The NY Times Picks Up the Chill on Muslim Charities

Charity giving in the month of Ramadan is way down in Dearborn, one of the most Muslim cities in the US.

The New York Times (Neil MacFarquhar) sends a dispatch from Dearborn, Michigan on the bleak outlook for Muslim charities after years of attention from law-enforcement officials.  The story leads with the founder of the small, secular Islamic charity Zaman International (EIN 20-1946065, too new & too small for a Form 990) where giving went from $10,000 last year to $4,000 this year. 

Despite the religious requirement of zakat, or giving to the poor, people are unwilling to give, don't want receipts, and don't want phone solicitations for fear of eavesdropping.  Landlords are unwilling to rent space to organizations. 

Even established mosques like the Islamic Center of America (EIN 38-6095289 2002 Form 990 apparently no longer filing, not required of religious institutions) are having difficulty with completing capital campaigns (although under Islam, zakat cannot be used to build mosques). 

American Muslims who are here after fleeing repression in their countries of origin are finding that little has changed for them.  The story recounts the case of the Islamic charities in Michigan raided right before the beginning of the month of Ramadan, which we talked about back on October 2.

But part of the problem may lie in the very nature of zakat.  There are eight qualifying causes that can receive zakat funds, as explained on the web site of the Zakat Foundation of America (EIN 36-4476244 Form 990).  One of them is translated as Allah's Cause, which the web site explains:

General opinion is that this term embraces every kind of struggle for a righteous cause, both in war and peace, including expenditures of the propagation and defense of Islam and for all charitable purposes.

In the current climate of fear in the US, such a statement of charitable purpose is not going to reassure law enforcement.