The Organisation of the Islamic Conference on Thursday appealed to Muslims everywhere to direct their zakat tithes to relief for flood-wracked Pakistan. The Jeddah-based pan-Islamic organisation, together with the OIC-sponsored International Islamic Fiqh Academy, said in a statement that Muslims everywhere "should not restrain from helping their Pakistani brothers ... and should not leave them alone to their fate."
The Fiqh academy, a centre of research on Islamic jurisprudence, said that Islamic scholars had ruled that it is acceptable to direct one's tithes to other communities and countries than one's own. Islam requires believers to donate 2.5 percent of their income annually to share with others within their community, usually the less privileged.
"The scholars also approved the Muslim's choice to pay zakat to those who are more in need of zakat money than the people of the country of origin, such as people affected by different disasters, including floods and earthquakes," the statement said. The lives of some 18 million people in Pakistan were affected by the massive flooding along the Indus river beginning in August. Some eight million are completely dependent on handouts to survive, and Pakistan has said the hundreds of millions of dollars already pledged in aid would not be enough.