(RNS) — It began with a fatwa, a ruling issued jointly by the Fiqh Council of North America and the Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America that expanded the reach of who is eligible to receive zakat, the mandated alms that observant Muslims pay each year as one of the pillars of Islam. 

The timing of the fatwa — it dropped about two weeks before the start of Ramadan — was notable because the holy month is one of the most concentrated times of giving for American Muslims. But the “who” particularly rocked those Muslim communities, since the giving of alms in broad strokes is reserved for those in need. The fatwa instead laid out an argument to allow for zakat to be given to politicians and campaigns to change or sway public policy.

With Ramadan now at its conclusion, the pushback is still raging.

Zakat is an important obligation applied to adult Muslims who meet the minimum threshold, or nisab, of savings and assets held for one year. Its eight categories determine who can receive zakat and for what uses it can be given. These categories are defined in the Quran as “ … for the poor and the needy, for those employed to administer it, for those whose hearts are attracted to the faith, for freeing slaves, for those in debt, for Allah’s cause, and needy travelers. This is an obligation from Allah. And Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.”

The fatwa from FCNA and AMJA focused on the fourth category, mu’allafah al-qulūb — “those whose hearts are reconciled (or softened or attracted to the faith).” Its argument goes back to the conquest of Mecca, when the Prophet Muhammad granted non-Muslim leaders the spoils of the war, a move meant to prevent them from uniting in an attack on Muslims.

Other historical examples of this were also cited that discuss the giving of zakat for the swaying of public interest, “even to the wealthy, to non-Muslims, or to those of questionable personal character, when that secures a general benefit for the Muslim community.” Based on the cited precedents and other scholarship, the fatwa argues that this category of zakat can be interpreted to help influence or change political or public policy.

So, you want to help defeat Ken Paxton, the Republican Texas attorney general who has filed multiple lawsuits against EPIC City, the proposed Muslim-oriented community in North Texas, and taken other anti-Muslim actions in his bid to unseat incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn? Or would prefer to help defeat both Paxton and Cornyn, who has attacked Paxton as being “soft on radical Islam”? According to the fatwa, you can donate your zakat to campaigns trying to do so. (Coincidentally, FCNA Chairman Yasir Qadhi is the resident scholar at EPIC.)

Numerous scholars and Islamic institutions have serious problems with this and have made public their dissenting opinions about the fatwa, including Imam Suhaib Webb and Darul Qasim, and several Islamic institutes. A coalition of American scholars representing the four schools of thoughts issued a joint statement rejecting the FCNA/AMJA fatwa as “methodologically unsound and harmful to the rights of the poor.”

One of these opinions came from Tamara Gray, founder of Minnesota’s Rabata Institute, who hold a doctorate in leadership. While refraining from directly criticizing FCNA or the AMJA, she emphasized that scholars have to be very careful in redefining the categories of zakat. “These categories are clear. The issues happen when we try to define them. Who are the miskeen (poor)? What does it mean to be poor? Does it mean that you’re unhoused? Does it mean that I’m struggling to pay my electric bill?”

Gray said the fatwa’s argument seems more of an expansion rather than a redefinition, but Haris Tagari, in this piece for the U.K.-based site 5Pillars, said that “ … such an extension compromises the divine rights of the poor by unethically shifting wealth toward the political middle class at the expense of the destitute, who remain the rightful recipients according to classical tradition.” 

But the question about whether supporting political and policy persuasion takes alms out of the pockets of the impoverished begs another one: How much of zakat giving actually reaches the poor? Who is checking, especially as giving zakat to Muslim organizations that deem certain donor funds to be “zakat-eligible” are prime recipients of these donations?

Zooming out even further, how does zakat interact with institutional and charitable giving at large within Muslim communities?

A recent webinar hosted by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding on “Trust, Transparency, and the Future of American Muslim Philanthropy” traced the shift toward institutional giving and strategic philanthropy. Oussama Mezoui, a nonprofit consultant and former CEO of Penny Appeal USA, said in the webinar that while poverty alleviation is the top destination for U.S. Muslims’ charitable dollars, nearly half of those who give report donating to civil rights organizations. That, said Mezoui, is “a much higher rate than any other faith group surveyed in the United States.”

The FCNA/AMJA fatwa has fueled these larger questions. “The ethical administration of zakat, as well as the scope of zakat, particularly whether it could be used for political purposes … has sparked significant debate about religious integrity, donor, trust, and ultimately, the purpose of zakat,” Mezoui said. 

The fatwa also comes as the GOP is pushing legislation that would end tax-exempt status of so-called terrorist supporting organizations (known as the “nonprofit killer” bill). Debates are also swirling around the ethics of fundraising and using social media influencers. “We have a sector that is large, that is generous, that is growing, but also that’s currently navigating questions about trust, about good governance, dealing with a lot of political pressure at the moment, and the evolving interpretation of religious scholarship,” said Mezoui at ISPU’s event.

According to the Muslim American Zakat Report 2022, an annual survey from the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University, Muslims gave an estimated $1.8 billion in zakat in 2021, with “an average Muslim [giving] $2,070 in zakat.” The report displayed the diversity of disbursement of zakat, with more than 25% going to international nonprofit organizations, with domestic NPOs getting about 18%. Nearly 15% continues to be given directly to people in need.

“We as an ummah need to be thinking about [zakat] and seeking answers,” Gray told me, adding that some Muslim organizations taking zakat believe they are doing zakat-worthy work. “They aren’t … trying to cheat people,” she said, adding that everyone can benefit from more education.

But Gray believes strongly that a body of Muslim scholars should be established with the purpose of educating Muslims about what truly is zakat and what should be given as sadaqah (voluntary donations or acts of kindness) for various projects and campaigns.

Zakat is a part of a Muslim’s ibadah, or worship, Gray said, “a part of what each individual needs to learn. All of us accept that we need to learn how to pray. We should … be pursuing an equal amount of learning about zakat like we do for prayer or fasting.”

(Dilshad D. Ali is a freelance journalist. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of RNS.)