'Zakat is the right of the needy'

The Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam and is a mandatory tax to be paid by every ablebodied Muslim annually The concept of the Zakat provides the person with a purified income and helps bring about prosperity in society in generalGulzar Azmi secretary legal cell Jamiat Ulema MaharashtraAs per the calculations the Zakat is about 25 per cent of the annual income that is to be paid every year This Zakat is then forwarded to various collectors and Jamats One such organisation is the Jamiat Ulema Maharashtra that has been collecting donations and Zakat and putting it to charitable useIndividually the Zakat may seem like a meagre amount donated by a person but once pooled together it turns into a large enough sum to provide muchneeded relief and shelter to victims of a natural calamity Maulana Mustaqeem Azmi president Jamiat Ulema Maharashtra says By donating Zakat a person purifies his income and helps uplift others who are not as financially sound as himself There are many mouths that are fed through the year thanks to this annual donationThe Jamiat collected R328 crore from donations last year and processed it to victims of natural calamities riots medical aid legal aid and educational aid R45 lakh was channelled to educational aid that included school fees for underprivileged children scholarships for meritorious students and aid for higher educationOver the past few years we had been spending an average of Rs 30 lakh annually for educational aid This year it went up to about Rs 45 lakh and we will increase it to R50 lakh for the coming year said Gulzar Ahmed Azmi secretary legal cell Jamiat Ulema MaharashtraNatural calamitiesOver and above these services the Jamiat also undertakes relief work for victims of riots as well as natural calamities like earthquakes floods and epidemics The Jamiat also comes forward to help people who have lost their homes in tragedies and calamities by providing them with food shelter and clothingThe tragic flash floods that disrupted life in the Kashmir Valley had caused widespread destruction The Jamiat had sent an initial amount of R1850 lakh for the relief of the displaced and affected people in Kashmir After that Maulana Arshad Madani President Jamiat Ulema Hind set up a relief committee to offer medical aid and rehabilitation to the victims of the floodsOver 6000 blankets 5500 beddings and 6000 woollens were sent to the relief camp In addition to this food packets containing 10 kg rice 5 kg grains 1 litre oil 15 kg sugar 250 gm tea powder 250 gm spices 250 gm turmeric 1 kg salt 250 gm milk powder were distributed to 14000 displaced familiesFiftyfive houses were constructed at the cost of R45 lakh and 2200 waterproof tents were set up for the victims In addition to the relief a huge cache of medicines was also sent to the relief camp A total of R171 crore was spent on the relief campThe massive earthquake in Nepal killed over 8000 people and rendered thousands homeless The Jamiat has sent 1800 mosquito nets 1200 waterproof tents along with food grains like rice flour dal cooking oil sugar salt milk powder through the Harmony Foundation founded by Dr Abraham Mathai to victims in NepalHelping handOn October 22 2014 the Jamiat Ulema provided R10000 as aid to the widow of Ramesh Jadhav a Shiv Sena leader from Pathanwadi Malad Jadhav was stabbed to death in his house by four people over a dispute in the localityMaulana Mohammed Aslam Qasmi general secretary Jamiat Ulema Malad said Islam and the Prophet PBUH has always said that it is the duty of the believer to help others and those in need And the Jamiat Ulema has always come forward to help the poor and the oppressedLegal aidThe legal cell of the Jamiat has been providing legal aid to over 520 accused booked under various charges in 56 cases across the India An annual expenditure of R118 crore was undertaken on legal fees and R130 lakh as relief to their kin In the course of trials a total of 64 people have been acquitted which include those accused in the Akshardham attack case 2611 Mumbai attack 1992 riots and the Haren Pandya murder caseThe legal cell is handling criminal trials in Mumbai Pune Delhi Jaipur Ahmedabad Surat Patna Bhopal Jabalpur Gorakhpur Lucknow Faizabad Coimbatore Ernakulam Hyderabad Bangalore and KolkataMedical aidThe Jamiat Ulema Maharashtra makes it a point to provide medical aid and relief for patients who cannot afford medical treatment A total of R4 lakh was spent on medical aid last year A free medical camp was organised in Andheri where over 8000 patients were given free medicines and treatmentOver 2000 patients were given a free eye checkup and 1200 patients received free spectacles The camp offered medical services ranging from cardiac ENT asthma cancer and gynaec issues Both allopathic and ayurvedic medicines were made available at the medical camp Other camps were held in Bhiwandi and NagpurRs 171croreTotal amount spent on the relief camp in Kashmir ValleyRs 118croreAmount spent on providing legal aid across the country