WASHINGTON, May 25: Muslim advocacy groups and community leaders urged the US government on Sunday to issue a new guideline for the distribution of Zakat in the country.

After 9-11, the US government has prevented Muslims from giving Zakat to most US-based Islamic organizations because it maintained that in the past the Zakat funds were used for financing terrorist activities.

Speakers at a Muslim solidarity day rally in Washington said while they continued to provide “100 per cent” support to the US government’s efforts to fight terrorism, they also wanted to be able to send their Zakat money to the needy in the Muslim world.

They said the US government was holding at least $10 million of Zakat funds it confiscated from various Muslim organizations. This money, the speakers said, should be distributed among the needy.

Zakat, they said, was a religious obligation for every Muslim and the US government should devise a new policy governing Zakat and issue a fresh guideline, telling Muslim Americans a safer way for distributing Zakat funds so that it reached the needy and did not fall into wrong hands.

Some speakers also said that at least 2,000 Muslims were still languishing in jails across the United States, “mostly in violation of their civil liberties.”

“Keeping them in jails will serve no purpose. They should be tried according to the law and released if not found guilty,” said Mazharul Haq, a rights activist.