If the people wish to know where and how their funds are being spent, they are justified
KARACHI: The issue of zakat distribution is under the spotlight once again after the Supreme Court took a suo motu notice over the transparency of such a move. The concept of the state regulating this institution is not a new one. It has its roots in the 1980s Zakat Ordinance that set the stage for the state to impose a structured and ‘Islamised’ approach towards this obligatory charity system.
With the court questioning the transparency and truthfulness of the distribution of zakat funds, it becomes apparent that politicians and policymakers cease to learn from past mistakes. When Zia-ul-Haq took the same decision to regulate the whole system of zakat, the sectarian divide widened in the country. At present, the same decision has incurred massive criticism which in turn highlights the lack of trust and faith the people have in the state intervening in their charity giving. If the people wish to know where and how their funds are being spent, they are justified.
Therefore, the most prudent way forward in this situation is that the state should abstain from imposing forceful deductions from individual bank accounts and allow people the right to give charity as they please. It is doubtful whether the state could reform the whole zakat distribution system in the backdrop of all the controversies related to it.
Hadia Mukhtar
Published in The Express Tribune, May 10th, 2020.
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