Over the past few years, some organisations have a part of their savings during the holy month set aside for charity, to free prisoners who cannot afford bail, thereby helping them and their families

It is in the month of Ramzan that most Muslims busy themselves in calculating zakaat, a prominent manifestation of charity in Islam. Usually given to those in abject poverty, over the past few years, zakaat funds, calculated at 2.5% of an individual’s annual savings, are being used to free inmates of jails who have served their prison sentences but have no support systems to pay fines associated with their convictions.

Moin Pasha, an octogenarian, says, “It was two years ago that I got to know of an organisation that uses zakaat money to pay those who cannot afford bail. Some of these prisoners are sole breadwinners and everything depends on them,” she says, adding that the consequences of imprisonment for the person’s wife and children are often disastrous.

The Movement for Peace and Justice (MPJ), a non-profit, is one such organisation that has been gathering zakaat from donors and channelling these funds to secure prisoner release. “Since last year we have paid 130 fines that are associated with prison sentences. Additionally, we have paid bail money for 35 prisoners and have got them all released,” Ahmed Hameeduddin Shakeel, finance secretary, MPJ, says. 

The MPJ, an affiliate of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, a socio-religious organisation, after due diligence, identifies prisoners who are first-time offenders involved in small crimes, and who have no family or friends to pay bail or fines. “We have been active since 2007-08 and have seen cases in which family members have no idea of the whereabouts of the prison inmate. It is only much later, maybe after weeks or months, that they get to know that they were in jail. The situation is so bad that families cannot even afford to pay ₹500. The aim and object of our organisation is to help everyone. Of our varied activities, we also work as facilitators for prisoner release,” he says. 

Like Ms. Pasha, Ghazala Ahmed (name changed upon request), an entrepreneur, too has been earmarking a part of her zakaat funds for this cause. She says that Islam prescribes the freeing of prisoners within the legal system, and it is considered an important act. “Usually, people give zakaat to madrasas and those in need, especially poor relatives. But the goodness here is two-fold: a religious injunction is being fulfilled, and we help a family in dire need. Some organisations have networks and an understanding of how prisoner releases are done,” she says. 

The All India Milli Council, another socio-religious group, has secured the release of 68 inmates lodged in prisons in and around Hyderabad, since last year, according to its office-bearer Mufti Omar Abedeen Qasmi Madani. Explaining the issue from an Islamic jurisprudential perspective, he says, “Before slavery came to an end, zakaat money was used to free slaves. The expression used to describe this in the scriptures was to “free necks of slaves”, an act that was greatly encouraged. Fines paid to secure releases were between ₹500 and ₹5,000. “This may seem like a small amount, but for the poor, they are unfortunately unaffordable,” he says.