Zakat Distribution

1.0 Abstract

Purpose: The focal point of this paper is the distribution of zakat in Malaysia as the distribution of zakat is most questionable and still in the doubt among Muslim in Malaysia. The purpose of this paper is to find out whether the zakat distribution in Malaysia is equally distributed or not; the things that should be done and should not be done by the zakat institution in order to be fair in distributing zakat portion. This paper also consists of some issues that arise from the problem of zakat distribution in Malaysia.

Design/methodology/approach: This paper is depending on the secondary data which taken from the Quran, hadiths and also from the review of experts such as journals and articles. I also had done some discussion with the experts which is the lecturers which are mainly from Universiti Malaysia Sabah (Labuan International Campus) in order to get more understanding and views from them.

Findings: It has been found that the zakat distributions in Malaysia are not equally distributed. There is still some receiver that still does not receive their portion of zakat. And even some of the receivers receive their portion after a long period of waiting.

Value: The paper values the effectiveness and the transparency of zakat distributions in Malaysia. It also values the distributions of zakat with the Islamic jurisprudence.

Keywords: Zakat, zakat distributions, Malaysia, Islam

Paper type: General review

2.0 Introduction

Zakat is one of five pillars of Islam, which has direct impacts not only for the relationship between man and the creator; Allah Swt (hablunminallah), but also for the relationship between man and its society (hablunminannaas). It is one of the fundamental obligations in Islam. The payment of zakat can be use as the scale to measure the degree of obedience of man to his creator (Allah swt). Its principal objectives are to develop balanced socio-economic growth and to purify one's soul and wealth.

This shows that Zakat is a very...