Several beggars in the Kingdom have been selling the Zakat Al-Fitr rice given to them to small restaurants at cheaper prices.

Zakat, which is usually given in the form of dates, barley or rice, must be given a day or two before the Eid Al-Fitr festival.

Most Muslims in the Kingdom normally give bags of rice to beggars or the poor in nearby neighborhoods. These beggars, who are mostly African women, have been seen collecting bags of Zakat rice in their baby strollers.

“In the last two days of Ramadan, I receive plenty of rice bags as Zakat, and since I don’t need that many, I sell them to small restaurants at lower prices than the cost price,” says Layla, an African beggar sitting in front of a supermarket.

Layla, who has a 5-year-old daughter, Yejide, and a one-year-old-baby, carries them on her back and begs for money. Whenever she is given a bag of rice, she hides it in her stroller at a corner outside the supermarket. “I don’t know what to do with the numerous bags of rice I have, so I sell them because I am in need of money,” says Layla.

Some small restaurant owners accept these rice bags from beggars, saying it is a good business opportunity.

Mohammed Aalim, who runs a small restaurant that sells Afghan rice dishes, regularly purchases rice bags from beggars.

“I buy them from these beggars because they sell them at much lower prices than the cost price. The rice sacks that are given to these beggars are not expired, so what is the problem in buying them? We are just getting a discount,” says Aalim.

Aalim says that he buys up to a 500 bags of rice and stocks them.

“I normally buy in wholesale, but a bag of rice sold by beggars costs less than the price quoted in supermarkets.”