The institution Of zakah as a developmental tool, A South African Context By: Moulana Ebrahim Mokgabudi

Quite surprisingly, for an African Muslim minority country, South Africa has for years proven to be the destination of choice for many zakah collecting organizations from abroad. A clear manifestation of this is the exponential increase over the years of charitable organizations who originate from overseas and have securely anchored themselves in this part of the world. This not only speaks volumes of the zakah reservoir size of this country, but also of the charitable nature and open-handedness of the South African Muslim business and donor community.

The zakah collected, not all of it is used within this country, huge sums are regularly collected by both local and international organizations and transferred overseas to provide aid in those lands.

The Institution of Zakah as a Developmental Tool paints a picture of the South African zakah collection and distribution landscape and argues that it is not that the pie is not large enough to alleviate the endemic poverty problem, rather the methodology and certain fundamentals need to be closely looked at by both charity organizations as well as the donor community in order to pinpoint the nerve of the problem and effectively deal with it.

Moulana Ebrahim Mokgabudi

Moulana Ebrahim Mokgabudi completed the memorization of the Quran in the year 2003 and then went on to do a six-year Aalim course which he completed in 2009. He holds a BA Honours Degree from the university of Johannesburg (UJ).

To date, he has completed a number of qualifications in the field of community development and people growth.

He has fifteen years’ experience working in the field of sustainable community development and capacity building.

He currently conducts training and mentorship for imams, as well as acts as an advisor for various Muslim community based organizations throughout the country. He has served on various Boards, locally and internationally. He also holds a qualification in zakah management from the International Institute of Islamic Business and Finance (IIIBF).