A vague memory from a childhood holiday in Istanbul leads Taqwa to Hounslow, a London suburb. There she meets Mr Ramadan who runs a place where anyone and everyone can come get hot food, groceries and supplies completely for free. This is all paid for with Zakat donations. It’s a very different way of understanding Zakat to what we’re used to…

Featuring interviews with Ehsan Shahid Choudhry (Open Kitchen), Shazia Manaan, Yasrab Shah (Muslim Hands), Sharon and James.

Sacred Money is a series that might just change how you think about money, how you spend it, and how money connects us to people we know and people we don’t. In five episodes, Taqwa Sadiq explores whether Zakat, an Islamic tradition, can help solve the cost-of-living crisis. Taqwa isn’t an economist or an expert, she’s just a twenty-something with a microphone. Her search to answer this question takes us all over the globe and even back in time. From hallowed libraries in Cambridge and a mysterious stone in Turkey, to a flooded farm in Pakistan and modern activism in Chicago. Along the way, Taqwa meets young Muslims, doctors and influencers, aunties and uncles, the mandem, a religious scholar, an ex-government official and more. Their stories open up questions around identity and belonging, get to the heart of what it means to be a British Muslim, and explore what happens when ancient traditions are transported to new places and times.

Credits

Writer, Producer, and Presenter: Taqwa Sadiq

Supervising Producer: Emily Dicks

Sound Designer: John Wakefield

Theme Music: Mehar Bedi

Editor: Andy Worrell

Commissioning Editor: Khaliq Meer

Sacred Money is a BBC Audio Production for BBC Sounds Audio Lab