Poverty Would Be Tackled in Muslim Countries with Zakat, Turkish President Says
“Twenty-one percent of the population of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) [countries], which means 350 million brothers and sisters, are trying to hold onto life at the poverty level,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the OIC High-Level Public and Private Investment Conference in Istanbul.
Erdogan stressed that the wealthiest Muslim country is 200 times richer than the poorest, but that if Muslims paid their zakat -- a religious obligation to provide financial assistance to the poor -- no Muslim country would suffer poverty, Anadolu Agency reported.
Also urging OIC member states to help Albania recover from last month’s powerful earthquake, he said: “I ask you to support out brother Albania by mobilizing all your means to treat their wounds.”
The 6.4-magnitude earthquake hit Albania’s Adriatic coast on Nov. 26, killing 51 people and injuring more than 900.
