In fulfilment of the trust bestowed on it, Al-Usrah Incorporated disbursed year 1447 (2025) zakat during her weekly halaqah on Sunday at Al-Usrah complex in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

The Chief Imam of Al-Usrah, Professor Abdulrazaq Kilani in his opening speech thanked Allah for making the event a reality and thanked the Zakat committee for doing a good job.

According to him, zakat is not optional as people take it, adding that it is the reason why Allah mentioned Zakaat with Solat in over 23 times in the Qur’an.

He encouraged people to pay their zakat and prayed to Allah to increase the jamaah in wealth.

Professor Kilani while addressing the recipients said, “Whatever has been given might not solve the whole problem, but it is an attempt to make people happy in addressing the problems."

He said people need to be financially literate to make good use of what they are being given such that they too can be among the class that gives zakat.

He used the opportunity to encourage the recipients to attend the Sunday halaqah to learn about their Deen and not just be occasional Muslims.

The Chairman of the Al-Usrah Zakat and Sadaqah foundation, Imam Kelorts Momodu in his speech reminded the people about the importance of paying Zakat. "As a pillar of Islam, zakat is as important as every other pillar of Islam. Intentionally not paying zakat when one has the capacity renders one's Islam null and void.”

Citing the hadith of Umar ibn Khatab, he quoted the Prophet to have said that Islam is built upon 5 pillars of which Zakat is one of them.

He mentioned that zakat is a way to purify Muslims and to earn barakah, adding that it is also a means by which Islam encourages wealth distribution to take care of the needy in the community.

He equally advised that to widen the zakat net, Muslims should use the Nisab of silver alongside that of gold.

According to him, this will enable more Muslims to be able to pay zakat, and thus, it reaches more recipients.

He opined that salary earners who earn up and above the Nisab should be encouraged to pay zakat, taking a month's pay and paying the due zakat on it.

He encouraged both the male and female to pay zakat as this is an individual obligation.

The idea that once the husband has paid it covers the wife, the chairman said this is not acceptable as zakatul maal is different from zakatul fitri.

He thanked those who have been regularly paying their zakat as they are in bargaining with Allah, adding that Allah will surely reward them by forgiving their sins and entering them into paradise.

A total of seven million naira (7,000,000) was distributed among the 26 recipients of this year's Zakat. Four other recipients received a sewing machine, a grinding machine, a deep freezer and a stoning machine respectively.