Purpose The charitable organizations must understand the forces influencing donor behaviours. This issue has been debated rigorously among researchers belonging to Western societies; however, the exploration of donation experience among non-Western academics is limited. This study aims to discover the phenomenon of Zakat donation experience – an Islamic religious act of charity donation performed among Muslims to enhance our understanding of religious consumption practices in a Muslim country setting of Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach The authors used phenomenological methodology to collect data from 35 donors via face-to-face interviews. Findings The informants advocate individuality while making Zakat donations and believe that an independent donation experience brings them with higher levels of happiness, intrinsic drive to spend more and spiritual comfort. The Zakat donation is regarded as a great source of self-protection against the realm of evil spirits which is entirely a new finding with respect to charity donations. The informants identified several reasons for not donating through charities which mainly include lack of trust and limited product mix offered by charitable organizations. Practical implications Based on the findings of this research, the authors suggest charitable organizations to ensure procedural transparency and emphasize on Zakat collection, distribution and utilization methods to attract more donors. Originality/value The study contributes generally to charity marketing knowledge and specifically to consumer decision-making of religious acts performed in Muslim societies. The phenomenological method of inquiry and its application to study an Islamic act of donation has limited discussion in previous studies, which is a unique product of this study.

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