A fatwa in Gaza shows that there is no famine: "Do not give poor people food packages because they might throw them out" ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Monday, March 24, 2025

A fatwa in Gaza shows that there is no famine: "Do not give poor people food packages because they might throw them out"

Hamas mouthpiece Felesteen has an article about how Gazans should fulfill the obligation of zakat, charity, during Ramadan with all of the challenges there. The questions have been asked to the Mufti of Khan Younis, Sheikh Muhammad Ihsan Ashour.

There are questions such as about whether one may transfer money to the recipient's bank account where they would have to pay high fees to withdraw it, or whether a widow who receives vouchers to get goods for her children can use them to help her mother.

This one opinion from Ashour is noteworthy:

Sheikh Ashour pointed out that it is not permissible for the zakat payer to purchase food parcels for the poor from his zakat money, lest the poor person be forced to sell the food parcels for a low price or throw them out into the streets due to their large number among the people, as we saw previously.

He's saying there was so much food aid in Gaza that poor people didn't know what to do with it all, so they either threw the aid into the streets or they sold them for next to no money since no one needed it.

A famine zone would not have this problem. The fatwa shows that there is no food shortage in Gaza today - in fact, there is a surplus, even after weeks of Israel's closure.

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One other very interesting fatwa was published, about whether outsiders supporting Gazans are fulfilling their zakat obligations:

The truth is that the people of Gaza are deserving of zakat from multiple perspectives, not just one, as follows: The people of Gaza are entitled to zakat from four of the eight categories of zakat expenditure, which are: poverty, neediness, debt, and jihad in the cause of Allah.

This jihad part of zakat is not usually mentioned in the West. The category it falls under, "Fi Sabilillah," is a more generic category that means "In the Cause of Allah" which could mean education, outreach - or, according to Hamas and others, violent jihad.