THE ISLAMIC ZAKAT AS A POSSIBLE TOOL FOR CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM RELATIONS IN EBONYI STATE, NIGERIA .

Abstract

The activities of the Islamic zakat (Compulsory Almsgiving) have experienced significant growth in the South Eastern Nigeria. This growth has also resulted to an interesting episode whereby a few Christians are also benefiting from the zakât disbursement from the Muslim community. As a result, a lot of people are empowered materially, thus improving the lives of the ordinary people. Therefore, this work is aimed at exploring the concept of the Islamic zakât as well as investigates if it can be a safe space and common ground for Christian-Muslim peaceful co-existence. The study was carried out at Ebonyi State, in the South Eastern Nigeria; it was a qualitative research using phenomenological approach. The research instrument used for collection of materials was interview, focus group discussions (FGD), participation by observation and observation by participation of the Islamic zakât and sadaqa (Non-Compulsory Almsgiving) programmes for the 2015 Ramadân fasting, whereby the researcher played an overt role. The interviews were transcribed and various themes were discerned from the data after the analysis. The themes were grouped according to the three main research objectives. The study identified a gap with respect to the issue of social justice, equity and disparity that cut across board among different religions. This necessitated the use of Marcel Mauss theory of gift, which emphasizes on the law of reciprocity in gift to address the research problems. The findings revealed that zakât is an essential aspect of the Islamic faith that has spiritual, physical and psychological significance to Muslims; nevertheless some Christians view it with suspicion. The study therefore recommended that Christians need to cultivate the habit of understanding Islam as part of her Christian witness of understanding her neighbours, while Muslims should be more transparent in their practices, in order not to give room for further suspicion, the government on her part should create for interfaith studies, at all levels of education in order to enable her citizens to explore and take good advantage of their diversities for effective social integration.

The activities of the Islamic zakat (Compulsory Almsgiving) have experienced significant growth in the South Eastern Nigeria. This growth has also resulted to an interesting episode whereby a few Christians are also benefiting from the zakât disbursement from the Muslim community. As a result, a lot of people are empowered materially, thus improving the lives of the ordinary people. Therefore, this work is aimed at exploring the concept of the Islamic zakât as well as investigates if it can be a safe space and common ground for Christian-Muslim peaceful co-existence. The study was carried out at Ebonyi State, in the South Eastern Nigeria; it was a qualitative research using phenomenological approach. The research instrument used for collection of materials was interview, focus group discussions (FGD), participation by observation and observation by participation of the Islamic zakât and sadaqa (Non-Compulsory Almsgiving) programmes for the 2015 Ramadân fasting, whereby the researcher played an overt role. The interviews were transcribed and various themes were discerned from the data after the analysis. The themes were grouped according to the three main research objectives. The study identified a gap with respect to the issue of social justice, equity and disparity that cut across board among different religions. This necessitated the use of Marcel Mauss theory of gift, which emphasizes on the law of reciprocity in gift to address the research problems. The findings revealed that zakât is an essential aspect of the Islamic faith that has spiritual, physical and psychological significance to Muslims; nevertheless some Christians view it with suspicion. The study therefore recommended that Christians need to cultivate the habit of understanding Islam as part of her Christian witness of understanding her neighbours, while Muslims should be more transparent in their practices, in order not to give room for further suspicion, the government on her part should create for interfaith studies, at all levels of education in order to enable her citizens to explore and take good advantage of their diversities for effective social integration.