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JEDDAH: The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) needs laws to monitor Zakat payments by individuals and companies, including funds paid to charities and sent to poor nations.
This was the call made by Ibrahim Al-Saleh, director of the Zakat House of Kuwait, who said that it was easy to implement a system that could ensure payments are monitored through banks, a local business daily reported Friday.
Al-Saleh said Zakat officials from the six GCC nations recently discussed a proposal to set up a website that would provide the public with information on where they could pay their charity. The plan is to set up the website in November.
He said there was need for the GCC nations to discus training for young people specializing in this form of charity or religious tax. In addition, efforts must be made to get young people to volunteer with various Zakat-funded projects, which must be standardized.
Al-Saleh made the comments as a meeting of the Zakat institutions of the GCC that took place in Riyadh this week. He said that the coffers of these bodies in the six countries were currently experiencing a major shortfall in funds. “There is supposed to be a large amount of Zakat, but at the moment it is very little.”
He said the reasons for the lack of funds could be that most of the money from individuals and companies was probably going to charities, or that people were not paying what they should.
He said one way to ensure that funds are monitored is to have binding legislation, with each country drafting and implementing its own laws. This would ensure that there is no loss of money. These laws should empower Zakat institutions to monitor and oversee collection through banks.