Law
No. (2) of 2011
Concerning
the
Islamic
Affairs and Charitable Activities Department[1]
ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ
We, Mohammed
bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai,
After
perusal of:
Law
No. (3) of 2003 Establishing the Executive Council of the Emirate of Dubai;
Law
No. (12) of 2005 Establishing the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities
Department and its amendments;
Law
No. (27) of 2006 Concerning Management of the Government of Dubai Human
Resources and its amendments;
Law
No. (29) of 2006 Affiliating the Research House for Islamic Studies and
Heritage Revival to the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department;
and
Law
No. (35) of 2009 Concerning Management of the Public Funds of the Government of
Dubai,
Do hereby
issue this Law.
This Law will be cited as “Law
No. (2) of 2011 Concerning the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities
Department”.
The following words and
expressions, wherever mentioned in this Law, will have the meaning indicated
opposite each of them unless the context implies otherwise:
|
UAE: |
The United Arab Emirates. |
|
Emirate: |
The Emirate of Dubai. |
|
Ruler: |
His Highness the Ruler of Dubai. |
|
Government: |
The Government of Dubai. |
|
Executive Council: |
The Executive Council of the Emirate of Dubai. |
|
IACAD: |
The Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department. |
|
Director General: |
The director general of the IACAD. |
|
Mosque: |
A place designated for prayers, including mosques built by individuals
on endowed or non-endowed land. Mosque courtyards and appurtenances will be
treated as mosques. |
|
Zakat: |
A determined portion of a Muslim's property which is donated and spent
in accordance with the conditions, and through the channels, prescribed by Sharia
(Islamic religious law). |
|
Charitable Association: |
Any sole proprietorship, or group of natural or legal person(s)
organised for a definite or indefinite term, which is concerned with
religious or charitable affairs and conducts its activities in the Emirate.
This includes religious or charitable foundations and associations
established or to be established under any law or decree. |
|
Bounteous Quran Memorisation Centre: |
A place where the rules of recital and Tajweed (elocution) of
the Bounteous Quran are taught, and where the Bounteous Quran memorisation
and teaching classes are conducted, in the Emirate on a permanent or
temporary basis. |
|
Islamic Foundation: |
Any entity which is concerned with propagating the Islamic culture and
increasing religious awareness in the Emirate and which conducts its
activities in the Emirate on a permanent or temporary basis. |
This Law will apply to the
Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department established pursuant to
the above-mentioned Law No. (12) of 2005.
The IACAD will have the duties
and powers to:
1.
develop
the general policy on Islamic affairs and charitable activities in the Emirate;
2.
propagate
Islamic knowledge and culture and increase religious awareness;
3.
review,
authorise the use of, and oversee the printing or distribution of Quran copies,
religious books and publications, and recordings, in the Emirate;
4.
develop,
and authorise the printing of, Hijri and Gregorian calendars;
5.
establish,
manage, and supervise Bounteous Quran Memorisation Centres;
6.
maintain
Mosques to ensure the performance of their role in the most effective manner,
and oversee and manage Mosques;
7.
oversee
the construction of Mosques that individuals wish to establish;
8.
undertake
the trusteeship of Mosques constructed by individuals on endowed or non-endowed
land, and manage these Mosques;
9.
hold,
license, and oversee religious ceremonies, seminars, conferences, exhibitions,
and contests;
10. license Charitable Associations, Islamic
Foundations, and Bounteous Quran Memorisation Centres; oversee their
administrative, financial, and cultural affairs; and approve their programmes;
11. license and oversee research and Islamic studies
centres;
12. oversee religious programmes published or
broadcast through print, audio, or visual media;
13. organise hajj (greater Islamic pilgrimage)
and umrah (lesser Islamic pilgrimage) affairs in coordination with other
concerned entities in the UAE;
14. endeavour to preserve, revive, and promote the
Islamic heritage;
15. regulate,
oversee, and issue fatwas (authoritative rulings on a point of Islamic
law);
16. issue work permits for Islamic preachers,
sermonisers, imams (prayer leaders), teachers, and muezzins
(callers for prayers);
17. manifest the virtues of Islam as a universal
religion valid for all times and places;
18. support efforts that serve Muslim causes;
19. issue and promote publications that convey the
message of Islam and enlighten people on its true faith, and use all available
media to achieve these objectives;
20. raise awareness on Zakat as a religious
duty and its role in community; and encourage Muslims to give Zakat;
21. receive cash and in-kind Zakat and
distribute it as prescribed by Sharia; and
22. oversee the raising of donations and charity and
the distribution of the same as prescribed by Sharia, and issue the
permits required in this regard.
A Director General will be
appointed to the IACAD pursuant to a decree of the Ruler. The Director General
will supervise the work of the IACAD and ensure proper performance of its
duties. For these purposes, the Director General will:
1.
develop
the general policy of the IACAD; and prepare, and oversee the implementation,
of its strategic plan;
2.
oversee
the implementation of regulations governing the IACAD and its employees;
3.
prepare
the organisational structure of the IACAD and submit the same to the Executive
Council for approval;
4.
issue
the internal bylaws regulating the work of the IACAD;
5.
follow
up the performance of the IACAD employees to ensure proper discharge of their
duties;
6.
oversee
the spending of funds in accordance with budget allocations;
7.
enter
into the contracts, agreements, and memoranda required for achieving the
objectives of the IACAD;
8.
prepare
the draft annual budget and financial statements of the IACAD and submit the
same to the competent entities for approval; and
9.
represent
the IACAD before third parties.
The IACAD will oversee the
following activities:
1.
religious
and charitable activities;
2.
raising
cash and in-kind donations to spend them on humanitarian aid, orphan
sponsorship, construction of Mosques, or any other type of aid;
3.
relief
campaigns and charitable events; and
4.
programmes
and projects conducted by Charitable Associations within or outside of the UAE.
Donations may be raised, and
donation raising may be permitted, in the Emirate only upon obtaining the
approval of the IACAD and in accordance with this Law and the bylaws and
resolutions issued in implementation hereof.
No person or group of persons
may conduct any of the activities of Charitable Associations in the Emirate
without first obtaining the relevant licence from the IACAD in accordance with
this Law and the bylaws and resolutions issued in implementation hereof.
The IACAD may take the
necessary action with respect to any property received as donation in breach of
the provisions of this Law and the bylaws and resolutions issued in
implementation hereof. This includes determining the method of disposition of
this property and the entity to which it will be transferred.
Mosques are the houses of
Allah. They must be maintained and protected and their integrity must not be
compromised. The following activities are prohibited within Mosques unless
conducted with the prior approval of the IACAD and in accordance with the
bylaws, resolutions, and regulations issued by the Director General:
1.
delivering
sermons, speeches, or lectures; or holding seminars or contests;
2.
conducting
Quran memorisation classes;
3.
holding
religious ceremonies and events;
4.
interfering
with the affairs of Mosques, adhan (call for prayer), iqama (call
to commence prayer), or prayer;
5.
distribution
of Quran copies, books, pamphlets, compact discs (CDs), and audio or video
recordings;
6.
raising
of donations or humanitarian aid; and
7.
any
other activities determined by the IACAD.
The IACAD is the competent
entity authorised to issue fatwas in the Emirate, and may permit
scholars specialised in Sharia disciplines to issue fatwas on
acts of worship, dealings, and personal, rather than public, issues.
The Director General will
annually issue a resolution forming the official hajj mission of the
Government.
The financial resources of the
IACAD will consist of:
1.
the
support allocated to the IACAD in the general budget of the Government;
2.
the
fees and charges approved by the Chairman of the Executive Council for the services
provided by the IACAD;
3.
grants,
gifts, and donations received by the IACAD and accepted by the Director
General; and
4.
any
other resources approved by the Executive Council.
The Chairman of the Executive
Council will issue the bylaws and regulations required for the implementation
of the provisions of this Law, including the bylaws and regulations governing
the licensing of Charitable Associations, Islamic Foundations, and Bounteous
Quran Memorisation Centres; the rules for granting and revoking the licences of
these entities; and the methods of their dissolution and liquidation.
a.
This
Law supersedes Law No. (12) of 2005 Establishing the Islamic Affairs and
Charitable Activities Department and its amendments.
b.
Any
provision in any other legislation will be repealed to the extent that it
contradicts with the provisions of this Law.
This Law will be published in
the Official Gazette and will come into force on the day on which it is
published.
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
Ruler of Dubai
Issued in Dubai on 10 January 2011
Corresponding to 6
Safar 1432 A.H.
©2019 The Supreme
Legislation Committee in the Emirate of Dubai
[1]Every effort
has been made to produce an accurate and complete English version of this
legislation. However, for the purpose of its interpretation and application,
reference must be made to the original Arabic text. In case of conflict, the
Arabic text will prevail.