Bahrain Mirror: Bahraini Member of Parliament Mohammed Al-Marefi presented a bill to amend some regulations of law by decree No. 12 of 1993 that stipulates the establishment of a Zakah (Islamic almsgiving) fund. He proposed adding a new article that obligates the registered companies in Bahrain affiliated to the government and private sector to pay 2.5% of their net profits annually to the Zakah fund, run by the government and aimed at "distributing them according to the channels of Zakah spending ".

The bill stipulates that this should be imposed on the companies whose annual profits are not less than a million BD.

The MP stated in his explanatory memorandum that article 2 of the Constitution stipulates that, "Islam shall be the religion of the State; Islamic Sharia (Islamic Law) 'a main source' of legislation", considering that there should be a legislation by which companies are bound to pay Zakah "as the principle of Zakah is to have a law that obligates everyone to pay it". Al-Maerfi also stressed that passing this bill that obligates companies to pay Zakah "will have a great impact on the national economy".

The Arabic Issue