More UK Muslims Apply for Zakat amid Cost of Living Crisis: Charity

As cost of living crisis continues to bite hard on families, a Muslim charity has revealed that more British Muslims have been applying for zakat than ever.

The National Zakat Foundation (NZF), which provides financial support to Muslims across the UK, says that Birmingham ranks second on the list of cities where many people apply for help.

“We are seeing an ever-rising number of people asking for help. A year ago, Muslims were submitting support applications to NZF at a rate of one person every 30 minutes,” said Dr. Sohail Hanif, CEO of National Zakat Foundation, Birmingham Mail reported.

Read Also:  4 Benefits of Giving Charity You Can Never Imagine

“Now, we’ve seen the demand rise even further, to one application every 12 minutes. Most of our applications used to come from groups such as asylum seekers, but now 70% of applicants are British citizens – people who were born here in the UK.”

Biting Crisis

In the UK, the price of consumer goods and services rose at the fastest rate in four decades in the year to October 2022. The annual inflation rate rose to 7.9% in the 12 months to May 2023, up from 7.8% in April 2023.

The Zakat foundation cited the cost of living crisis as a major factor in their recent data indicating 50% of the UK Muslim population are living in poverty.

ZNF added that Muslims are ‘one of the most deprived communities in the UK’.

“There are a lot of families struggling and we are seeing people in arrears with their energy bills, families asking for help with day to day living costs, and many who may have borrowed money from family and friends and are worried about how they’ll pay that back,” Hanif said.

In Islam, Zakat or charity is a mandatory charitable contribution through which the right of the poor to find relief from the rich is secured.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 274:

“Those who spend of their goods (in charity) by night and by day in secret and in public shall have their reward with their Lord: on them shall be no fear nor shall they grieve.”

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source https://aboutislam.net/muslim-issues/europe/more-uk-muslims-apply-for-zakat-amid-cost-of-living-crisis-charity/