The Shoura Council has met to discuss Zakat regulations concerning commercial and professional businesses.

Media representatives had to wait outside the hall for 90 minutes while Shoura Council members met behind closed doors to discuss a report drafted by the Special Committee to oversee the expansion of the existing building and its additions.

During the meeting on the Zakat draft regulation, a member of the Shoura Council (the consultative or advisory body of Saudi Arabia) criticized the status quo of land trading, describing the sector as a ‘parasitic trade’ that does not contribute to the growth of the Kingdom’s national economy.

He demanded that the draft Zakat (charity based on one’s wealth) regulation include the issue of distressed contributions by introducing a legal solution in compliance with the Shariah (moral and religious code of Islam).

“The draft also didn’t mention the large amounts of money deposited in banks, which need to be included in the regulation,” he argued.

Fahaad M. Al-Hamad, assistant speaker for the Shoura Council in a press release after the session said that the Zakat regulation will be discussed in two sessions because of its importance.

Another Shoura member said that the current regulation does not deal with many aspects of Zakat such as paying Zakat on the income from lands while another member said that the system should also include Zakat on the lands under development and on individuals who have assets which sometimes exceed those of commercial and professional sectors that are targeted in the regulation.

Al-Hamad added that the Council decided to hear the opinions of the economic and energy affairs committee concerning the firms that own properties within the borders of Makkah and Madinah, where such firms are founded by non-Saudis, or they already own shares in them.