The Council of Senior Scholars of Morocco is the highest official religious authority in Morocco, and includes a fatwa council. It follows the Maliki School. The fatwa starts by reasserting the importance of Zakat as one of the five pillars of Islam. It then explains that Muslims must give Zakat on their own to legitimate beneficiaries from their countries, who are the categories mentioned in the Quran, Surah 9, verse 60. But it is also allowed to transfer some or all of one’s Zakat to beneficiaries outside the country, if their needs are higher than in the country of the Zakat donor. It is also allowed for the Zakat donor to use an agent he or she trusts, whether the agent is an individual or an organization, to distribute Zakat to legitimate beneficiaries in the donor’s country or abroad. This is because Zakat is a financial obligation in which agency is allowed. It can even be preferable or obligatory to use an agent if it is impossible for the Zakat donor to directly reach out to the beneficiaries, as this is the case for displaced populations. The fatwa then develops the topic of transferring Zakat abroad, quoting references of the … Continue reading Senior Scholars’ Council | Morocco