Sadaqah has no fixed rate, no threshold and no deadline. That freedom is the point, and it is what makes it the most flexible way to support a child through the parts of life Zakat does not cover.
If Zakat is the obligation, Sadaqah is the open door. It is voluntary charity, given purely for the sake of Allah, and almost every rule that constrains Zakat simply does not apply.
How it differs from Zakat
- No threshold: you do not need to hold nisab, or any particular amount of wealth, to give
- No fixed rate: there is no 2.5%, or any percentage at all
- No deadline: it is not tied to a lunar year
- No restricted recipients: it can go wherever the need is, including causes Zakat cannot fund
That last point is the practical one for us. Zakat is limited to the direct needs of eligible recipients. Sadaqah can pay for the roof over their heads, the wages of the wardens who look after them, the ambulance that gets a sick child to hospital, and the building work that makes room for more children.
It does not have to be money
Sadaqah is broader than a transfer. The tradition is emphatic that it includes acts costing nothing at all: a kind word, removing something harmful from a path, meeting someone with a cheerful face. Nobody is excluded from giving it on grounds of means.
Every act of kindness is a charity.
Sadaqah Jariyah: the kind that keeps going
A distinct form of Sadaqah is Sadaqah Jariyah, or continuing charity: giving whose benefit outlasts the gift itself, and in some cases outlasts the giver. A well that keeps drawing water, a book that keeps being read, a child who is educated and goes on to teach.
Two things we run are Sadaqah Jariyah in exactly this sense. Educating a child at MMO does not end when they leave; it changes what they can do for the rest of their life, and often for their own family afterwards. And the Yathama Tower waqf endowment is designed so that rental income funds the orphanage permanently, long after any single donation has been spent.
What a given amount covers
There is no right amount, and small regular giving is worth more to us than an occasional large gift, because it lets us plan. For a sense of scale:
- A day of meals for one child
- A week of meals for one child
- A pair of school shoes
- A month of medicine and clinic visits
These are guides, not prices. Unrestricted Sadaqah is spent wherever the need is highest that week, which is genuinely the most useful form it can take.
When Zakat is not due
If you run the Zakat calculator and find your wealth sits below nisab, nothing is owed that year. Sadaqah remains open to you, at any amount, with no obligation attached. That is the whole point of it.
Ready to give?
Zakat, Sadaqah, or sponsoring one child for a year. Every rupee goes to the children in our care.
Go to the donation page