On 10 September, the Crimean Tatar Resource Centre news agency reported: “The unlawful detention of four Crimean Tatar women – Esma Nimetullaeva, Nasiba Saidova, Elviza Aliyeva and Fevziye Osmanova – has once again been extended until 14 October 2026. The women are defendants in the so-called “first women’s case of Hizb ut Tahrir”.

On 1 April 2026, the Parliament of the French-speaking Federation Wallonia-Brussels approved new rules on neutrality in education. The decree of 2 April 2026 bans visible political, philosophical and religious signs for staff in the official education system. This means that Muslim women who wear the Hijab can no longer work in many teaching and education roles covered by the decree unless they remove it.

Positions of power have always attracted people. The ability to command, to influence others and to have authority can seem appealing. Yet the Prophet (saw) teaches us to look beyond the attraction of power and see the burden that comes with it.

 But what if we have been looking at Zakat far too narrowly? What if Zakat is not merely a personal act of worship, but an important component of a complete economic system that Islam designed for the society to be prosperous? We fail to see how well it fits into a whole system designed to build and sustain a civilization.