This series 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 this five-part narrative series, Taqwa Sadiq explores whether Zakat, an Islamic tradition, can help solve the UK cost-of-living crisis.

Every year, Muslims all around the world ‘purify’ their wealth by giving away 2.5% of it. This is called Zakat, and it’s been happening for over a thousand years. We don’t know the exact amount but estimates for how much Zakat is collected range from 200 billion to 1 trillion USD worldwide each year. It’s a big deal.

But why does wealth need to be ‘purified’ in the first place?

And what does this ancient, spiritual tradition have to do with 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 these questions take 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.

Featuring interviews with Ali_Official, Mariah Idrissi, Sohail Hanif (National Zakat Foundation), Yasrab Shah (Muslim Hands), Helen Rowe (Author, Eliminating Poverty in Britain), Nabil al-Kinani (Privatise the Mandem), Dallas Wright (Believers Bail Out) and more.

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

Archive sound from the cartoon 'Salam's Journey', produced by International Cartoons and Animation Inc.

Sacred Money is a BBC Audio Production for BBC Sounds Audio Lab.