Your Zakat is our Amanah

Islamic Relief spends your Zakat donations in the most effective way possible to relieve the suffering of the world’s most vulnerable people.

We spend the funds on the first category of Zakat – the poor and needy. We take the responsibility of delivering your donations very seriously. We know that we are accountable to you, to the people we serve, and, ultimately, to Allah. 

Some of the reasons to trust Islamic Relief with your Zakat are:

Our work is scholar verified

An independent Zakat Advisory Board, made up of a group of respected scholars, has ratified our Zakat policy, and continues to provide advice to ensure our Zakat policy is Shari’ah-compliant.

Certified Quality Assurance

We are one of only five UK based charities with HQAI (The Humanitarian Quality Assurance Initiative ) accreditation. The HQAI are an independent and objective assurance body, which examines how we use your donations in detail every year, and makes sure they are being used as effectively as possible.

We are 100% transparent

We don’t say that we have a ‘100% donation policy’. The truth is, it costs every single charity money to deliver relief- and we think you’d prefer us to be real about it. \

“Thank you for trusting Islamic Relief with your donations last year. We made sure to take extra care when delivering your Zakat to those eligible to receive it, in accordance with our Zakat Policy. We hope you will support our work again this year with your Zakat, which becomes our Amanah. Thank you”.

What is Zakat?

Zakat (zakaat, zakah), or almsgiving, is one of the five pillars of Islam. This means that Zakat is mandatory for Muslims, along with the other four sacred pillars of prayer (salah), fasting (sawm), pilgrimage (Hajj) and belief in Allah and His Messenger, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) (shahadah). For every sane, adult Muslim who owns wealth over a certain amount – known as the Nisab – he or she must pay 2.5% of that wealth as Zakat.

“…and those in whose wealth there is a recognised right, for the needy and deprived”

Qur’an 70:24-5

Eligible Muslims pay Zakat once a year, and it is due as soon as one lunar (Islamic) year has passed since meeting or exceeding the Nisab (certain amount of wealth). The Zakat of every Muslim is then distributed to those who meet the criteria to receive it. At Islamic Relief, your Zakat is distributed with the utmost care to ensure that the most vulnerable, including children, those affected by war, disease and climate disasters, have access to the help that they need.