Professor Abdul Rahman Ahmad, Lecturer at the School of Engineering at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), has urged wealthy Muslims to learn and understand the principles of ‘Zakat’.
He said Muslims, who were in the position to help others financially, needed to be enlightened on the various approaches and techniques guiding the ‘Zakat’, to enable them give in accordance with the Islamic jurisprudence.
According to him, most wealthy Muslims did not have the fair idea on how ‘Zakat’ should be shared, and there was therefore, the need to enlighten them.
‘Zakat’ is an Islamic finance term referring to the obligation that an individual has to donate a certain proportion of his wealth each year to charitable causes.
It is also mandatory for all Muslims in most countries and is considered to be a form of worship.
Prof. Ahmad, who is also the Imam of the KNUST Muslim community, was addressing Members of the Muslims Professionals Association (MPA) on its annual ‘Iftar’ gathering in K
umasi at the weekend.
‘Iftar’ is a meal taken by Muslims at sundown to break the daily fast during Ramadan.
The annual MPA’s ‘Iftar’ sought to reconnect members to share ideas and account to members on their contributions for various projects in the course of the year.
It was also to discuss how members could contribute significantly towards the implementation of development projects that would help the needy and poor Muslims.
Prof. Ahmad who spoke on the topic ‘A successful life vrs pleasant life’, said as Muslims, there was the need for them to acquire wealth through genuine businesses so that ‘Allah would accept the Zakat and reward the believer.’
He said the innate desire to acquire wealth was necessary but should, however, be acquired in the right way devoid of cheating, lotto staking and other forms of money rituals.
Prof. Ahmad pointed out that as Muslims, they had to surrender their wealth for the cause of Allah in order to receive ‘ Baraka’.
Dr. Abdul Samad Muntaka, President of the Associatio
n, said the Association had grown from strength to strength since 2001 and had been able to initiate some projects in various communities across Ghana.
Some of these projects are classrooms blocks (madrasa), mechanized boreholes, free classes for school going children in Muslim communities and currently, building a clinic at Antoa in the Ashanti Regon.
He said members of the Association had been able to build stronger bond amongst themselves and expressed the hope that the friendship would continue to foster further development.
Source: Ghana News Agency