False fatwas seek to steal zakat, Yemen warns

Yemeni government ministries have issued a warning against false fatwas that seek to direct zakat funds to extremist groups rather than the poor and needy.

To alert Yemenis to this danger, the ministries of Local Administration, Information and Endowments and Guidance are conducting a media campaign to urge those making zakat payments to do so through the government.

The Ministry of Local Administration is spearheading the campaign, which is designed to educate the public on the importance of paying zakat through the state, said Yasser Thabet, the ministry's director general of zakat.

It is the purview of the state to collect zakat funds, and then redistribute them to deserving recipients through its banks, he told Al-Mashareq.

The campaign, which stresses the role of mosque preachers and scholars in spreading this message, goes a long way towards clarifying the issue, he said, and will "help to significantly raise citizens’ awareness".

The message is being spread via mosques and the media, Thabet said, noting that the visual and audio media is particularly effective at delivering this message, due to the country's high illiteracy rate.

It is also critical that these directives are delivered by scholars, he said, as Yemenis are devoutly religious and take their guidance seriously.

'The chaos of fatwas'

Thabet warned of what he called "the chaos of fatwas", pointing out that some of those who issue these rulings seek "to falsify the truth and direct people to pay zakat to extremist groups".

In so doing, he said, they are "taking advantage of the current complex situation in which people are inundated with fatwas and confused by them".

He praised the work of scholars and the media in clarifying the issue of zakat to the populace, noting that many do not know what percentage of their money to pay in zakat or where the funds should be donated.

Others are taken advantage of by those who claim their donations will go to the poor, he added, but instead use these funds for socially destructive purposes.

"Zakat revenue amounted to 14 billion riyals ($55.9 million) last year, and it is still below the required level, as assessed in times of peace and normal conditions," he said.

The ongoing war has turned many of those who used to be payers of zakat into those entitled to receive it, due to the stoppage of work, stalled economy and suspension of salaries to state employees, he added.

Zakat collection and disbursement

Yemen Scholars Association member Sheikh Yahya al-Najjar warned people against paying zakat to any party other than the state.

"Whoever supports the payment of zakat to terrorist groups that deem permissible the slaughter of innocent people and bloodshed is complicit in those crimes," he told Al-Mashareq.

The fatwas that urge people to pay zakat to these groups are "false fatwas", al-Najjar said, noting that they also are self-serving, as "those who issued these fatwas are directly affiliated with these groups".

"The Ministry of Endowments and Guidance has instructed scholars, preachers and guidance counselors to urge all members of the community who are able to pay zakat to pay it to the state," said Sanaa Office of Endowments deputy director Abdul Rahman al-Moshaki.

The state is legally empowered to collect and redistribute it as specified by sharia, he told Al-Mashareq.

Scholars, preachers and guidance counselors have an important role to play in "clarifying religious matters to members of the community", he said.

Foremost among them is the matter of zakat payment, he said, which when used as intended has a major role in helping the poor, especially under the current circumstances in Yemen.