At least one hundred needy Muslim families walked home with a smile after benefitting from zakaat distribution in Ndirande, Blantyre. The function was held last Friday soon after Jumuah salaat in the highly densely populated township.
The masjid’s committee distributed 25 kgs of maize and 500 kwacha to each needy family from the 75,000 kwacha and maize it collected from individuals.
Speaking after the distribution Imam of the Mosque sheikh Hussein Mmadi described this year’s collection as not convincing.
“This year we have collected less compared to previous three years. This has been due to the fact that other people did not cultivate in their gardens because they were told to stop cultivating by the Authorities. However, am urging my fellow Muslims not to forget the third pillar of Islam which is Zakaat. This helps the needy of the society in situations like this when the prices of everything has gone up including maize.
“Last year we distributed to over 150 families while this year we have only distributed to less than 100 families. This signifies that the some Muslims have not paid their zakaat.” lamented the sheikh.
One of the recipients Justine Burnet, who reverted from the Roman Catholic, hailed Ndirande zakaat committee for including among the beneficiaries.
“These 25 kilograms of maize is going to help me very much because ever since I was a Christian I have never received this kind of help. With the current maize prices of 130 per kg this will help me a lot and my family, otherwise it is not easy to buy such a huge bag of maize. This has also encouraged me in my new religion,” said Bannet.
Muslims in Ndirande rely on the land which is a catchment area for Blantyre water board’s Mudi dam for their maize harvest. But Blantyre water board stopped people from cultivating in this land however people cultivated last year ignoring the warning by the board. This resulted into less collection of the zakaat maize as some had to abide by the order.
Ndirande zakaat fund was introduced four year ago as a branch of the national zakaat fund in order to inculcate the spirit of paying zakaat among indigenous Muslims in the country which is among the poorest countries in the world.
