Pillars Fund Pillars Fund Pillars Fund is a grant-making organization and Muslim community foundation named in reference to the five pillars of Islam, the third of which is Zakat. Founded in 2010 in the mold of United Way and Jewish Federations of North America, and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Pillars is focused on funding secular non-profit programs supporting American Muslims in media, public relations, and leadership development. It is one of the largest funders of Muslim issues in the United States. Pillars Fund is governed by a Board of Advisors, many of whom are prominent American Muslims. The organization makes particular effort
History of slavery in the Muslim world a way of expiating sins. Many early converts to Islam, such as Bilal ibn Rabah al-Habashi, were former slaves. In theory, slavery in Islamic law does not have a racial or color component, although this has not always been the case in practice. In 1990, the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam declared that "no one has the right to enslave" another human being. Many slaves were often imported from outside the Muslim world. Bernard Lewis maintains that though slaves often suffered on the way before reaching their destination, they received good treatment and some degree of acceptance as