The Faces of Zakat – Maintaining Confidentiality

May 18, 2021

When you send in your cheque, or put in your credit card information and hit confirm,

What happens next? Where does the money go? Who benefits from it?

These are questions you have likely asked, at one point or another.

You have probably also wondered why you never see the faces of those benefiting from your Zakat. You come across pictures on the flyers and the website, but what about everyone else? You notice NZF making use of stock images, but what about the actual people receiving Zakat?

The answer is quite simple - we at NZF take extra care to preserve the identity of those receiving Zakat. Their names, their location, their contact details, everything is kept strictly private and confidential.

It is of utmost importance to us that the privacy of the beneficiaries is preserved, and any negligence in this area is not, and cannot be tolerated.

When someone gives us a call, asking for help, that is a very difficult moment in their life. Perhaps it’s the hardest moment in their life. In that moment of vulnerability, they are at the mercy of the one on the other end. They pour their heart out, trusting a complete stranger with intimate details about their finances and their circumstances.

It is then a massive responsibility for the Zakat worker to ensure that they treat the person with respect, preserve their dignity, and honour them in their time of need. After all, what Zakat they may get is already their right, given to them by Allah subhana wata ‘alaa.

In 2020 alone we processed over 2500 applications from those who had applied to us. Every single one of them is assured that their information is safe and private. What is collected from them is used only by the Zakat workers and used only for the purpose of processing their application. Other members of the NZF the team (who are not responsible for processing cases) do not have access to the application files, because there is simply no need for it.

Who are the people receiving Zakat?

We may often think or hold the misconception that those who need Zakat are generally newcomers or refugees. While it is true that resettlement is a difficult and financially draining process, what we find is that one-third of all Zakat applicants at NZF are Canadian citizens. Many of them have grown up in Canada. So, when someone who are the people getting Zakat, the answer is simple. They are our brothers and sisters, living right here, among us. They live in the same neighbourhoods as we do, wear the same clothes, and speak the same language. 

They are us, and we are them. All one. One ummah. Carrying on the path of Allah, ensuring that along the way no one gets left behind. When one of us stumbles and falls over, the other reaches over to give them a hand, pull them up and keep on trekking.

After all, tomorrow, or one day, we may be down with our hand up, and we’ll know that there will be a friendly face with their arms open, willing to help us up.

Let us not forget the saying of our beloved Prophet  ﷺ:

“If anyone relieves a Muslim believer from one of the hardships of this worldly life, Allah will relieve him of one of the hardships of the Day of Resurrection."