Carving functional institution of zakat means none of us need to worry about future exigencies, accidents and losses of wealth – the community shall pay for our needs in the hour of need. But imagine a sumo driver or fruit seller getting debilitating disease or suffering accident or someone losing house in fire or needing a kidney and we don’t find automatically zakat/infaq cheque issued to help. Isn’t it the case that so many die for want of medicine or fail to get quality education or job or loan or accommodation? Isn’t there widespread poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, lack of access to required credit or housing in many pockets of the Muslim world? You and me are responsible for every victim of want and desperation we see around.

Our ultimate objective should not hoard wealth and then pay zakat as hoarding charges but invest what is above nisab. You can well plan your zakat giving in a way that you shift to investment mode (invest whatever exceeds nisab) in due course and get returns back and help community in turn as well and you needn’t pay zakat. That earns more merit in the eyes of God.

Initiating a drive to create a monthly fund from all those eligible for zakat in the form of qard hasn investments, so people do not see zakat as their primary contribution.