Zakat: Frequently Asked Questions

Oxfam provides the opportunity to support the poorest, most vulnerable Muslim majority communities around the world. We have expert teams and partners, history and credibility in some of the world’s more fragile countries where significant levels of Muslim populations are facing extreme hardship.

We also offer a well-established transparent set-up to assure you know where your Zakat donation will go.

Zakat donations will go to the following countries where Oxfam has established either an office with its own staff, or works with local partners to deliver projects to Muslim-majority communities:

Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iraq, Lebanon, Mindanao (Philippines), the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.

An Oxfam dedicated interest free bank account (Lloyds) holds and manages any Zakat donations prior to them being sent to the designated countries. Donations will be spent within one lunar year of you making your payment. Oxfam will acknowledge receipt of all Zakat payments (online payments will be automatically acknowledged immediately, payments through other channels will be acknowledged within 72 hours).

Where possible and should you wish, we will inform you of the help that has come from your Zakat donation. However, given the nature of our programmes in emergency humanitarian responses, this is often not practical or possible.

An Oxfam dedicated interest free bank account (Lloyds) holds and manages any Zakat funds prior to them being sent to the designated countries for expenditure.

UK administrative costs are not claimed on any Zakat donation and Oxfam does not profit from interest on Zakat payments. 100% of Zakat donations are spent in selected countries to help those in need.

Yes. If you are a UK taxpayer, Gift Aid can be claimed in the normal manner and will be allocated to Oxfam’s general unrestricted income. Please make sure you provide the requested details when making the payment.

Gift Aid reclaimed on your donation will be directed into Oxfam’s general unrestricted income. How Oxfam spends its general unrestricted donations.

Donations will be held in the interest free bank account until such time that they are transferred to the specified country. Each country project that receives the Zakat donations will spend the funds within the lunar year on direct costs in Muslim-majority communities.

Oxfam does not currently use Zakat to fund UK projects. However, we are working in partnership with the National Zakat Foundation, who are supporting our work on tackling poverty in the UK.

We are working in partnership with the National Zakat Foundation, who are supporting our work on tackling poverty in the UK. If you would like help calculating your Zakat, National Zakat Foundation have an online calculator service which is free and simple to use.

Oxfam’s Zakat donations are spent where the need is greatest in line with humanitarian principles. We will restrict the Zakat donations to be spent only in projects or areas where there are Muslim-majority populations, however we do not discriminate the support we provide based on religion.

Your donation will be given to wherever the need is greatest from our selected list. These countries/areas have been chosen by our expert humanitarian team and endorsed by our Zakat Advisory Panel because of the high level of need and urgency for funding with significant Muslim-majority populations.

To discuss how a Zakat payment of £10,000 or more could be allocated please contact: heretohelp@oxfam.org.uk

Oxfam met and consulted with several Muslim scholars and leaders along with peers from Muslim development charities. We undertook research that included 485 interviews, ten focus groups and several extensive 1:1 interviews with British Muslims from a range of ethnicities, backgrounds, education, gender and age.