The Greater Accra Regional branch of Ghana Muslim Mission (GMM) has launched its regional zakat fund aimed at becoming the leading and credible body in Ghana.

The GMM also aims to manage the fund professionally and in accordance with Islamic principles and tenets.

The fund seeks to encourage Muslims to pay their zakat and in turn manage the money for the good of beneficiaries as prescribed in the Quran and Hadith.

Mr Nurudeen Quaye, Greater Accra Regional Imam, GMM said Zakat is an obligatory act ordained by Allah to be performed by every adult and abled bodied Muslim and it is the third pillar of Islam.

He said the fund is to sensitise qualified Muslims to pay their zakat and by so doing help the payee to fulfil his or her religious duty to Allah.

He said this positions them and their community to obtain associated benefits from Allah.

He said the fund is also to provide a platform for the effective collection, management and disbursement of funds to the beneficiaries and manage payments to yield optimal returns within the bounds of Islamic principles.

Mr Quaye said zakat is mandatory on gold, silver and money, the produce of the earth of grains and fruits, livestock’s, camels, sheep , cattle and goats on the condition that they are free grazing, as well as goods owned to be sold.

He added that the fund is also to implement programmes targeted at identified beneficiaries as well as implement credible governance system that assures stakeholders it is managed prudently.

Dr Sheikh Amen Bonsu, National Chairman of the GMM said paying of zakat is a form of worship, and accordingly the payer of zakat submits one to the will of Allah.

He said payment of zakat helps to remove selfishness from ones heart which is a spiritual ailment inimical to one’s faith.

He said it is a form of self-purification and helps purify the property of the payer and abet the sufferings of the needy and poor thereby reducing ill feelings in the society.

Dr Bonsu said the fund would therefore provide a veritable means of accumulating funds to execute eligible projects for the Muslim community.

He urged Muslims to make it a point to pay their zakat into the fund for the development of the Muslim community in Ghana.

The board of trustees to take over sight responsibility of the fund includes Mr Suleiman Konney, Mr Issah Tagoe, Mr Ibrahim Mensah, Mr Mohammed Doku, Mr Ahmed Adjei Adjetey, Mr Mohammed Quarcoo, Mr Ahmed Quarcoo and Mrs Mariam Obeng.

The GMM was established in 1957 as a purely Islamic organisation with the aim of propagating the Islamic religion and the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed as laid down in the Holy Quran and Hadith.