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Philanthropy is a central pillar of the Muslim faith. In the second verse of the Quran, Muslims are instructed that charity is more important than rituals. “It is not righteousness that you turn your faces towards east or west [ritual of prayer]; but it is [righteousness] … to spend of your substance, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves; to be steadfast in prayer, and practice regular charity [zakat] …”
Zakat is obligatory Islamic charity that requires one to give 2.5% of one’s surplus wealth to eight broadly defined specific charitable causes.
Eligible recipients of zakat include the poor and the needy, zakat collectors, orphans, widows, the enslaved, the aged who cannot work to feed themselves, those in debt, in the cause of God and to benefit the stranded travelers.
But what do these categories mean today to Muslims practicing zakat in Indiana?
This is something that confronts Muslim Hoosiers on a daily basis as they seek to find ways to make Indiana a better place. Muslims support zakat-collecting not-for-profits to meet the category of zakat collectors. This plays an important role in establishing Muslim-led social-good not-for-profit institutions. To alleviate hunger, food pantries have been established at Masjid AlFajr and Masjid AlMumineen in Indianapolis.
To help stranded travelers, Muslim Hoosiers have collaborated with important not-for-profit institutions like Exodus and Catholic Charities to help refugees settle in our communities. Finding ways to wipe out school-lunch debt or buy consumer debt have been ways Muslims fulfill the requirement to help those in debt. Muslims have established not-for-profits like Believers Bailout to assist those incarcerated because of not being able to afford cash bail.
However, despite the beautiful and inspiring ways in which Muslim Hoosiers translate their faith into local practice, it is not an easy task to come up with a cohesive, contemporary, local definition of zakat practice for each category. This is especially true because Muslim Hoosiers are highly diverse, consisting of African Americans, Hispanics, whites, Arabs and Asians—with no one group being a majority. Furthermore, Muslim Hoosiers are highly diverse in their understanding of their faith.
Who is an orphan? Traditionally, an orphan in Islamic history is defined as someone under the age of 18 whose father has died. However, this definition is challenged by the modern family. What if we don’t know who the father is or where he is? What if the mother was the sole provider and passed away?
What does it mean to be enslaved in modern Indianapolis? How can this term be redefined to include people in need in central Indiana? Or does this mean we focus only on people who are enslaved in the traditional way in different parts of the world?
Finally, should zakat be interpreted in a way that it applies only to our communities here in Indianapolis? Or should it also include people who meet these definitions anywhere in the world? Should these categories be defined differently by a Muslim Hoosier depending upon the geographic location of the beneficiary?
One of the things that drew me to Indiana University Indianapolis, first as a student and later as a scholar, was its commitment to community-centered research. The questions being asked by Muslim Hoosiers are the kind of practical research questions we focus on in our research so we can help them in their quest to make Indiana a better place for all our families.•
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Siddiqui is assistant professor and director of the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.
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