CAIR-National is misleading Muslims on Zakat

They should come clean

 

This post is in no way an indication that I  oppose the overall mission or work of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-National). Neither is this article a review of CAIR-National. Here I write only about its zakat policy and argue that the organization is abusing zakat, a pillar of Muslim worship, and is doing so without any justification. They should stop. Muslim donors should hold CAIR-National accountable for its false and misleading claims.  

Other CAIR Chapters are Different

It is also vital to distinguish CAIR-National from various independently run CAIR chapters around the country, where zakat policies can vary. For example, CAIR-Michigan does not currently make any zakat solicitations or accept zakat at all on its donation page.  CAIR-Michigan does take some zakat in person but tightly controls distribution so that it benefits the poor.   CAIR-California handles zakat through a zakat policy that is more permissive about how it can use the funds and actively fundraises for zakat, though it is different from the way CAIR-National handles Zakat in that it segregates funds it regards as Zakat-eligible and activities that may not be.  

CAIR-National aggressively solicits zakat and takes the position that 100% of its work is zakat-eligible. This handling of Zakat has been controversial internally for years since it is so extreme and indefensible.  Unfortunately this problem has festered too long and only seems to be getting worse.  

Taking Advantage of the Confusion on Policies

Recently, CAIR-National sent out a misleading fundraising appeal appending a video from Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, Chairman of the Fiqh Council of North America.  Dr. Siddiqi’s video was for CAIR-California and it’s Zakat policy and not CAIR-National. This should have been made clear by the organization.  

Zakat is not just a mere charitable contribution but as a transfer of wealth from those who have to those in need. There are eight categories of zakat; one of them (the most abused by the American Muslim nonprofit sector) is “fi-sabilillah,” which many now interpret to mean the transfer of wealth not to those in need, but to those who have, or even to large corporations to help them grow.

A Simple Reason CAIR-National’s Zakat claim is Bogus

CAIR-National’s claim for zakat eligibility comes from Sh. Ahmed Kutty, whom CAIR-National quotes as saying the following:

“I think it is not only permissible, but rather it is also imperative that we do give our zakah to organizations like CAIR and CAIR-CAN, since they are fulfilling a most timely and essential service for the healthy survival of the community. Supporting such institutions clearly falls under the legitimate objectives of zakah as expounded by authentic scholars and jurists of Islam, both of the past and the present.”

The quote, here in full, goes on to espouse a maximalist “fi sabilillah” interpretation, the kind many unscrupulous Muslim nonprofits would love to quote.  

The simple reason it does not hold up though is that Sh. Ahmed Kutty himself no longer stands by this expansive claim of zakat eligibility for CAIR-National. I had asked Sh. Ahmed Kutty about this quote in an email five years ago, asking about a specific CAIR-National expenditure: paying an honorarium for a wealthy person to speak at a gala. He stated to me that this is not zakat eligible. There are various examples of  CAIR-National expenses that should not be paid by zakat. Things like speaker fees for banquets can be paid for from other pots of donor money if a Muslim organization so chooses. While Sh. Ahmed Kutty’s quote makes him  appear to be a “fi sabilillah” maximalist in zakat, he is not one.  In his view there should be a separate accounting for non-zakat eligible expenditures.  

No Separate Zakat Accounting at CAIR-National

CAIR-National does not distinguish between regular sadaqah donations and zakat donations the way some other CAIR chapters or Muslim charities that take zakat seriously do.*

As a result of this policy, honorariums for rich people are somehow Zakat-eligible at CAIR-National.  Zakat is used to pay for hotel ballrooms, for catering, and conference swag, international travel and gifts to donors.  The CAIR-National CEO’s salary is reported in 2019 to be over $212,000, higher than most CAIR donors and 96% of US workers is a zakat-eligible expenditure.  I am not saying a nonprofit leader should not be paid well.  However was zakat ever meant to be a transfer of wealth from someone earning $75,000 to someone earning over $200,000?   If a Muslim non-profit executive wants to be paid well, it is not too much to expect that it be paid for through sadaqah.

CAIR-National has been engaging in abusive and unjust zakat solicitation for years now. It’s time we recognize this.   

How CAIR-National should handle zakat

The CAIR-Michigan model of tightly restricting zakat funds they obtain is respectful of the worship of Muslims and the rights of the poor, it is something other groups in the Muslim civil rights and advocacy space should look to as a model. Not accepting zakat for anything and everything may be difficult for a nonprofit leader since it may feel like leaving money on the table, but that money was never actually theirs. Muslim leaders should trust Allah that donors will come through for them with non-zakat funds, if their work is worth supporting.  They don’t need to cajole Muslim donors with misplaced religious terminology or misuse opinions of Islamic Scholars.  They should raise money honestly and not use zakat as a way to perpetrate social injustice.  

A good rule of thumb for zakat is that if it is a transfer of wealth to the affluent, you are probably doing it wrong. 

Getting zakat wrong, both for the donors and for the nonprofits, in a very real sense, represents theft, not from the donor (who is often complicit) but from those who have the right to zakat in Islam.  Zakat should not be  just another fundraising pitch to donors with no meaning beyond that.

Don’t be fooled by CAIR-National’s claims of zakat eligibility.  It is not true.   Give your zakat somewhere else.  

* Correction and clarification. The original version of this article stated “If you donate a dollar to CAIR-National, they don’t know if it is zakat or sadaqah, and they don’t care. They don’t ask you to tell them what your intention is.”- this was based on the website, which in my test case led to a PayPal site that did not have a zakat checkbox.

However, a CAIR-National employee pointed out there is a zakat checkbox online when you donate through other options, and the mailer also has a zakat checkbox. Neither the CAIR-National website nor the employee was able to identify how the zakat funds are used differently from other funds however. A different CAIR-National employee had informed me prior to writing this article that CAIR-National does not distinguish between zakat-eligible funds and other funds.

However, it is clear CAIR-National at the very least has a way of knowing some donations are Zakat-sourced.

UPDATE (5-16-2022): CAIR-National informed me the has changed some of it’s policies since the publication of this article, and their website now reflects some of these changes. They do claim to maintain separate bank accounts and accounting. They did not have separate bank accounts prior to this article, but did track zakat. However, zakat is used for ALL of CAIR’s programs. CAIR-National claims to not use Zakat for honorariums or conference swag. I have asked for a zakat policy that is usable by internal staff, but they have not been able to provide it.

The definition of Zakat as applying to a seemingly limitless set of expenditures remains on their website, and they continue to maintain any expenditure is zakat-eligible because of the organization’s mission. My view continues to be that CAIR-National is a poor steward of Zakat and they continue to be unserious about zakat as an act of worship by Muslims.