KZH spends $20 million in Lebanon

Kuwait Zakat House Logo

The Kuwait Zakat House is one of the more active institutional zakat donors in the world, constantly trying to put a positive image of Islam and Kuwait across the world in places as far-flung as Uganda, Brazil, and Guyana.  Today’s blog post isn’t really a expose or a “got-you” hit piece, nor an effort to give a complete profile or description of KZH, but instead is just a little news and an effort to familiarize readers with an organization that seems to be getting a bigger profile.

KZH’s latest undertaking is a significant investment in Lebanese orphans.  (Let’s hope that these efforts are aboveboard since we know from past and current experiences in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Gaza that orphanages have been used as breeding grounds for Islamist inculcation.)

From the Kuwait Times on Apr. 9:

KZH-funded projects in Lebanon bring joy to orphans, help needy

BEIRUT: Charitable projects which Kuwait Zakat House (KZH) bankrolls in coordination with the Lebanon’s Zakat Fund of Dar Al-Fatwa are spread all over Lebanon in what brings joy to orphan children and needy families and lightens up their faces. The previous commendation was mentioned yesterday by Shaikh Dr Zuhair Kibba, Director General of the Lebanon’s Zakat Fund, while commenting on the charitable deeds carried out by KZH in Arab and Muslim countries in general, and in Lebanon in particular, and declaring a number of new projects that KZH will implement in Lebanon in order to further increase the already bright image of Kuwait in the Gem of the Mediterranean. 

Taking a similar tack, Kibba announced the launching of, “orphans sponsorship project which is one of the biggest and oldest projects held in cooperation with KZH which sponsors more than 1,300 orphans who receive monthly stipends along with remunerations that are paid on special occasion like feasts.

Kibba also said that, “there is a project which KZH is still subsidizing it, namely Al-Rayaheen Plantation Project at Akaar area at a total cost of nearly $1 million, and over an area of some 40.000 square meters with a capacity of 200 cows in what offers a source of income for KZH that enables it to increase its contributions to orphans, particularly in northern Lebanon.

Further, Kibba announced a new project under construction, namely a mosque at Shaniya summer resort near to Bhamdoun town with a finance from KZH amounting to USD 1.500 million, adding that the mosque will be inaugurated by the end of this year to be added to other religious edifices bankrolled by the State of Kuwait.

Kibba also said he met, during his participation with the delegation of Lebanon’s Zakat Fund led by Adnan Al-Debs, chairman of the fund’s board of trustees at Dar Al-Fatwa, at the 20th forum on contemporary Zakat issues organized by Zakat Fund (March 15 – March 17), the delegation met Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister for Legal Affairs, and Minister of Justice, Minister Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Justice Rashed Al-Hamad, and reviewed with him new projects that will be funded by KZH.

In this respect, Kibba made clear that there are two projects that he submitted to Al-Hamad, the first is a project on constructing a kitchen for orphans sponsored by the Zakat Fund at a cost of $60,000, and the other project aims at holding Quranic contests during Ramadan month at a cost of $120,000, hoping that the two projects will be completed at the earliest.

Further, Kibba said that KZH is one of the most important centerpieces supporting Lebanon’s Zakat Fund since the latter’s establishment in 1984, noting that KZH continues its charitable deeds which are manifested in various development projects constructed in various regions for the service of orphans and needy families.

The total assistance offered by KZH to Lebanon’s Zakat Fund exceed $20 million including $1.800 paid over the past year only, and was devoted to charitable development projects. There are more than 4,000 families living all over Lebanon, and making use of the assistance provided by KZH.

— KUNA