The Ministry of Islamic Affairs will begin distributing funds it has thus far collected as zakat payments this Ramadan on Wednesday.

The ministry will be distributing funds at: 10:30am to 12:00pm, 12:35pm to 03:30pm, and 09:00pm to 11:00pm. The ministry will be distributing zakat in the form of food items and in cash equivalent.

The Islamic Ministry said at the end of May that it had collected MVR 1.2 million as zakat. Last year, the Islamic Ministry had received over MVR 4.3 million as zakat payments.

The levy for zakat is set at 2.4kgs of rice. This is MVR 13 per head if it is regular rice, MVR 43 for Thai rice, and MVR 81 for Basmati rice. Those residing in the outer lying atolls may pay zakat according to the prices available to them, given that they give away nothing less than the required 2.4 kg.

While 'zakat' is any Islamic mandated charity, the word ‘Fitr’ refers to breaking fasts in Islam and is used in relation to the fasting month of Ramadan.