Ramadan 2010: earnings season for Al Qaeda

From Money Jihad:

Ramadan, the annual Islamic month of fasting, began last Wednesday.  By complete coincidence, a new fundraising appeal from Al Qaeda was reported on Thursday by Asharq Alawsat (h/t Rantburg).
Most zakat (and zakt al-fitr, which we’ll discuss tomorrow) is given during Ramadan.  And most terrorist dollars come from zakat.  Therefore, it should be no big surprise that organizations like Al Qaeda take in most of their funds during Ramadan.  The monograph on terrorist financing by the staff of the 9/11 Commission drives home the Ramadan/terror finance connection:

Al Qaeda depended on fund-raising to support itself. It appears that al Qaeda relied heavily on a core of financial facilitators who raised money from a variety of donors and other fund-raisers. Those donors were primarily in the Gulf countries, especially Saudi Arabia. Some individual donors knew of the ultimate destination of their donations, and others did not; they were approached by facilitators, fund-raisers, and employees of corrupted charities, particularly during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The financial facilitators also appeared to rely heavily on imams at mosques, who diverted zakat donations to the facilitators and encouraged support of radical Islamic causes. Al Qaeda fund-raising was largely cyclical, with the bulk of the money coming in during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. (pp. 20-21, emphasis mine)

Go read the whole thing.