By Babatunde Tiamiyu
Rightly Guided Foundation has put smiles on 140 beneficiaries faces with 39 Million naira Zakat fund to the less privileged in Ibadan, Oyo State.
According to the foundation,the approach aligns with the core Islamic principle of Zakat, which seeks to move individuals from being receivers of charity to becoming givers in the future.
Pensioners FM reports that the beneficiaries were given amounts ranging from ₦150,000 to ₦3 Million depending on their needs and in line with an earlier interactions during the selection process.
During the ceremony, the Amir of the foundation, Mallam Ibrahim Bello and the Secretary, Professor Moruf Oke, emphasized the importance of wealthy Muslims fulfilling their Zakat obligations as a divine tool for wealth redistribution,social inclusion and societal stability.
Mallam Bello said that the foundation, in collaboration with The Merciful Foundation in Houston Texas, USA, has been paying for WAEC and JAMB registration forms annually for some Muslim students, distributing food stuffs and cash to less privileged and feeding prison inmates.
The two officials of the foundation explained that the foundation started Zakat distribution in 2025 with N10million while N39 million would be distributed in 2026, stressing “the foundation’s donations keep increasing on yearly basis”
Mallam Bello and Prof. Oke also added that the foundation makes trust as its cornerstone and would continue to share the Zakat donations given to them to Muslims in need with the fear of Allahto minimise poverty in the society.
In a lecture titled “to herald the Zakat distribution, an Islamic Scholar, Mallam Rasheed Musa, described Zakat as the oxygen that ventulates a Muslim’s worship.
He urged Muslim faithful to always know Allah and depend solely on Him and His injuction to enjoy a peaceful life on earth, and comfortable abode in the hereafter.
Mallam Musa however encouraged all present to always be fervent I’m prayers, saying it the sure weapon for winning life battles.
In his Goodwill message,the Chairman of the Muslim Lawyers’ Association (MULAN), in Oyo State, Barr. Ismaila Saka, noted that poverty would be reduced to the barest minimum if many wealthy Muslims have made payment of Zakat a priority.
Barr. Saka, counselled the beneficiaries on judiciously use of the funds to establish or strengthen the proposed or existingbusinesses.
Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, Malam AbdulGaniy Abubakar, appreciated the foundation for the gesture and pledged judicious use of the fund.
He emphasised that the intervention came at a critical time given the current economic downturn in the country.
Pensioners’ FM findings from the Holy Quran and other Islamic literature, revealed that, Zakat, which is the third among five pillars of Islam, made it mandatory for with wealth above certain established threshold to pay 2.5 Percent of such wealth to charity known as Zakat to the needy annually.
