Noteworthy Surge: UN Refugee Agency Reports a 12.5% Increase in Zakat Contributions in 2020

Zakat is among the Five Pillars of Islam and is a sacred obligation for Muslims to give money to charities.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) established the Refugee Zakah Fund in 2019, and in the year prior, it assisted 2.1 million beneficiaries across 13 countries, which included Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, Mauritania, Niger, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

In the United Nations’ Annual Islamic Philanthropy Report, $48.6 million was raised in 2020, which is a rise of 12.5 per cent over the previous year.

It meant 2.1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) benefitted from the Refugee Zakah Fund in 2020 this year, an increase of 59 per cent from year to year. In the study, 55% of Zakat’s contributions went to Yemen, and the rest to Bangladesh and Lebanon.

In a discussion of the impact of Islamic charity on marginalized communities, Professor. Dr Koutoub Moustafa Sano, director general of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy, stated: “With more than 50 per cent of refugees and IDPs originating from OIC countries,

The Muslim community showed its generosity to the UNHCR’s Refugee Zakat Fund, in particular, in the effects from the pandemic. However, the need for assistance is very high, and there is plenty of money left to pay for the expenses of Zakah -compliant initiatives.”

Despite the increase in donations, the UNHCR has predicted that it will require $9.1 billion to meet the demands of refugees and IDPs worldwide by 2021