Why Yaqeen Sort of Wants Your Zakat

And what Muslim donors can learn from this

Apr 19, 2022

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Last Ramadan Yaqeen institute, the Omar Suleiman-run Islamic multi-media organization likely part of your household’s Ramadan soundtrack, would have allowed you to either make a regular donation or donate your zakat. The only difference between the two options was that none of the donations marked “zakat” would not go towards the organization’s “waqf” (more on that below), while some of the general donations might, as would dedicated “waqf” donations. Suleiman himself has previously solicited zakat online, making a point that the organization is “zakat-eligible.”

The donation process is a bit different now. There is now no separate zakat option. There is an answer to a question about zakat. They point out there are differences of opinion among scholars. Yaqeen does not “solicit” Zakat but there is this article that says such donations are zakat eligible, and you can if you feel comfortable doing so, which is about as mealy-mouthed a pitch for donations I have seen online, though it is a pitch. What is important for Muslim donors to understand is why Yaqeen made the switch, and why it matters to you if you are considering donating zakat to Yaqeen or similar organizations.

How to Get Around Misappropriation of Zakat

Misappropriation of zakat is a grave matter in Islam. It’s an injustice to those Allah has given the right to Zakat. As caviler as American Muslim non-profits are about spending zakat, you would not think it was that big of a deal. There are reports of the Companions of Muhammad ﷺ turning down opportunities to collect zakat because they feared the consequences of misappropriation. On the declined appointment of Ubaydah Ibn Samit (RA), the Prophet ﷺ warned him:

Fear God! Do not appear on the day of judgment in the state of [one forced into] carrying a [zakat-embezzled] bellowing camel or [lowing] cow or [bleating sheep] upon your shoulders while looking to me for help.”[1]

There are many Islamic scholars who take misappropriation of zakat seriously. Some of those scholars happen to work at Yaqeen institute. The fact that Yaqeen was out in the Muslim community soliciting zakat for its programs did not sit well with these scholars, and they spoke out about it internally. The result was the change in their donation page.

For reasons not clear to me, Dr. Hatem El-Haj is the only opinion cited by Yaqeen on that page. The reader of his article may be confused about what other possible opinions there might be that cause Yaqeen to be so irresolute on a donation page. El-Haj’s opinion does not appear to recognize any limitations on the use of zakat by nonprofits-though he has some flexible “recommendations” for the use of zakat. He does not address if misappropriation of zakat by Muslim nonprofits is sinful or even humanly possible. Asking if donating zakat to any Muslim nonprofit seems almost as silly as asking if it’s okay to break your fast with water and a date at Maghrib time.

This is what’s going on; Yaqeen is not misappropriating zakat. Yaqeen does not solicit zakat. They do not account for zakat or have any way of knowing if a donation is zakat or not. They provide you one opinion their mission alone makes everything you give to them zakat-eligible. Any misappropriation is on you, the donor. The scholars who objected to Yaqeen’s prior zakat solicitations can be told that Yaqeen does not ask for it or account for it separately. If a donor wants to donate zakat to whatever makes them feel warm and fuzzy inside, fine, it’s on them, not on the staff and board members of Yaqeen.

Clever.

You Should be 100% Uncomfortable Donating Zakat to Yaqeen

The purpose of this article is not to debate a fiqh position, something I am not qualified to do and, in any event, is pointless. You already know there are scholars on both sides of this. El-Haj is correct there are many fatwas that essentially say Zakat can be for anything you subjectively think is good. At least since the middle of the 20th century, various fatwa committees embarked on what El-Haj has described as “expansion” of the category of “fi sabeel Allah” from the limitations understood by scholars for all of the rest of Islamic history.

For those of us who are non-scholars, it’s worth considering what exactly the point of such an “expansion” would be when we donate our own zakat. Donors are being asked to buy into a world where suddenly misappropriation of zakat (something that used to be a sin) is now unimportant. Rules governing what misappropriation might look like are like scholars creating a “list of colors [women] cannot wear.”

You should also consider the actual economic impact of your donation. Traditionally, you don’t give zakat to your own masjid. Giving to a Masjid you attend is more mutual benefit than charity. You give to a masjid because you, your family and your neighbors benefit from having it around. Paying zakat to a masjid is not very different from paying zakat to yourself.

For more on this, see my guide to “Zakat-Eligible Shenanigans” and “This Article Could be Zakat Eligible.”

Donors likely donate to Yaqeen because they benefit from it. Your zakat being paid to Yaqeen in part means you will be paying the salary of the person speaking to you on Youtube or writing curriculum for a program for your children. You are paying for value to yourself and your family. This is transactional zakat, i.e. your money in exchange for benefits that you receive. An undeniable economic effect of a Zakat donation to Yaqeen is that you are recirculating wealth among the affluent.

As Al-Haj mentions in his otherwise extremely permissive article, “Our mosques should be built using the purest of our wealth, not zakat money.” You don’t want to pay the zakat for the prayer rug you pray on, and for the salary of the Khateeb on Friday, and the dates the Masjid serves for iftar. You may even be offended by that notion (you should be). Why is Yaqeen different? Maybe because they are an “intellectual jihad” organization.

What is “intellectual jihad?”

Part of the sale on the “expansion” of “fi sabeel Allah” here is to try to convince donors Yaqeen, and others who use El-Haj’s opinion and others like it, are engaging in “intellectual jihad.” Historically jihad, as in physical fighting, was how the term “fi sabeel Allah” was mostly understood in the zakat context. The term “intellectual jihad” appears to be a pointless neologism.

One could perform ” intellectual jihad” speaking to a webcam and earning a six-figure salary for their trouble. These intellectual mujahid never risk life or limb, or sacrifice any time from family, unless they are invited to a conference to speak to their followers, travel and accommodations paid for with zakat funds.

To be clear, there isn't anything inherently wrong with earning a comfortable living doing Islamic media work. Media is however lucrative in large part because of its visibility to audiences. There are plainly abundant non-zakat funding sources available for popular personalities with large platforms with appeal to affluent audiences.

It appears that practically any endeavor where a Muslim non-profit hires people to use their intellect in some sort of beneficial way (as understood by the nonprofit) can count as “intellectual jihad”. This permissible view has been used by organizations for zakat, as noted by Mobeen Vaid, in part for the purpose of actively working against Islamic teachings.

For the donor, the concept of “intellectual jihad” is an exceedingly poor use of zakat funds because it is amorphous, inequitable, unstructured as a concept and practically an invitation for abuse.

Al-Haj’s “recommendations” note a preference against a masjid using zakat for an ordinary halaqah at the masjid attended by masjid regulars. However, if someone were to pull out a phone and broadcast the halaqah on Instagram live, it would likely become “intellectual jihad,” and carry the same zakat eligibility Yaqeen theoretically enjoys. Any Muslim with an intellect, cell phone and internet connection is now “zakat-eligible.”

As Al-Haj says in the same article “zakat money should not be used for anything extravagant or unwarranted. When in doubt, avoid using it. Nothing is like safety.”

That’s good advice for donors, not just nonprofits.

The Waqf Change

If you are not convinced that donating zakat to Yaqeen is a bad idea you should consider why Yaqeen previously had a separate zakat account. Last year, zakat donations would not go to the “Waqf”- this was their only rule. Al-Haj has provided no public guidance on this issue that I have seen, but that is what Yaqeen did. In American Muslim nonprofit nomenclature, a “waqf” does not mean exactly the same thing it does in Muslim countries. In Muslim countries and places like India, any Muslim institution (like a masjid), or any dedicated continuing benefit, is a “waqf.” For American Muslims, a “waqf” typically means a “financial endowment” (which also exist in Muslim countries). We normally think of an Islamic organization as having waqf, not being a waqf.

Yaqeen is a successful fundraising organization, and is fortunate enough that they can save a chunk of what they take in. I did not get to evaluate a copy of the organizational documents of Yaqeen’s waqf, which would tell me more about its purpose and level of flexibility, but it appears to be a rainy-day fund for the organization’s financial stability, which is typical for US nonprofits. In US Law, it is possible to grow income and capital gains tax free, and no proceeds would benefit anyone other than financial advisors for many years. In a situation like this, a donor would give a nonprofit their zakat and the money may not be used for any productive purpose for generations.

Al-Haj cited the the following verse for a different reason, but it's worth donors reflecting on here:

{O you who have believed, indeed many of the scholars and the monks devour the wealth of people unjustly and avert [them] from the way of Allah. And those who hoard gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah – give them tidings of a painful punishment.} [Surat at-Tawbah 9:34]

Even if you took the position that spending money on everything good (including Yaqeen’s programing and content) is zakat-eligible, it’s harder to make the case that money just sitting there growing in an investment portfolio is zakat-eligible. I suppose a Scrooge McDuck-style swimming pool can exist fisabillillah though, and if you think that’s a great use of zakat, you can likely find an opinion supporting that notion somewhere.

Yaqeen’s Zakat Handling is a Lesson for Donors

Yaqeen’s job is to help people with conviction, but as an institution it plainly has none about its eligibility for zakat. The organization’s treatment of the issue though is a valuable lesson for Muslim donors. Often, the emphasis by Muslim organizations is calculation of zakat, and not on the actual use of the money. Misappropriation of zakat is not merely a concern for collectors and administrators of zakat, it is a concern for donors as well.

One basic truth I have learned about Muslim non-profits is that they like money. Zakat is money. They are often going to be loath to tell you they don’t want it. That’s just the way it is. As a donor, you need to figure out the best use of zakat funds yourself.

If an organization has no separate zakat account, no policy on how they spend zakat, and no use-case for your zakat-donations that makes any sense to you as a donor, you probably have a good idea where not to donate zakat.

Yaqeen has an opportunity to set an example in Muslim non-profits by removing references to it’s potential zakat-eligibility when they are not sold on this themselves. This serves only to befuddle potential donors who are better off donating with more confidence to zakat-eligible causes.

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