KUALA LUMPUR – The Federal Territories Islamic Religious Council (MAIWP) has allocated RM38.98 million in zakat funds through its MAIWP Prihatin 3.0 initiative to help ease the burden of those affected by the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic .
MAIWP chairman Datuk Seri Syed Hussien Al-Habshee said the amount included RM16.3 million in special additional zakat assistance for asnaf (tithe recipients), Covid-19 emergency aid (RM9.5 million), mosque and surau assistance (RM4 million), and aid for shelter homes and tahfiz institutions (RM240,000).
Also included was an allocation for the automatic continuation of monthly financial aid and house rent (RM1.92 million), a reduction of MAIWP fees for nurseries and kindergartens from November to December (RM589,000), Covid-19 Musaadah Fund (RM1.92 million) and basic food aid (RM4.51 million).
“MAIWP is able to provide such a big allocation as a result of the commitment of zakat payers in the federal territories.
“The zakat assistance will be channelled in stages before December 31,” he said here today.
Syed Hussien said MAIWP has also allocated RM28.5 million for education needs, such as food assistance, housing rent for university students, as well as school uniform and equipment assistance for 2021.
“MAIWP has also allocated RM50,000 for the Malaysian Skills Certification programme for the visually impaired community,” he said.
On the collection of zakat for this year, Syed Hussien said the zakat collection centre had targeted to collect RM700 million compared with RM680 million last year although the economy was affected by the pandemic.
“During the pandemic, we expected the collection of zakat payment to be affected due to the economic contraction. Instead, there was a 10% increase from January to October this year compared with the same period last year,” he said. – Bernama, November 19, 2020
