Islamic giving

Supporting Zamzam Foundation UK is a positive way for Muslims to turn faith into action, fulfilling the deep commitment to charity that Islam requires and inspires. We also welcome donations from people of other faiths and no faith – anyone who has a heart for building a brighter future for all Somalis.

If you are Muslim, through us you can pay zakat to help those who are less fortunate, meeting a religious obligation required of all Muslims who are above a certain wealth threshold. You can also give sadaqah, the voluntary charity that is commended in Islamic teachings and inspired by the example of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

You can enjoy the unique blessing of sadaqah jariyah, a form of ongoing charity that benefits future generations by building new schools and health clinics, providing new boreholes and wells, transforming barren land into farmland, and helping poor families set up small businesses.

We sincerely hope you entrust Zamzam Foundation UK with your zakat and sadaqah for Somalia.

In addition, our orphan sponsorship programme enables donors to follow the guidance of the Qur’an by caring for orphaned children. Our seasonal programmes enable supporters to help us feed the hungry during the holy month of Ramadan and provide qurbani meat so that poor families can celebrate Eid Al-Adha.

Zakat, is one of the five pillars of Islam alongside faith (shahada), salah (prayer), sawm (fasting) and hajj (pilgrimage). Zakat giving has become a powerful means of redistributing wealth across communities and across continents.

Muslims are expected to pay zakat to redistribute wealth to those less fortunate if they have reached the age of puberty, are of sound mind, and have been above the qualifying wealth threshold for at least one full lunar year.

You can pay your zakat via the Zamzam UK website. The money collected in our special zakat fund will be spent on five types of zakat-eligible projects. Most will go to individuals in need, while up to a quarter will go to infrastructure projects that benefit the whole community. The five project areas are:

• Emergency relief in the form of food, water, shelter and hygiene kits for individual displaced people driven from their homes by conflict, drought and floods.
• Funding and training to help individual farmers, women entrepreneurs and young people establish sustainable livelihoods.
• Building and equipping schools to bring a good education within reach for some of Somalia’s poorest children.
• Building and equipping health clinics to treat malnourished children, provide specialist maternity services, and protect vulnerable people from deadly diseases.
• Drilling boreholes and digging wells to provide a lasting supply of water that is safe to drink for poor families and their animals.

‘For man was created anxious, unhappy when ill afflicts him, and stingy when good befalls him; except the prayerful who are constant in their prayer, and those in whose wealth is an acknowledged right for the beggar and the outcast…’

Qur’an 70: 19-25

Sadaqah literally means ‘righteousness’. It refers to voluntary giving to charity to benefit others and please God. It is a word that can also apply to other good deeds and acts of kindness and compassion – praying for someone in need or lending them a hand, for example, or caring for an animal or watering a plant.

The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was a shining example of what sadaqah represents. He was generous in giving his time to others and giving food and money to the poor.

Giving sadaqah is entirely voluntary but has great spiritual significance for Muslims. Only those who have been generous in giving sadaqah to others can enter Jannah through the Baab As-Sadaqah gate – the door of sadaqah. Giving sadaqah through Zamzam UK is a way to bring material benefit to poor communities in Somalia and spiritual blessing and benefit to the giver.

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:

‘Sadaqah extinguishes sin as water extinguishes fire’

Tirmidhi

Sadaqah jariyah is a special form of sadaqah providing ongoing or continuing charity that is of lasting benefit to future generations. Giving sadaqah jariyah is a way to ensure benefit to others long after your death, and a way to reap lasting spiritual reward as a result.

Zamzam Foundation is investing in many different ways in bringing long-term benefit to poor communities across Somalia, building a brighter future for all Somalis. You can give sadaqah jariyah to support this work by donating to Zamzam UK’s health, clean water, education and livelihoods funds.

Our health and education funds help build new health clinics and new schools to protect future generations of Somalis from deadly diseases and enable future generations of children to get a good education. Our clean water fund helps drill new boreholes and dig new wells, creating an abundant supply of water that is safe for people and their animals to drink for many years to come. Our livelihoods fund helps turn barren land into farmland that produces crops into the future, and helps poor families to start small businesses that will support future generations.

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:
‘When a person dies, all their deeds end except three: a continuing charity, beneficial knowledge and a child who prays for them’
Hadith | Sahih Muslim

Zamzam Foundation supported 8,441 orphaned children and their families in 2024.

If you sponsor an orphan in Somalia through Zamzam UK, your regular donation of £50 a month will enable the orphan you support to go to school and ensure that their guardian can meet the family’s basic needs.

Orphans are mentioned 23 times in the Qur’an, which emphasises the responsibility of all believers to care for orphans in need. Our orphan care programme is a practical response to hard economic reality: children who have lost one or both their parents are more likely to be living in poverty, and less likely to get the education they need and deserve.

When you become an orphan sponsor, we’ll provide a photo and basic details of the child you are sponsoring – their first name, age, the province where they live, and their focus at school. Once a year you will receive an update via email on how the child is progressing, and we’ll also provide an annual update on the impact of our orphan sponsorship, school building and education programmes as a whole.

‘The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said,

“I and the one who looks after an orphan will be together in Paradise like this,” and he raised his forefinger and middle finger together, illustrating how close they will be’

Narrated Sahl bin Sa`d: | Sahih al-Bukhari 6005

Fasting is one of the five pillars of the Muslim faith, one of the five fundamental components of religious observance.

Zamzam Foundation’s Ramadan food distributions aim to ensure that vulnerable people observing the Ramadan fast in poor communities have enough food to break their fast each evening. With your support we can feed the hungry and bring real comfort and practical support to some of Somalia’s poorest families.

Zamzam’s teams cooked and served 54,450 hot meals in Ramadan 2024, providing nutritious iftars for the most vulnerable to break their fasts. We also distributed enough Ramadan food baskets to feed 87,426 people.

Each of our food packs provides enough supplies to enable families to prepare their own meals for the whole of Ramadan, including flour, cooking oil, cereal grains, milk powder and sugar.

Prophet Ibrahim (AS) dreamed that Allah (SWT) ordered him to sacrifice his only son, Ismail, to show his commitment to God. Ibrahim agreed but Allah (SWT) responded to the prophet’s devotion by sparing Ibrahim and sending a ram to be sacrificed in his place.

The tradition of distributing and sharing sacrificial qurbani meat at Eid Al-Adha is an act of remembrance and celebration of Ibrahim’s obedience to God and of God’s mercy to those who are faithful.

Zamzam’s qurbani programme is our biggest seasonal programme, providing qurbani meat to 1.3 million people in 2024. With your support for Zamzam UK we can ensure that more families get to celebrate Eid Al-Adha together in the traditional way. Your support also helps to boost the incomes of the Somali livestock farmers who provide our qurbani meat.