Zakat Fund seeking 50% of listed firm's payments

The UAE's Zakat Fund, which collects the compulsory 2.5 zakat (alms) levy Muslims have to pay on their wealth, said today it has proposed to the Dubai government that it should take 50% of all zakat payments from listed companies in the UAE.

The proposal was currently under review by the office of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, a senior executive at the Zakat Fund told ArabianBusiness.com exclusively today at the GITEX technology trade show in Dubai.

"We have sent a proposal to the Prime Minister's Office requesting that 50% of the zakat from companies listed on the stock exchanges should be given to our fund, and the rest be distributed among other charities," said Ahmad Saad of the Zakat Fund.

The fund is seeking half the zakat contributions of all listed firms on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and the Abu Dhabi Securities Market (ADSM).

Established as an independent authority under UAE federal law in 2003, the Zakat Fund aims to collect and and distribute the zakat levy, so that it can be used to assist poor and disadvantaged people.

Saad also said that the Zakat Fund had become the first zakat institution in the world to allow zakat to be paid by mobile phone, and the second in the region after Etisalat to have this method in place.

A new English website would also be available on the fund's website (http://www.zakatfund.ae) at the start of Ramadan, which starts on Thursday.