Islamic nations agree to pool alms to fight poverty: Malaysian PM

from The Khaleej Times

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Wealthy Islamic nations have agreed to pool their alms into a global fund to be used to help pull Muslim countries out of poverty, Malaysia’s leader said Tuesday.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who chairs the 57-member Organization of Islamic Conference, said an agreement was reached in principle, and a panel of experts will soon flesh out details of a proposed international zakat organization. Zakat is the Islamic concept of tithing and alms.

In many countries, Muslims give alms to local zakat organizations that use the money for community development. Abdullah’s proposal aims at pooling funds for use internationally.

With a large number of Muslim nations living in dire conditions because of poverty, natural calamities and war, Abdullah said zakat funds can be used as development aid to improve social and economic conditions.

We should aim to use zakat as a means of providing assistance that will have a lasting effect,’ Abdullah told an international zakat conference here.

We should not merely feed the hungry with fish to eat. We should have programs to teach them to catch fish so they can take care of their own welfare long into the future.’

Out of the 50 least-developed countries _ the poorest in the world listed by the United Nations _ 22 are members of the OIC.

Abdullah Mohamad Zin, minister in charge of religious affairs, said Malaysia’s zakat collection last year reached 573 million ringgit (US$159 million, Ð132 million), up from 473.6 million ringgit (US$131 million; Ð102 million) in 2004.

He told The Associated Press the proposed zakat organization for international development was an initiative led by Malaysia, together with the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Islamic Development Bank.

The proposal is still in its infancy, but steps are being taken to get support of all OIC nations, he said.

Saudi banker Sheikh Saleh Kamil, who heads the Dallah AlBaraka Group and is also president of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has pledged US$1 million (Ð833,333) to the zakat fund.