Minimum Zakat of 25-380 roubles fixed in Southern Russia

The minimum amount of the religious tax Zakat-ul-Fitr (poor-due), which should be paid to needy Muslims before the holiday of Eid al-Adha, was defined by religious leaders of Southern Russia. The highest Zakat of 380 roubles was fixed for parishioners of Salafi mosques of Dagestan.

Zakat is a religious tax on Muslims, the collection of which is prescribed in the Qur'an (Koran), while the amount and the regulations of taxation are specified in the Sharia. Zakat is one of the five main pillars of Islam. Zakat is of two types: Zakat-ul-mal (Zakat of property) and Zakat-ul-Fitr (Zakat Fitr – of breaking the fasting).

The Zakat-ul-Fitr should be paid for every Muslim, Ali-haji Evteev, the ex-Mufti of North Ossetia, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. At the same time, he said, the forms of paying Zakat "may vary in different schools of the Sharia law of Islam."

The aim of paying Zakat-ul-Fitr, said Evteev, is "the release of a fasting Muslim of his omissions during fasting" and "bringing joy to the poor."

In Dagestan, Zakat ul-Fitr will be "paid in kind, based on the cost of basic foodstuffs," said Ibragim Makhtibekov, the Imam of the mosque in Makhachkala named "Ikhlas".

In Chechnya, the size of Zakat-ul-Fitr is calculated from the cost of 3 kilograms of wheat, said Salakh-haji Mezhidov, the Mufti of the region.

In the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR), believers "will pay the purifying alms in cash," said Ismail-haji Berdiev, the Mufti of the KChR.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.