# Zakat, sadaqa and waqf: Islamic giving in Somalia > Islamic giving in Somalia: zakat (sako), sadaqa and waqf, land given to God, government and UN plans for zakat, and al-Shabaab's forced zakat, with sources. Source page: https://calankii.com/en/society/zakat-sadaqa-and-waqf-in-somalia/ Last checked: 2026-11-12 Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com) ## Three kinds of giving - **Zakat** (Somali *sako* or *zakaat*): one of the five pillars of Islam. The US State Department describes it as "an Islamic annual compulsory contribution of a set amount, typically 2.5 percent of one's wealth, to benefit the poor" ([US State Department, International Religious Freedom Report 2023, via ecoi.net](https://www.ecoi.net/en/document/2111587.html)). The Library of Congress country study lists almsgiving among the pillars and notes that whether a person must give "depend[s] upon one's ability to afford" it ([Library of Congress, Somalia: A Country Study, 1992](https://countrystudies.us/somalia/45.htm)). - **Sadaqa** (*sadaqo*): voluntary charity, given at any time. - **Waqf**: an endowment. Property is given permanently "to God", and its use or income goes to a mosque, school or the poor. ## Land given to God The best-documented Somali waqf is land given to Sufi sheikhs. Leaders of religious orders asked lineage elders for land to build mosques and farming villages (*jamaaco*). "A piece of land was usually freely given", the Library of Congress study says, and the giver gained a blessing "since the land was considered given to God". Tenure "was a matter of charity only", so it could become insecure in disputes ([Library of Congress, 1992](https://countrystudies.us/somalia/47.htm)). By the 1950s more than 90 such villages in the south held about 35,000 people (same source). See [the Sufi orders in Somalia](/en/society/sufi-orders-in-somalia/). ## The state and zakat today Somalia's Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs (*Wasaaradda Awqaafta iyo Arrimaha Diinta*) holds the endowments brief. In October 2025 it held a five-day workshop in Djibouti with Djibouti's Ministry of Religious Affairs, Culture and Endowments on "endowment administration and zakat collection and registration" ([SONNA, 23 October 2025](https://sonna.so/en/somalia-djibouti-religious-affairs-workshop-concludes-in-djibouti/)). In March 2020, NZF Worldwide, an offshoot of the UK's National Zakat Foundation, said it had been engaged through the UN Development Programme to design a national zakat mechanism for Somalia, working with local authorities, Islamic scholars and the Central Bank of Somalia ([Salaam Gateway, 18 March 2020](https://salaamgateway.com/story/uks-national-zakat-foundation-to-work-with-un-on-zakat-mechanism-for-somalia-and-somaliland)). Researchers from Malaysian, Ethiopian and Sudanese universities have also studied how zakat and waqf could fund development in Somalia ([Lex Forensica journal, USIM](https://lexforensica.usim.edu.my/index.php/journal/article/download/18/81/306)). ## Forced "zakat" by al-Shabaab [Al-Shabaab](/en/history/al-shabaab/) runs a *Zakawaat* office that collects livestock and farm produce, separate from its finance office that collects cash. The Hiraal Institute, a Mogadishu research centre, reported in 2018 that the office's first head was dismissed after a year because he paid the zakat to the poor, and that afterwards only a small share went to the poor ([Hiraal Institute, "The AS Finance System", 16 July 2018](https://hiraalinstitute.org/the-as-finance-system/)). The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime calls it a "forced charitable tax" and says al-Shabaab raises over US$100 million a year, about a third of it in Mogadishu. It reports that the group uses records from notaries, port officials and property brokers to work out what businesses owe ([Global Initiative, 24 April 2025](https://globalinitiative.net/analysis/disrupting-al-shabaabs-hold-on-mogadishus-economy/)). In July 2025 Somalia's intelligence agency warned businesses not to pay money demanded under threat ([AllAfrica, July 2025](https://allafrica.com/stories/202507210080.html)). See [al-Shabaab's structure and leaders](/en/institutions/al-shabaab-structure-and-leaders/). ## Giving in Ramadan Imams in Mogadishu urge those who can afford it to give to the poor during Ramadan, and youth groups in [Somaliland](/en/states/somaliland-1991-to-2026/) collect money from businesses and the diaspora to buy food and clothes for poor families ([AP via VOA, 1 April 2023](https://www.voaafrica.com/a/somalis-marks-ramadan-amid-record-drought/7027489.html); [Umayma Good, Andariya, 2021](https://andariya.com/post/ramadan-in-somaliland)). See [Ramadan and Eid in Somalia](/en/society/ramadan-and-eid-in-somalia/). ## Related - [Islamic finance, microfinance and takaful](/en/economy/islamic-finance-microfinance-and-takaful/) - [Islam in Somalia](/en/society/islam-in-somalia/) --- I want to help with this: email hello@calankii.com. Fix this page: email hello@calankii.com with the page link and your source.