Determined to help society’s most vulnerable, Lutfullah International has disbursed its Zakat proceeds to inmates, students and patients in hospitals across Lagos State.
During the disbursement exercise, the organisation visited the Federal Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba; Gbagada General Hospital, Gbagada; Green Dome School and National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi Lagos, among other places.
Chairman Lutfullah Zakat Committee, Alhaji Sultan Egbeyemi, said the Zakat disbursement is a yearly event done to lift people with financial challenges. “This empowerment is the initiative of the founder of Lutfullah International, Sheikh Robiu Asdebayo Abdul Malik to help indigent persons. We were at the correctional centre to pay fines of inmates, hospitals, to pay for patients’ surgeries and drugs and schools to pay pupils’ school fees.”
He noted that the humanitarian act is borne out of the need to extend benevolence to the forgotten persons in society. “The organisation discovered over the years that there are Muslims who need assistance in schools, prisons, and hospitals with nobody to come to their aid. So, Sheikh Robiu made it mandatory for his members to fulfil the creed of Zakat and distribute it to the needy in society.”
Egbeyemi added that irrespective of the economic hardship in the country, Zakat is made mandatory for all Muslims who are financially capable of purifying their soul. “The ultimate goal of zakat is to ensure even distribution of wealth. Allah commanded Muslims to pay 2.5 per cent of their yearly profits as Zakat. Whatever profit you make in a year, if it is up to the required amount, such a person is eligible to pay Zakat.”
The Head of Clinical Services, National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos, Dr. Lawal Olaide, who received the cash donation on behalf of patients, commended the organisation. “We feel elated and happy because seeing some of our patients in the ward, who cannot afford to pay their bills is worrisome. This is coming at the right time for a few of them who have approached us to solicit support as they are finding it difficult to pay their hospital bills.”
