I

t is an article of the Muslim faith that with good fortune comes an obligation to help others less fortunate.

As the number of middle-class Muslims in the capital city grows, so has the amount of alms distributed to the needy.

Nur Efendi, CEO of Rumah Zakat, an NGO focusing on collecting and distributing alms, said the organization saw a 15-percent increase in the amount of alms it collected in 2014 compared to 2013. He said Rumah Zakat managed to collect Rp 200 billion (US$15 million) in individual alms in 2014, Rp 50 billion of which was collected in Jakarta.

Meanwhile, the Jakarta Muslim Charitable Donations Board (Bazis) received donations worth Rp 97 billion in 2013, up by 20 percent from the previous year'€™s Rp 81 billion.

'€œThe number of middle-class Muslims in Jakarta has grown, as has the awareness of the need to allocate some of their wealth the poor,'€ Effendi said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

One of the five pillars of Islam, zakat (alms-giving), stipulates that faithful Muslims should give 2.5 percent of their wealth to the poor and needy.

With the largest Muslim population in the world, Indonesia has great potential for individual alms, expected to reach Rp 217 trillion per year. Indonesian Muslims distribute alms through various platforms or organizations, varying from mosque managements to government-sanctioned organization like Bazis.

Many muzakki (alms givers) in the capital prefer to channel alms through independent organizations that not only distribute them to the poor but also initiate programs to empower underprivileged members of society.

The founder of kebab chain Baba Rafi, Hendy Setiono, said that as an entrepreneur he personally preferred to channel his alms to finance society-empowering programs because it resonated with his vision.

'€œPreviously the most popular way to channel alms was by directly distributing it to the poor [in cash] but today there are so many productive ways that bring tangible results for the underprivileged. As an entrepreneur, I prefer the productive approach,'€ he said.

Hendy said he believed that by sharing his good fortune, he would eventually gain more. '€œI started my business 11 years ago and as my revenues increased, I was expected to give back more. I believe my business has been blessed because of [giving back],'€ he said.

Author Endy Kurniawan shared the sentiment. '€œIndonesia'€™s problems are very complicated and the problems can'€™t be addressed merely by giving [cash] away to the poor. I prefer to encourage entrepreneurship programs to empower the poor,'€ he said.

Rumah Zakat allocates 35 percent of the total alms it collects to finance entrepreneurship programs aimed at underprivileged people with potential, while another 15 percent goes to social welfare programs focusing on health and education. The organization distributes the remaining 50 percent to the poor in the form of direct financial support.

More than 500 children from poor families in the capital attend Rumah Zakat'€™s four free schools while nearly 400,000 low-income residents in Jakarta have participated in entrepreneurship programs initiated by Rumah Zakat.

Yati Bahtiar, a resident of Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, said she and a group of housewives who initiated a garbage bank in her neighborhood received Rp 500,000 in financial assistance every three months to help their recycling business.

'€œWe can generate Rp 3 million every month from the business,'€ she said.