Faith-aligned finance builds trust through tradition
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Alaa Murabit describes how faith-based financial systems, like zakat in Islam and waqf endowments, have long operated on trust and accountability, principles the modern development sector now seeks to emulate.
For years, Murabit observed that international aid often failed to gain traction because it lacked local legitimacy. Working in Libya, she successfully reframed her organization’s message to align with Quranic teachings, gaining both local funding and broader community acceptance.
This experience led her to recognize the power of “permission”, the social authorization needed for people to act on available options, and the “permission gap” that hinders many well-designed interventions. Murabit argues that development finance often overlooks the existing infrastructure of faith-aligned finance, which manages vast sums of money with built-in mechanisms for establishing eligibility, accountability, and long-term sustainability.
Systems like zakat, requiring annual charitable giving, and waqf, dedicating assets to charitable purposes, offer a framework for embedding religious legitimacy directly into funding. She founded For Mama, a Muslim-led funder collaborative eligible for zakat donations, which raised $125 million in its first three Ramadan campaigns. She points to examples like UNHCR’s Refugee Zakat Fund and Islamic “sukuk” (investment certificates) as evidence of how faith-aligned structures can mobilize capital.
Murabit suggests that development organizations should prioritize incorporating these existing frameworks into program design, working with faith leaders from the outset to build trust and ensure programs align with community values, rather than seeking endorsement after the fact.
