Grand Imam of Al Azhar Ahmed el Tayeb said the Egyptian Bait Al Zakat continues to support poor people in the country, improve their standard of living and provide medical and therapeutic services for patients in need who are not covered by health insurance.

Tayeb chaired Monday the eighth meeting of the Bait Al Zakat's Board of Trustees.

The meeting discussed Bait Al Zakat's general strategy and determined specific rules to provide serviced for debtors, orphans, poor families, widows, divorced women and street children.

The meeting also reviewed projects carried out by Bait Al Zakat during the past period.

During the meeting, Safwat el Nahhas was appointed Secretary General of the Egyptian Bait Al Zakat.

Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam, and requires financially-capable Muslims to give 2.5 percent of their annual income to the poor and the needy, on an annual basis. 

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El Sisi ordered in September 2014 the formation of a Zakat charity fund under the direct supervision of Al Azhar's Grand Imam.

The fund also receives Sadaqah money, which according to sharia law, is a kind of voluntarily charity unlike Zakat.

Source ; MENA