Anonymous female donor gives JD7,000 to free imprisoned women debtors

AMMAN — A Jordanian woman has donated JD7,000 for the release of 12 women who were imprisoned for failing to pay back their loans. .

The donor, who lives abroad and preferred not to be named, heard about the Zakat Fund’s Sahm Al Gharimat “female debtors share” programme and decided to donate, Jathal Hindawi, the donation coordinator told The Jordan Times on Wednesday.

The donations came in two installments. The first donation arrived before the Eid Al Fitr holiday, which followed the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, allowing prisoners to spent time with their families during the holiday, Hindawi said.

On Wednesday, the Zakat Fund’s board of directors approved a payment of JD1,000 for a woman who was imprisoned for failing to pay rent, the fund’s Director General Abed Smeirat said.

The board also decided to fund a number of businesses, including a stationery shop for an underprivileged family in Irbid, 80km north of Amman, he said.

During a meeting of the board on Wednesday, Awqaf Minister Wael Arabiyat said that the fund’s policy is to “transform aid-dependent beneficiaries in to people who work, produce and contribute to development”.  

Arabyiat, who is also the chairperson of the fund’s board of directors, praised donors for supporting the fund, which helps hundreds of underprivileged families.  

Zakat, one of the “five pillars of Islam”, is a tax that requires paying 2.5 per cent of what a Muslim owns in cash money, gold, silver, cattle, farms and rentable assets, in alms, according to Islamic tradition.

Hindawi, who is also a participant in an initiative titled “Path of Good” that seeks to help underprivileged families living in remote villages, said that the initiative is  currently helping a village near Maan, 220km south of Amman, by installing water tanks.