ISTANBUL: Malaysia has proposed reviving the International Zakat Organisation (IZO) to coordinate the collection and distribution of zakat funds globally, particularly to support poor Muslim countries and Muslim minority communities worldwide.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the proposal to reactivate the IZO, established in 2008, was originally mooted by the late Saudi Arabian Islamic banking pioneer Sheikh Saleh Abdullah Kamel during the administration of Malaysia’s fifth Prime Minister, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
He said the IZO could potentially be funded through contributions from wealthy Muslim countries, as well as by exploring mechanisms to channel unclaimed interest from oil-related “petrodollar” deposits held in international banks, which their owners refrain from claiming due to the prohibition of riba (interest).
