strong focus on Zakah, in relation to commerce and investments.

“Zakah is a fard institution and we all are obligated to pay our dues to the poor and needy. What we are trying to achieve as an organisation is empower the contributors to the concept of Zakah, and the principles of how to calculate it,” he explained.

With the seminar, Mukaddam said they were looking to stress the point that Zakah was not limited to simply contributing money. This was particularly in the case of those within the business sector.

“Things have evolved over the years, there are now investment products such as your provident funds, and investments. More importantly, business houses need to know how to calculate on their business assets, and we do believe this is a much neglected area,” he said.

Having done their own preliminary calculations, Mukaddam said SANZAF had calculated that the total amount of Zakah Muslims worldwide needed to be paying, a number that totalled nearly R1 billion a year. He said it was unfortunate that the numbers being seen at present, were nowhere near that total.

“Obviously it is very difficult, because not everybody records how much they have paid. But we do think there is a gap between what is due and payable, to what is currently being paid,” he said.

The seminar will be held this Sunday at the Madinah Institute, on the 7th floor of the Icon Building, Lower Long Street, Cape Town. The event will start at 10:30am, and attendance is free and open to all.

For more information you can visit the SANZAF website at www.sanzaf.org.za. VOC (Mubeen Banderker)