Zakat Fund first to allow payment by mobile

The UAE's Zakat Fund, which collects which collects the compulsory 2.5 zakat (alms) levy Muslims have to pay on their wealth, said today it had become the first zakat institution in the world to allow payment by mobile, and the second insitution in the region after telecoms giant, Etisalat.

People in the UAE could dial *123# from their mobile phones and be able to pay their zakat securely using credit card, a senior executive at the Zakat Fund told ArabianBusiness.com exclusively today at GITEX in Dubai.

"We're the first company after Etisalat to allow payment by mobile and we're the first zakat institution in the world to enable this," said Ahmad Saad of the Zakat Fund.

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.

A new English website would also be available on the fund's website (http://www.zakatfund.ae) at the start of Ramadan, expected to be September 13, the executive added.