Donate Zakat online through Canada’s oldest Muslim relief organisation. Your Zakat donation goes directly to the eight categories of recipients defined in the Quran, distributed with care across more than 20+ countries.
"Take from their wealth a charity by which you purify them and cause them to increase, and invoke blessings upon them."
- Surah Al-Insan 76:8-9
Zakat is not optional kindness. It is a divine obligation. Once your wealth crosses the Nisab threshold and one full lunar year passes, 2.5 percent of your qualifying wealth becomes a right that the poor hold over you. Allah has placed it inside the wealth He has entrusted to you. Your Zakat donation is not a favour you do for someone else. It is the return of a trust to its rightful owner.
For over 46 years, Human Concern International has carried the Zakat of Canadian Muslims to the families who need it most. We are a registered Canadian Muslim Zakat foundation, accountable to our donors, to the CRA, and to the eight categories of recipients defined in Surah At-Tawbah. When you donate Zakat online with HCI, your obligation is fulfilled with care, in line with the rulings of qualified scholars, and verified through field-level distribution reports.
For a mother in Gaza who has nothing left, a widow in Yemen who chooses between medicine and bread, an orphan in Sudan who has not eaten a full meal in weeks, your Zakat donation is not a transaction. It is the moment Allah’s mercy reaches them through your hands.
You did not just fulfil a religious obligation. You transferred wealth from where it had been resting to where it was always meant to go. Every Zakat donation you make through HCI reaches one of the eight categories of recipients defined in the Quran, and creates a ripple of dignity, nourishment, and belonging across the Ummah.
Your Zakat donation funds emergency food parcels, hot meals, and monthly food rations for families living below the poverty line in Gaza, Yemen, Sudan, Syria, and beyond. Hunger does not wait, and neither does your Zakat once it reaches our field teams.
The impact: Children’s nutrition and immunity are protected. Nursing mothers receive critical food. Elderly individuals who cannot access markets eat with dignity.
Among the eight categories of Zakat recipients are those in destitution who cannot meet their basic needs. Clean water is a basic need. Your Zakat donation funds hand-dug wells, deep boreholes, and emergency water trucking in regions where families walk hours to fill a single jug.
The impact: Children stop falling sick from contaminated water. Mothers no longer walk miles for a bucket. Communities gain a permanent source of life.
Across Gaza’s collapsing hospitals, rural clinics in East Africa, and refugee camps across the Middle East, HCI delivers the medicine and care that destitute families cannot afford on their own. Your Zakat donation pays for medication, mobile clinics, and surgical supplies.
The impact: Wounded patients receive treatment. Chronic conditions are managed. Mothers and babies survive childbirth where care would otherwise be impossible.
Orphans hold a special place in the Quran and the Sunnah, and many scholars consider them a primary Zakat-eligible category through the wider definition of the poor and needy. Your Zakat donation funds HCI’s Child Sponsorship Programme, providing food, healthcare, education, and a safe environment to hundreds of children worldwide.
The impact: A child sleeps in a safe bed. A child goes to school. A child grows up knowing the global Muslim community has not forgotten them.
The eighth category of Zakat recipients, Ibn al-Sabil, is the stranded traveller, and modern scholars include refugees in this group. Your Zakat donation provides shelter, blankets, food and medical care to families who have lost their homes to war or disaster.
The impact: Families displaced by war find a roof. Refugee children receive warm meals. The Ummah shows up for itself in the worst hours.
The Quran specifically names debtors who cannot repay what they owe as Zakat-eligible. Through partner programmes, your Zakat donation supports families crushed by medical debt, displacement-related debt, or business failure caused by conflict and famine.
The impact: A debt is lifted. A family is free to rebuild. The cycle of generational hardship is broken.
Many Muslims ask about the relationship between Sadaqah and Zakat. The two are not the same, but they belong together. Understanding the difference helps you give with precision and protect the integrity of your obligatory Zakat donation.
Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam. It is fardh (obligatory) on every Muslim whose wealth crosses the Nisab threshold and has been held for one full lunar year. The amount is fixed at 2.5 percent of qualifying wealth. The recipients are fixed at the eight categories named in Surah At-Tawbah. There is no flexibility on these elements; Allah has set them.
Sadaqah is a voluntary charity, given above and beyond your Zakat. There is no minimum amount, no annual schedule, and no fixed recipient. You can give Sadaqah every Friday, on Laylatul Qadr, in moments of difficulty, or simply when your heart moves you. Sadaqah purifies the soul; Zakat purifies wealth. Both are needed.
With HCI, you can fulfill your Zakat donation through this campaign page, and give Sadaqah separately on top of it. Many of our donors pay Zakat once a year during Ramadan and give recurring Sadaqah throughout the year as their second act of giving.
Calculating Zakat is simpler than many Muslims fear. Here is the process in plain language.
The Nisab is the minimum wealth threshold at which Zakat becomes obligatory. It is equivalent to either 87.48 grams of gold or 612.36 grams of silver. Most scholars recommend using the silver Nisab in modern times, as it is the lower threshold and brings more wealth into Zakat’s redistribution. You can check the current Nisab value with HCI before paying.
Your Zakatable wealth must have remained at or above the Nisab for one full Islamic lunar year (Hawl). If your wealth dropped below the Nisab during the year, the count restarts the next time it crosses the threshold.
You can deduct short-term debts due within the year (rent owed, immediate bills, business obligations). You cannot deduct interest payments (riba). Long-term debts like a 25-year mortgage are usually not fully deductible; consult a scholar if uncertain.
Once you have your net Zakatable wealth, multiply by 0.025. That is your Zakat owing for the year. Use HCI’s free Zakat Calculator to get an exact number in seconds, then complete your Zakat donation through this page.
Use Zakat Calculator →
Allah has named the eight categories of people eligible to receive Zakat in Surah At-Tawbah, verse 60. HCI distributes your Zakat donation strictly within these categories.
When you give Zakat through HCI, our field teams identify recipients in each category based on local needs assessments, ensuring your Zakat donation reaches the people Allah has named.
Right now, a mother in Gaza is searching for clean water for her infant. A widow in Yemen is choosing between medicine and bread. An orphan in Sudan has not seen a proper meal in weeks. Your Zakat donation is the answer to a prayer they have been making while you slept.
If your wealth has been above the Nisab for a full lunar year, your Zakat is already due. There is no spiritual benefit to delay. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said the believer who hastens to fulfil their obligations is the one whose worship is purest. Calculate, intend, and give.
👉 Read our Zakat policy here
Zakat is the third pillar of Islam. It is an obligatory annual charity paid by every adult, sane, and free Muslim whose wealth has crossed the Nisab threshold and remained at or above it for one full lunar year. The amount is fixed at 2.5 percent of qualifying wealth, and the recipients are fixed at the eight categories named in Surah At-Tawbah.
You can donate Zakat online securely with HCI in under 60 seconds. Use our free Zakat Calculator to confirm your obligation, complete the donation on this page, and you will receive a confirmation by email. Your Zakat donation will be distributed strictly within the eight Quranic categories of recipients across more than 20 countries.
Zakat must be distributed to one of eight categories named in Surah At-Tawbah 9:60: the poor, the needy, Zakat administrators, those whose hearts are to be reconciled, those in bondage, those burdened by debt, those working in the cause of Allah, and the stranded wayfarer (which today includes refugees). Your immediate family, including spouse, children, parents, and grandparents, cannot receive your Zakat because you are already responsible for them.
Zakat is 2.5 percent of your net Zakatable wealth that has remained above the Nisab for one full lunar year. Zakatable wealth includes cash, gold, silver, investments, business inventory, and money owed to you. You can deduct short-term debts but not interest payments. Use HCI’s free Zakat Calculator to get an exact number in seconds.
The Nisab is the minimum wealth threshold at which Zakat becomes obligatory. It is equivalent to either 87.48 grams of gold or 612.36 grams of silver. Most scholars recommend using the silver Nisab as it is the lower threshold and brings more wealth into the redistribution. HCI updates the current monetary equivalent for both Nisab values on our Zakat Calculator page.
Zakat is obligatory, calculated at 2.5 percent, paid once a year, and restricted to the eight Quranic recipient categories. Sadaqah is voluntary, has no fixed amount or schedule, and can be given to anyone in need. The two work together; Zakat is the foundation, Sadaqah is the personal expression of generosity beyond that.
Yes. HCI is a CRA-registered Canadian Muslim charity that has been collecting and distributing Zakat for over 46 years. Paying through a trusted, registered organisation is fully valid in Islam and is the recommended path for most Canadian Muslim donors today, as it ensures rigorous needs assessment, Shariah compliance, and verified distribution.
If a deceased person owed Zakat at the time of their passing, it should be paid from their estate before inheritance is distributed. You can also give Sadaqah Jariyah on their behalf as an ongoing source of reward, but unpaid Zakat itself remains a debt that should be settled.
Yes. HCI is a CRA-registered charity, so your Zakat donation is eligible for a Canadian charitable tax receipt. You will receive an official receipt by email after your donation is processed.
