Tayba Foundation’s Eligibility To Collect & Distribute Zakat

Overview of Tayba Foundation

Tayba Foundation is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization dedicated to serving individuals and families impacted by incarceration.

We believe in the power of human change through holistic education, guidance, and support. Our work is organized into three interrelated program areas: Education, Life Skills, and Re-entry.

Currently, Tayba’s beneficiaries are in 296 federal and state prisons in 34 states across the US. The number of active beneficiaries per semester, male and female, is over 2000. Our programs use a combination of course correspondence and peer mentoring to guide the beneficiaries on programs offered. We also identify advanced students to act as facilitators of our programs when appropriate.

Does Tayba fulfill the criteria to collect and distribute zakat?

“And they feed 1, for the love of Allah, the poor, the orphan and the prisoner.” [Quran 76:8]

Government statistics estimate that of the 2.2 million incarcerated people in the United States, 4-7% are Muslim. The majority of these Muslims converted to Islam after going to prison.

Tayba Foundation benefits “the Muslim incarcerated,” who happen to be one of the most vulnerable and underserved minorities (Muslims) within a minority (the incarcerated). Inasmuch, Tayba’s beneficiaries are among the most deserving zakat-eligible population within the ranks given to us in the Quran. In the Quran, in Surat at-Tawba Allah cites the zakat beneficiaries as the following:

“ Zakat expenditures are only for the poor and for the needy and for those employed to collect [zakat] and for bringing hearts together [for Islam] and for freeing captives [or slaves] and for those in debt and for the cause of Allah and for the [stranded] traveler - an obligation [imposed] by Allah. And Allah is Knowing and Wise”.

This ayat clearly indicates that among the 8 beneficiaries of zakat, the captives or prisoners are zakat-eligible. In addition, the majority of the incarcerated would fall into the needy and poor category as well.

In an assessment that Tayba conducted, the Foundation found that Muslim prisoners, by a majority acclimation, see inadequate access to Islamic education as their primary concern. Therefore, we contend that Tayba is entitled to collect Zakat from the community on behalf of the Muslim prisoners.

Is Tayba justified in collecting zakat and using it to provide various programs to prisoners?

We strongly affirm the safest and most cautious opinion of the scholars of the four schools of Islamic Law, that it is not allowed to use zakat for operations2.

Tayba Foundation has developed internal zakat guidelines with the intention of following the traditionally accepted opinions of the four schools of Sunni Islam.

Our guidelines were reviewed and approved by a number of scholars.

The Concept Of An Appointed Agent (Wakil)

To deal with a number of issues we encountered in the distribution of zakat to Muslim prisoners, we developed an “agency form”, which offers students the option to make us their agent (wakil). This allows the Foundation to accept zakat on their behalf.

According to the Hanafi school, which allows for the conversion of zakat from one form to another, Tayba can purchase books and send them as zakat. However, this allowance for conversion does not cover tax charges on the purchase of the material, nor does it cover shipping or tuition costs. It also creates a problem wherein if the book does not reach the recipient, the zakat would not be considered to be distributed.

Appointing Tayba as a wakil addresses these problems. As an agent of the zakat recipient, Tayba can assign the needed funds to the student. At that point, the zakat is considered “distributed” because it has reached the hand of the recipient’s agent. The funds can then be used to purchase material (books, DVDs, and other educational materials), pay the sales tax, and cover the costs of shipping. Even if the book is lost in the mailing process, the zakat would already be considered “distributed” because the money had reached the agent’s hand. This method allows us to confirm receipt according to both the Hanafi and Maliki schools.

All of Tayba’s program beneficiaries approve agency (wakala), because they are generally of very limited means and would not be able to cover the costs of their courses themselves. This allows the zakat to be considered “distributed” as soon as it has been assigned to the recipients. Once the appointed zakat officer or accountant allocates funds to their recipients, zakat is distributed.

Reference:

1 The word feed is refers to physical food as well as feeding the mind and spirit

2 Day to day organizational expenses or covering administrative or operational functions