CAIR-California Zakat for a Gaza Ceasefire a Good Idea?

Let's just start with no.

Ceasefire Now- or Whenever!

What do we expect from our Muslim leaders?  What do we expect from our Muslim leaders with our community’s zakat?  Allow me to provide an example, and I will get to zakat in a moment.

Let’s wind the clocks to December of 2023.  Politicians, including Democrats and even the more progressive elected officials with long-developed relationships with the Muslim community, appeared to be engaged in a competition to show how much they don’t care about American Muslims and how they support Gaza’s status as a free-fire zone.  Famine was coming to Gaza.  But then, a victory from CAIR-California.  They went through the trouble of issuing a press release welcoming a “call for a ceasefire” in Gaza from a prominent up-and-coming member of Congress (since defeated in a race for the Senate).  

Good news, right?  In life, one way to avoid being hosed is to keep reading.  

The headline was misleading, if not outright false.  The problem is Katie Porter only supported an aspirational ceasefire, not the kind of ceasefire where people immediately stop killing men, women, and children. Instead, she endorsed a truce at some indeterminate point in the future, only after the apartheid government supported it and only if that government’s military objectives were met and total and complete victory was achieved.  

Porter went through this exercise of saying nothing while pretending to say something because she knew she had a Muslim audience, CAIR-California, who would be ecstatic and celebrate it.  

In the months since CAIR’s statement “welcoming” Porter’s “call for a ceasefire,” nobody at CAIR-California can defend or even explain it.  The misleading CAIR-California statement did not solve a single problem for a single person in Gaza or anywhere else.  If you are a defender of CAIR-California’s statement, by all means, leave a comment and explain how CAIR-California’s press release was a good idea.

There are two questions here; 

1. Why would a Muslim “civil rights” group go through the trouble of praising a one-sided statement fully supportive of a campaign of violence, disease, and starvation against Palestinians and portray it as being the exact opposite?  

2. How is this pigswill of a statement paid for with the Muslim community’s zakat?  

The answer to the first question is why CAIR-California’s statement is one in a long line of exhibits in the case of why the American Muslim political class has failed in the past two decades. 

It’s what I previously pointed out was the “gross, insulting and undignified style” that much of the past generation of leaders in the American Muslim community’s political class used to approach much of what they do.  The response to Porter’s statement seems like they are doubling down on that strategy. 

Zakat for Doing Nothing Useful 

I will focus more on the second question, which is more vital for donors: zakat. This statement was paid for using zakat funds under CAIR-California’s zakat policy. CAIR-California has pointed to a renowned Islamic scholar, Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, who has recorded a video encouraging people to donate zakat to CAIR National.  

I had the opportunity to discuss the zakat policy with Dr. Siddiqi, a past chair of the Fiqh Council of North America (I have discussed zakat with him in various contexts over the past decade). CAIR California (and CAIR-National, which piggybacked much of this) has a policy that makes no sense and does not represent a coherent opinion of fiqh anywhere, including my understanding of Dr. Siddiqi’s views.  I am not speaking for him, but as you read this, you will hopefully agree this is a reasonable conclusion.

In this newsletter, which is meant for Muslim donors, I generally don’t discuss zakat eligibility from a fiqh perspective and leave that to others. Readers confused by the various fiqh opinions are best served by considering zakat as a wealth transfer.  

• Is the zakat going right back to benefit yourself in some way? 

• Is the zakat financially benefiting people with your socio-economic status or higher?  

Zakat is primarily a tool for circulating wealth. To do this right, you need to know where the money is circulating and if that circulation is socially unjust.

For many Muslims, beyond the fiqh opinions, consuming your zakat even indirectly (like for your children), feels repugnant.  Yes, there may be scholars that say you can do it, but still, yuck.  Does it make sense to get rid of some of your wealth to purify the rest of your wealth and then bask in the benefits of the same wealth you were trying to get rid of?  It makes no sense.  A fundamental problem with zakat going to CAIR is that both things are often going on.  

Some scholars define the Quranic justification of fi sabilillah from which CAIR-California (and CAIR National) receives zakat more liberally than others, who view this as being only for jihad declared by the Khalifa and thus not applicable for nonprofits (see the policy of the Islamic Council of Europe). 

What CAIR-California Says about Zakat

CAIR-California says about zakat on their website:

Several scholars, including Sheikh Ahmad Kutty and Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, agree that CAIR-CA’s work is zakat-eligible because it collectively advances the services that are provided to the community, fi Sabilillah. However, there are other scholars with a more restrictive definition of zakat eligibility. To accommodate the vast range of religious opinions on this matter, CAIR-CA adheres to specific guidelines to ensure the strictest allocation of zakat funds.(emphasis added).  

The CAIR-California policy claims it follows the “strictest allocation of zakat funds.”  This is nonsense.

It is not the strictest policy, even among CAIR Chapters. CAIR Michigan does not solicit zakat at all, and CAIR in Arizona has been the same. Numerous Muslim organizations, including aid organizations, have stricter rules. Many masajid frequently do not accept zakat for their operations, including those that do some of the same kinds of things CAIR does, like civic engagement and government relations.   

Many Muslims take zakat seriously because abuse is not worth the trouble. Zakat misappropriation is a severe matter in Islam.   

Sh. Hatem El-Haj, who is known for his opinion that just about anything good can be zakat eligible, acknowledges his opinion is a novel “expansion” of how fisabilillah in the context of zakat has been viewed.  IslamiQA has acknowledged that a variety of opinions have emerged from scholars expanding the view that fisabilillah can mean almost anything. However, it rejects this as an aberrant view that only became popular with some scholars in the 20th century.  

CAIR-California is disingenuous at best when claiming its policy is the “strictest.”  By claiming this, it is trying to have it both ways. It wants to use an opinion that anything good is zakat eligible, which is practically unworkable and incoherent for non-frivolous zakat donors. It also wants to appeal to serious zakat donors by marketing expertise on zakat and a desire not to mess around needlessly when performing their worship with excellence.  

CAIR-California has practical reasons for its policy.  It is impossible to defend to donors the notion that everything they do is zakat-eligible no matter how many fatwas there are that say “fi sabilillah” means anything that feels good; for example, providing hors d'oeuvres to donors and a private fundraiser (something CAIR-California says they do under the policy of the past few years) is not explicitly prohibited by any of the fatwas that allow anything a Muslim organization does to be zakat-eligible.  It’s just that, from a Muslim donor perspective, having your zakat pay for hors d'oeuvres you will eat is intuitively repulsive.  

Sh. Kutty or Dr. Siddiqui did not mean giving food to donors when they described CAIR's work as fisabilillah. However, neither has provided specific guidelines that go line item by line item. When I first started circulating this specific spending as an abusive practice, CAIR-California created guidelines stating they don’t do it.

CAIR-California does several programs and services, virtually all of which are considered zakat-eligible in some way or another in its policy.  It's notable to state that Dr. Siddiqi, based on my conversation with him, does not regard everything CAIR does as zakat eligible.  From his perspective, “civil rights” work and services for the poor and needy are eligible for zakat. 

As a separate matter (from my discussions with him), Dr. Siddiqi does not believe it’s okay for wealthy suburban communities to use zakat to pay for phase three of their Masjid expansion or use it for programs or services benefiting donors.  Generally, most donors would not be okay with using zakat to light up the room when they read the Quran or vacuum the carpet they pray on.  These are donations for mutual benefit.  Non-zakat funds can be used for these things just fine. When considering a zakat policy, donors should ask: why is it okay for CAIR to get zakat for this, but it’s not okay for a Masjid to collect zakat for the same thing?  The answer found in CAIR’s zakat policy often makes no sense.  

CAIR-California’s zakat policy goes on to say (from the website):

Violating “the Strictest Guidelines” if donors are okay with it

CAIR-California says donors may designate funds to areas the organization implicitly does not allocate them to otherwise. The two areas identified here are “Civic Engagement” and “Youth Empowerment.”   These are both amorphous terms that can mean many things.  

Civic engagement can mean voting drives, inviting politicians to speak, speaking with elected officials, or participating in civic life as a citizen. Masajid, their board members, and staff routinely do these things without taking zakat funds. Indeed, ordinary Muslims do many of these things without asking for zakat.  

“Youth empowerment” can mean organizing trips and events, often for families who donate to the organization. Masajid and other Muslim groups also do these things without using zakat funds.  

Using zakat funds for these things seems preposterous enough that CAIR does not bother to justify it.   

Legal Work

Legal work for the poor is CAIR-California’s most substantial claim for zakat funds and is supported by Dr. Siddiqi. Many other scholars are unlikely to have a problem with this. However, the organization tends to dilute this by claiming “especially for those without the means to receive it otherwise.” Thus, it’s unclear on what basis CAIR-California is receiving zakat since the fisabilillah claim would not require financial means to be considered. However, why mention it at all if it’s not a consideration? That seems only to confuse people.   Note a separate iteration of CAIR-California’s zakat policy claims legal services are “exclusively for the underserved.” This term does not have any relevance to zakat.

Per the policy, Zakat goes to the entire department for everything it does, including salaries, benefits, and management. Some of CAIR’s legal work, like immigration, is done by private lawyers for a fee in the community. Some of it may be for people who are stretched by the fee a private lawyer may charge but are not zakat eligible. Many nonprofit legal organizations provide low-cost or free legal services without asking for zakat eligibility or zakat from donors.

CAIR and its programs are not beneficiaries of zakat in Islam. If CAIR-California billed a zakat fund for legal work for the zakat-eligible, acting as a wakeel for the beneficiary, this may be an acceptable use of zakat funds. Instead, CAIR is just working zakat into a departmental budget and telling donors it is strict about how they appropriate zakat. This is a mistake.  

Policy, Advocacy, and Government Relations Work

This brings us back to the “we welcome Katie Porter’s call for a ceasefire” when Katie Porter was actually in favor of bombing Palestinians.  We are confronted with this example of “policy, advocacy and government relations work” that is overly solicitous of politicians to the point that they are not doing or saying anything meaningful at best. At worst, they are actively misleading Muslims, and their advocacy is sometimes harmful- this is all claimed to be “zakat-eligible.” 

CAIR-California has a record of policy advocacy that has obtained some results for Muslims in areas far outside Palestine. Dr. Siddiqi has told me that civil rights advocacy is zakat eligible, but merely relating to the government or discussing any policy is not. The problem is civil rights work is not explicitly defined and is not most of what CAIR does anyway.  

Much of CAIR’s recent work is ceasefire advocacy (as it should be, but hopefully better than Katie Porter's example in the future). But if ceasefire advocacy made someone zakat eligible, a large portion of the Muslim community would be eligible for our zakat.  

Wait, is Zakat against Electricity? 

CAIR-California zakat policy has a strange habit of using “etc” frequently for things that are eligible and not.  So, in the Legal and government relations areas where it accepts zakat, CAIR-California specifies, “This consists of all expenses related to the departments (i.e., program costs, communications, salaries, benefits, management, etc.).”  But then, it states that CAIR-California does not take zakat for “Administrative Expenses,” which is “office rent, utilities, etc.”  Of course, management and “etc” may also be considered “administrative expenses.”  

Even so, rent and utilities are not eligible in CAIR-California’s formulation.  So, the cost of a department that writes a debasing press release to support a genocidal politician is zakat eligible. Still, the electricity used to power the computer to write it is not.  

You likely won’t find this kind of reasoning to support this anti-electricity position in books of fiqh, nor is it reflective of the opinions of scholars like Dr. Siddiqi or Sh. Kutty. This absurdity happens when a nonprofit slaps a “policy” together to make it seem like it takes zakat seriously when they are just spitballing to make donors feel good about themselves.  

Demand More From Muslim Organizations

CAIR-California is a beloved organization within the Muslim community in California with a history of good work, not just mistakes.  This is more of a reason for Muslim donors to hold it accountable for severe errors in judgment, not less.  

CAIR-California has been going around Masajid this Ramadan (as it has in the past), claiming it is zakat eligible. Depending on the scholarly opinion you follow, part of what it does is zakat eligible. Donors who want to give zakat to CAIR-California should demand the organization develop a better policy and zakat-specific financial reporting. However, with its current policy, there is no reason to give zakat to CAIR-California.  

Just like we should expect our organizations not to sanitize the pro-genocide positions of politicians, we should also expect them to take the worship of Muslims seriously.  

I would also encourage CAIR-California’s leadership not to take these critiques personally, as I know at least one leader in the organization tends to do.  Articles like this are written to educate Muslim donors.  I fundamentally support CAIR’s mission and admire much of their work and leadership despite a tendency to make a errors in judgment.  In the past, I have written similarly about Yaqeen when it solicited zakat for no good reason. Yaqeen’s leadership did not lash out or become defensive.   They took the criticism from myself and others to heart and changed the policy.  The organization no longer solicits zakat from the community and encourages giving zakat to humanitarian organizations.  That is a good result and a win for zakat.

Yaqeen is still doing fine.  If CAIR-California stops soliciting Zakat, insha Allah, it will also be fine.