Praise is due to Allāh, Lord of the worlds, may the blessings and peace be upon our master Muḥammad, the last of prophets, on his family, and all his companions.

That said;

The Secretariat of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy annexed to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, on learning through the various media of the misfortunes endured by the Somalis as a result of the famine that has befallen them, and which has claimed hundreds of victims among children, women, the elderly and the young every day, women, the old and the young, and considering the weak, thin and sick state in which they find themselves, and the journeys they have to make to escape death and seek sustenance, medicine and shelters, as a result of this disaster,

Based on the valiant precepts of the Sharia which emphasize the bonds of brotherhood between Muslims, which order them to help each other and be lenient with each other and which recommend them to be altruistic and not to be selfish, Allah The Almighty says: (The believers are but brothers.) Al-Hujurat: 10

(Help one another in doing good deeds and piety and do not help one another in sin and transgression.) Al-Mai’da: 02, and He says: « They love those who emigrated to them and find not any want in their breasts of what the emigrants were given but give [them] preference over themselves, even though they are in privation. And whoever is protected from the stinginess of his soul – it is those who will be the successful. » Al-Hashr -9

Realizing the precepts of the honorable Prophetic Sunnah which indicates the duty of Muslims towards each other in times of disasters and misfortunes as love, indulgence and compassion, especially in the hadith reported in the two Sahih:

According to An-Nu’man bin Bashir, may Allah be pleased with him, the Prophet (PBUH) said: “The believers in their mutual kindness, compassion and sympathy are just like one body. When one of the limbs suffers, the whole body responds to it with wakefulness and fever”. Al-Bukhari and Muslim

The Prophet (PBUH) also said:

-“If anyone relieves a Muslim believer from one of the hardships of this worldly life, Allah will relieve him of one of the hardships of the Day of Resurrection. If anyone makes it easy for the one who is indebted to him (while finding it difficult to repay), Allah will make it easy for him in this worldly life and in the Hereafter, and if anyone conceals the faults of a Muslim, Allah will conceal his faults in this world and in the Hereafter. Allah helps His slave as long as he helps his brother.” Related by Muslim.

The Secretariat General calls on charitable Muslim souls in the east and west of the globe, on this blessed occasion of the month of fasting, in which every Muslim must feel the misfortunes of his Muslim brothers, to rush to save them from death in Somalia, as a result of this famine, and to provide them what they need to survive such as food and medicine, each according to his ability, for Allah says: « Allah does not charge a soul except [according to] what He has given it. » At-Talaq -7

Similarly, the Secretariat General, in addressing Muslims, insists that saving Muslim lives from death in Somalia is one of the duties required by brotherhood in faith, if not one of the works that perfect faith and that it is not an Islamic character to let one’s brethren perish from famine and refuse to rescue them. It is reported in the two Sahihs, according to Abu Musa Al-Ash-Ari, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet PBUH said: “The believer is like a building for another believer, whose parts reinforce each other.”

Moreover, it is permissible for the Muslim, according to the opinion of some fouqaha, to spend his Zakat in favor of those most in need among Muslims outside his country, moreover the International Islamic Fiqh Academy has adopted this in its resolution no. 165 (3/18), on enhancing the role of Zakat in alleviating poverty by emphasizing: (It is permissible to pay financial assistance from the alms money into special funds in favor of Muslims who have escaped in their countries or abroad, due to wars, floods, earthquakes, etc. Similarly, it is permissible for him to give out of his alms money to non-Muslims in areas of disasters, floods and earthquakes, in order to make them love Islam, from the action of those whose hearts are to be won (to Islam).

The Secretariat General also called on the Somalis to put aside their disputes and help each other to cope with the disaster, as it stressed that helping the disaster victims and supporting them to get out of the disaster by providing them with aid is one of the best deeds and means to bring them closer to Allah, as it helps to save lives from death; and whoever prevents the aid from reaching the victims will be responsible for the death of those who perish as a result of this act.

Finally, the Secretariat of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy would like to commend the steps taken by the countries that rushed to help Somalis in this disaster, and emphasize that they are a testimony to the bonds of brotherhood that bind Muslim countries and the humanity that bind people, while supplicating Allah The Almighty to preserve Muslim countries from all misfortunes, to unite their word and unify their ranks and to guide them all, rulers and ruled, to what He loves and pleases.

IIFA Secretariat.