Scholar in Need (Zakat & Sadaqa Eligible)

A personal message from Muhammad Sattaur: 

A couple of weeks ago, I had a conversation I wasn’t expecting.

Through some awkward moments, I came to understand the personal circumstances of a scholar we’ve had the privilege of working with on a few occasions. He has worked on manuscripts that many of you have personally read and benefited from.

He is a maktab teacher. His full-time salary is the equivalent of $50 USD a month. Every couple of months, freelance work comes in. That work is irregular and never guaranteed.

At the present moment, he is facing a genuine shortfall. He is zakat-eligible.

When I understood his situation more fully, I asked him directly whether he would accept a full-time role if I were to offer it. He said he would accept it on one condition: that he be allowed to continue at the maktab, at least as a volunteer, so as not to interrupt the education of his students.

That answer alone tells you the kind of person we are talking about.

IGP does not typically collect zakat. This is a deliberate exception. We want to uplift one of our teachers and place his life on a different trajectory, through the barakah of this community’s support.

We are collecting $3,000 in zakat and up to $4,000 in sadaqah. Alongside that, we intend to offer him a full-time role on our manuscripts and editing team, in sha Allah. This would allow him to do the work he was actually trained for, as a scholar and editor, with consistent income and stability.

Our community can do better for those who carry this tradition. This is one place to start.