The Al-Habibiyyah Islamic Society yesterday in Abuja disbursed about N10 millions both in cash and equipment to 71 beneficiaries, including Christians, to bridge inequality gaps and eradicate poverty in commemoration of the National Zakat Day.
The chief missioner and Imam of the Al-Habibiyyah Islamic Society, Imam Fuad Adeyemi, said in Islamic system, Zakat functions as a means to alleviation of poverty and expansion of wealth and purification.
According to him, zakat has the capacity to eliminate poverty completely and change the status of everybody in the country, and called on Muslims nationwide to purify their wealth by paying zakat as at when due and rightly.
“Zakat is the third pillar of Islam and if it is executed well, it is enough to make the entire country, not just the Muslims, rich. It can change the status of everybody in this country but we discovered that people are not paying their zakat as rightly as they are supposed to do. We do not have a system that compel people to pay zakat but we have to use another method that encourage our people to pay zakat, hence the declaration of National Zakat Day in Al Habibiyyah, it is observed on the second Saturday of Sha’ban every year.
“The essence of it is to make sure that people who are due to pay zakat are able to pay it and understand all the challenges in paying zakat.
“Each passing day things are getting worse for individuals, nation and the entire world, not just our country and the essence of religion is to take out from the pain to easiness in this world and hereafter.”
If religion does not have that, it is not worth the word religion, and coincidentally, Islam has an inbuilt system that stop poverty and make life better, that is what we are trying to resuscitate especially the one we are talking about today, WAQF, a charitable foundation. If Muslims are able to employ the tool of WAQF, nobody will be poor in this country,” Imam Adeyemi said.