TEHRAN - Benevolent people across Iran donated more than 26 trillion rials (about $52 million) in zakat (alms) in the past Iranian calendar year which ended on March 19, an increase of 25 percent year on year, ISNA reported.

Zakat is the third of the Five Pillars of Islam and refers to giving a fixed portion of one's wealth to the needy and poor.

It enjoins every adult, mentally stable, free, and financially able Muslim, male and female, to pay a certain amount of money to support specific categories of people.

The profession of Faith (shahada) - the belief that "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God" - is the first pillar of Islam. Prayer (salat), alms (zakat), fasting (sawm), and pilgrimage (hajj) are the other four.

As much as 80 percent of the collected zakat is spent to provide basic foods for the needy and the rest is allocated for development projects in underprivileged areas, Habibollah Asoudeh, the deputy director of the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation, has said.

Iran has been named the 32nd most generous country among 114 countries by the World Giving Index 2021.

The ranking is done based on the three indices of ‘helping a stranger', ‘donating money', and ‘volunteering time’.

Iran was 38th in helping a stranger, 23rd in donating money, and 92nd in volunteering time.

Benefactors have also donated money to free prisoners of unintentional crimes and help develop the health sector.

As an annual tradition, benefactors come together in a ceremony to raise funds for releasing prisoners of unintentional crimes during the holy month of Ramadan (which started on March 12 this year).

On January 5, with the participation of altruists and benevolent people, a total of 2,548 prisoners of unintentional crimes were released from prisons nationwide.

Freeing prisoners of involuntary crimes is done in three ways. The first way is granting prisoners leave and the second way is providing a number of them with loans to be paid inside the prison.

The third way of assistance is the release of unintentional convicts by paying their debt.

MG