UK Muslims ‘more philanthropic’ than other Brits

With Zakat being one of the five pillars of Islam, recent research has revealed that Muslims living in the United Kingdom give four times more in charity as compared to the rest of the British population.

As per the report Blue State’s report titled “British Muslim Giving Behaviours”, on an overage British Muslims donated £708 in the last 12 months as opposed to £165 by a non-Muslim adult UK citizen.

The Muslim community also made significantly more charitable contributions on an international level with 85% of them donating to international organisations compared to 48% of the wider population in the country.

On the preferences of UK Muslims regarding their donations, the report revealed that 61% of Zakat given by the community went to Islamic organisations, whereas, 14% went to secular entities.

The survey, which included a total of 2,010 people across the UK along with a dedicated sample of 1,003 Muslims, also revealed that three out of four UK Muslims have already donated to support people in Gaza, while 67% were planning to further donate in the future.

Despite the prevailing economic crisis in the UK, 49% of Muslims there are willing to increase their charitable donations in the next 12 months against 21% of the rest of the respondents (non-Muslims) in the UK.

“Muslim donors aged 45-54 gave £723 (6.5 times the UK baseline of £112) while those aged 55 and above had given an average of £685 against the £129 in this age group across the whole of the UK (5.3 times more),” the report reads.

“This is followed by the East of England, where Muslims had an average gift of £1,127 (vs £215 average for the region) — a 5.2 multiplier. In the West Midlands, the average gift was £659 (vs £133), and in the North East, the average gift was £613 (vs. £117),” it adds.

Furthermore, it was also observed that 35% of the Muslim respondents said that they gave Zakat during the holy month of Ramadan, whereas 15% and 12% donated during the last 10 days and on the 27th night, respectively.

Meanwhile, 27% said that they donated Zakat throughout the year.

Furthermore, UK Muslims “seem twice as likely towards leaving a legacy gift” with 19% downloading a free will pack from a charity against 9% of UK adults.

Whereas 20% attended a “gift in wills event” and 18% added a donation to a charity in their wills, respectively.