3. But Where Are You Really From?

For diaspora Muslims, where you and your Zakat belong can be tricky questions.

Comedian and content creator Ali Official discusses growing up as the only Muslim kid in Devon, exploring your identity in online communities and awkward RE lessons at school.

Hijabi model and humanitarian activist Mariah Idrissi talks about giving away her Barbie, colonialism and Zakat, and poverty ‘back home’.

Mariah has a bit of an epiphany and Taqwa worries she’s only heard one side of the Zakat story…

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