Zakat Productive as a Mechanism of Poverty Eradication

For streghtening economic border in Indonesia and Malaysia

Ali Anwar Ram Al Affri Bin Saad

Irma Rachmawati Saim Aksinudin

Wita Pemerhati Rasa Atang Herdiana

Denny tri cahyadi Cici Asri Pardani

Dewi Kartina

Universiti Utara Malaysia, Universitas Pasundan,

ABSTRACT Zakat helps in raising the standard of living of the beneficiaries through a poverty eradication strategy, as a productive zakat and as an instrument towards economic welfare. This paper highlights various zakat roles in the development of the nation and also to add confidence to the muzakki to continue giving zakat. Specifically, the aim of this paper is to discuss the role of zakat as a catalyst in the growth of the mustahik’s (zakat recipient) economic in Malaysia and Indonesia. The finding of the paper show the achievements of the zakat institutions in using zakat fund for the economic development of the mustahik in particular and Malaysia and Indonesia in general. This paper is the first attempt to highlight the role of zakat in stregthening national economic border growth using Malaysian and Indonesia experience. There are several impacts of zakat on the Muslim development in Malaysia and Indonesia such as poverty eradication, zakat productive, and instrument of welfare economic.

Keyword : Zakat, economic growth, border,

A. Introduction

Innovative collection strategies such as internet banking, payments via text message, via e-pay and salary deduction scheme has been introduced and implemented by the zakat institution in every state to ensure that the number of zakat collection is increasing every year (Hamizul, 2012). The increase in zakat collection must be followed by an efficient zakat distribution to maximize the benefits derived from muzakki. This is important to ensure that every mustahik will receive their rights.

The objective of zakat distribution is not just to help the mustahik to cover their basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter, but also aims to remove the mustahik from the chains of poverty using their own efforts. This is known as zakat productive. Hasanah (2011) defines the term zakat productive funds as a capital contribution to the mustahik, to be used in business for example, in order to generate a source of income to them. The function of zakat productive is parallel with the encouragement of the Prophet Muhammad SAW that Muslims to become entrepreneurs as the business is able to provide

benefits and income. Those revenues will be the main source of help to other Muslims through zakat and alms. Moreover, by becoming entrepreneur, a mustahik is also able to strengthening his economic, social and political as well as contributing to the development of the country itself. Prophet SAW once said, which means: "nine-tenths (90%) of the income came from business."(Narrated by Tirmizi) Zakat distribution under zakat productive program is to be strengthened in a new form where it began with providing capital to mustahik who have been identified as having an interest or inclination to do business. Then, zakat institution will provide knowledge and guidance before and during the progress of doing business, such as business training and motivation (Mohamed Izam, 2011). Entrepreneurship programs under zakat productive project help to build the mustahik’s self-efficacy and they will also be able to learn to support their lives by trying to earn a living with their own effort with the guidance of zakat institutions. Table 1 lists the activities and zakat productive projects for selected states in Malaysia.

Table 1. Zakat Productive Activities and Projects

State Activity Project Wilayah Persekutuan

Cake baking course Cloak tailoring course Business aid – business equipment

Kedai Makan Asnaf 1Malaysia (Restaurant)

Selangor Therapy skills course Commercial cooking course Sewing skills course Entrepreneurship course Visits, Seminars, Workshop

D’Asnaf Anggun (Sewing workshop)

D’Asnaf Kraf (Craft shop)

Dobi Point (Laundry shop)

Pasar Rakyat Asnaf Usahawan Bazar Ramadan

Pulau Pinang

Culinary skills training Sewing skills workshop High-tech cultivation course

Gerak Asnaf Katering (Catering)

Gerak Asnaf Jahitan (Sewing shop)

Gerak Asnaf Tani (Product from plantation)

Gerak Asnaf Niaga (Mini-market)

Atrium & Kafe (Cafetaria)

Kedah Sewing workshop Business workshop and seminar Zakat on business income workshop

Cakes and cookies baking program

Pusat Jahitan Asnaf (Sewing Centre)

Source: Zakat institutions’ websites for selected states in Malaysian Border Area.

Ahmad, Safiah, Azizah, Normah & Mohd Ali (2013) conducted a case study on the Johor Islamic Religious Council regarding its distribution of zakat as capital assistance. They have found that various entrepreneurial courses were being implemented in order to use zakat fund as a productive zakat. For instance, zakat is used to learn how to manage small businesses, cooking classes and sewing classes to mustahik entrepreneurs. Furthermore, zakat institutions has been designing projects to improve the future socio-economic of mustahik entrepreneurs including conducting farmers' markets, night markets, re-branding the mustahik’ products, opening mustahik’ training centers and farms. The proactive and innovative attitude of a zakat institution is able to change the fate of a mustahik when it successfully distributing zakat productive to the right mustahik.

In other words, socio-economic justice will be achieved when the mustahik who receive zakat being productive (becoming entrepreneurs) and able to pay zakat in the future to be distributed to other mustahik, i.e. becoming a muzakki himself (Nurul Husna, Hazlina, Nur Shuhada & Rashidah, 2010; Ahmad et al., 2013; Hairunnizam, Sanep & Radiah, 2009).

2. Literatur Review

Zakat has in line with the two terms, cariti and filantropi, which have radically different meanings. Charity (cariti) denotes mostly immediate relief; it is seen as focused on short term pro- jects and is generally thought of as having limited impact on poverty alleviation. Quite understandably, this is a practice agencies seek to dissociate themselves from. On the other hand, filantropi is viewed as much more beneficial to the poor, indexes engagements that are longer term and are designed to have a lasting impact on poverty reduction. It is no coincidence then that several zakat agencies have been seeking to develop new areas of intervention and, without abandoning their previous programmes of poverty relief, they have been more readily orientating themselves to community development and empowerment. Community empowerment is carried out though running well equipped schools and hospitals, dispensing loans for small businesses, establishing co-operatives and micro-enterprises, providing business training, and in some cases even advocating on behalf of the poor for policy changes such as maintaining fuel subsidies and for better legal protections for Indonesian migrant workers abroad. Here we are certainly a long way from classical jurisprudence for innovative pro- grammes such as these have been scrutinised by the agencies’ own shariah-compliance boards, and can thus be understood not only as the effect of new jurisprudential reasoning but also as a kind of fiqh-in-practice Rif'at Abd.Al-Latif Masyhur (2010) mentioned that zakat is special due to the gentleness in its collection. It was taken from the excess property (out of necessity) and is not a burden to the muzakki.

Perak Sewing skills course Furniture making workshop Entrepreurship development workshop for mustahik

Sinar Asnaf entrepreneurship program.

Sinar Asnaf Program – collaboration between Majlis Agama Islam dan Adat Melayu Perak (MAIPk) with Community College.

Collaboration Program with Syarikat Ayamas Sdn Bhd

Thus, the zakat distribution function is also important to take into consideration all the good welfare that can be shown to the mustahik. For instance, zakat productive helps the mustahik to become an entrepreneur, which is a proactive effort to pull the mustahiks out of poverty and becoming those who made a contribution to economic development of the country. Table 6 lists the types of activities or aid provided by a zakat institution for the welfare of eight types of mustahik. Muzakki is one of the stakeholders in the zakat system and the welfare of a muzakki should be a priority. As shown in Table 6, various zakat distribution activities have been undertaken by the zakat institutions and taken into account for the eight type of mustahik. However, if there is still dissatisfaction exist among member of the community, zakat institutions have to take proactive measures. Hairunnizam et al. (2009) found that it is likely that the muzakki are less exposed as to how their zakat funds were distributed. So this will contribute to their dissatisfaction to zakat institution. Steps should have been taken to disseminate information concerning the zakat distribution activities so that the information is exposed to the community. Moreover, facilities provided by the zakat institutions should continuously be improved. Innovative and creative use of technology should be comprehensive in every state to help zakat institutions as to provide information as quickly and accurately possible in order to protect the welfare of muzakki (Muhsin, 2014). Muzakki's satisfaction is an important factor in improving the collection of zakat each year, and thus able to improve the welfare of the mustahik. The deployment of English loan words has far-reaching consequences, some of which are highlighted here. One of the implications of using the term filantropi is that of aligning Islamic zakat practice with standards and values that are assumed to be universal that is, shared by all humanity and thus outside any particular historical, religious and cultural contexts. In this way, the differences between zakat and the Christian (alms, mercy, pity) or between sedekah and the Buddhist dana (selfless giving, un-attachment, letting go) are taken to be differences of degree rather than kind. They are all taken to denote moral imperatives which are assumed to be both common and widespread in all religions; they are made to relate to one another in the same manner the specific is associated to the general; their differences are ones of appearance, and thus of secondary importance to what is pan-human and pan-religious. Aside from the fact that such perspective echoes certain anthropological pre-occupations, there are other reasons for being sympathetic to it. I read this resort to a universal moral core as an effort to counter stereotypes of Islam in an era of the ‘war on terror’ that portray it as the antithesis, if not the mortal enemy of the West. The appropriation of the term filantropi and the re-orientation of programmes towards community development and empowerment actively re-align Islam with contemporary discourses on poverty reduction emanating from international development bodies and NGOs as respected as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the United Nations, Save the Children, Oxfam, etc. According to its advocates, the term philanthropy/filantropi refers to a specific project of empowering the poor and under-privileged by cultivating the skills and capacities that would enable them to reach their full potential as human beings and global citizens. Leaving aside for the moment the fact that this project could be seen as an effort to govern the poor and subject their lives to neo-liberalism, a new phase in the social life of zakat in Indonesia started in the 2000s, one in which Islamic appeals to justice have been inflected by empowerment-oriented social work discourses that promote democracy, good governance, and a strong civil society. However, relocating zakat in what are assumed to be the shared values of humanity has certain unintended consequences, the most important of which are discussed below. Notwithstanding the issue that the original Greek term ‘philanthropy’ does not encompass human relations with God as it describes only the care men show to each other out of feelings of fellowship, it also has strong overtones of voluntarism. In general, philanthropic acts are commonly understood as free gifts: the generous giving away of one’s own property for the benefit of others. While the history of charity in the West has been both long and

complex (see Borsay and Shapely 2007; Grell and Cunningham 1997), it has developed during the past few centuries in conjunction with the rise of capitalism and as such it indexes the benevolence of the rich in an era of free will and extreme inequality. This much is clear for example in the alms-houses of Leiden, a city whose history is closely interwoven with that of Indonesia. Leiden’s wealth came mainly from manufacturing and trading textiles in the 16th and 17th century. In this context, the city’s senior citizenry found philanthropy to be a key project for maintaining social peace while implementing their Protestant responsibility of helping worthy others. The continuing relevance of such understanding of philanthropy is best exemplified by a section published in the Economist (January 2011) and evocatively titled ‘The Few: A Special Report on Global Leaders’. The report published after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and in the midst of an unravelling crisis, detailed the demographic and geo- graphical spread as well as the makings and lifestyles of the new super rich. Significantly, the report concluded with a reminder of the responsibilities of the few. The report asserted that ‘in democracies the elites serve the masses’ both through the jobs they create and through charity. It moreover encouraged the super rich to follow the examples of well-known philanthropists such as John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and Bill Gates who, having set up their own foundations, could ‘measure their success not by how much they disburse but by the return they earn on their charitable invest- ment, measured in lives saved or improved’ (Economist 2011: 20).

3. Result and Discussion

Indonesia as the biggest Moslem populous country in the world has different experience in dealing with Zakah implementation. Until recently organizing zakah is being conducted by two types of institution. The first one is the one sponsored by society/community, this is known as Lembaga Amil Zakat (LAZ). The second one is the one sponsored by government which si known as Badan Amil Zakat (BAZ). Salim (2006) recorded that in July 1967, Saefuddin Zuhri as Minister of Religious Affairs, presented a draft Zakat Law to the legislature (DPRGR), but no further discussion from the legislature. In July 1968 Mohammad Dachlan, as Minister of Religious Affairs issued a Ministerial Decree concerning the foundation of the Badan Amil Zakat (the Zakat Agency) which was arranged for a governmental zakat committee to be established at alaa administrative levels across countries. This decree did not last long, when President Soeharto gave speech at the Isra Mi’raj celebration on October 26, 1968 announcing to take over the administration of zakat on a personal basis as a private citizen. The operation of the zakah agency under President Soeharto was maintained for only a few years to end in 1974 by collecting Rp 39.5 million and USD 2,473 for two years time. A number of provincial administrations established government-sponsored zakat agency called as BAZIS (Badan Amil Zakat Infaq dan Sedekah) .

Then National Zakah Agency was established in 1996 throughout all provinces in Indonesia. The number of Zakah Agency in 1996 was 277 at district level, and 3160 at sub-district level, and 38177 at village level. (PIRAC, 2002). Meanwhile in 1997/1998 the numbers were 287, 3550 and 48041 for each area level respectively. In term of the volume of zakah funds, in 1997/1998, zakah al maal and zakah al fitr accounted for Rp 187,014,659,053.00 (Kasubdit Zawaib Depag, 2002) .

Besides government sponsored zakat agency like BAZIS, there also emerges many private-community-sponsored zakat agencies known as LAZIS (Lembaga Amil Zakat Infaq dan Sedekah or Institutions of Amil Zakah Infaq and Shadaqah). Among these institutions which have license as national zakah agency are Yayasan Dompet Dhuafa (DD), Yayasan Dana Sosial Al Falah (YDSF), Yayasan Darut Tauhid (DT), Dompet

Sosial Umul Quro’ (DSUQ)/ Rumah Zakat Indonesia, Pos Keadilan Peduli Umat (PKPU), dan Baitulmal Muamalat (BMM). PIRAC (2002) recorded that the funds accumulated by these institutions are Rp 15 billion by DD, Rp 3.5 billion by YDSF, Rp 4.5 billion by DT, Rp 2.5 billion by DSUQ, Rp 3 billion PKPUand Rp 4.2 billion by BMM.

Hafidhuddin (2009) mentioned that in 2006 the collection of zakah at national level amounted to Rp300 billion, and it increased to Rp700 billion in 2007. In 2008, the number rise to Rp 900 billion. As for the approach applied in Indonesia, it is obvious that the Indonesian case can be categorized into decentralized types, since she allows various zakah institution established by private/community. However, there is also a government sponsored zakah institution (BAZ), which exist side-by-side with community-sponsored zakah institution (LAZ). Recent data as shown in Table 1, suggest that LAZ (represented by Rumah Zakat Indonesia, Dompet Dhu’afa and Pos Keadilan Peduli Umat) even perform better than BAZ (represented by Badan Amil Zakat Nasional), especially if the collectability of funds be used as an indicator.

Then National Zakah Agency was established in 1996 throughout all provinces in Indonesia. The number of Zakah Agency in 1996 was 277 at district level, and 3160 at sub-district level, and 38177 at village level. (PIRAC, 2002). Meanwhile in 1997/1998 the numbers were 287, 3550 and 48041 for each area level respectively. In term of the volume of zakah funds, in 1997/1998, zakah al maal and zakah al fitr accounted for Rp 187,014,659,053.00 (Kasubdit Zawaib Depag, 2002)

Besides government sponsored zakat agency like BAZIS, there also emerges many private-community-sponsored zakat agencies known as LAZIS (Lembaga Amil Zakat Infaq dan Sedekah or Institutions of Amil Zakah Infaq and Shadaqah). Among these institutions which have license as national zakah agency are Yayasan Dompet Dhuafa (DD), Yayasan Dana Sosial Al Falah (YDSF), Yayasan Darut Tauhid (DT), Dompet Sosial Umul Quro’ (DSUQ)/ Rumah Zakat Indonesia, Pos Keadilan Peduli Umat (PKPU), dan Baitulmal Muamalat (BMM). PIRAC (2002) recorded that the funds accumulated by these institutions are Rp 15 billion by DD, Rp 3.5 billion by YDSF, Rp 4.5 billion by DT, Rp 2.5 billion by DSUQ, Rp 3 billion PKPUand Rp 4.2 billion by BMM.

Hafidhuddin (2009) mentioned that in 2006 the collection of zakah at national level amounted to Rp300 billion, and it increased to Rp700 billion in 2007. In 2008, the number rise to Rp 900 billion. For the purposes of this article I will exclude these organisations’ history, structures or political leanings. Instead I will be focusing on certain discursive emphases, shifts and blind spots in the Indonesian landscape of zakat. Such discourses emanate from a multiplicity of institutional settings, including yet not limited to the ones I have been working closely with. The important thing to remember about such institutions which in Indonesia are known as lembaga amil zakat or LAZ is that firstly, they were formed in the last few years of New Order rule (1966–1998) and became truly active during the reformation period, that is, from 1998 to the present. Secondly, LAZ are aligned with modernist and neo-modernist interpretations of Islam which are popular among the urban milieu of educated, middle class Muslims including bureau- crats, professionals, and businessmen (Latief 2013). Within this overarching context, the practices of LAZ depart from ‘traditionalist’ understandings of zakat in the sense that LAZ have sought to redraw the relevant jurisprudential map through the exercise ijtihad. Ijtihad refers to arriving to a decision in Islamic law by means of personal effort and independently of any school of Islamic jurisprudence. As such, it is opposed to taqlid which stands for conforming to the stipulations of religious experts without examining the basis of their reasoning. This practice modernist Muslims see as

the hallmark of ‘traditionalist’ Islam found mostly in rural villages and poor urban neighbourhoods. In order to appreciate these jurisprudential efforts and their social effects more fully, it is necessary to discuss the relevant terminology. The Encyclopaedia of Islam (2012) defines sedekah as ‘voluntary alms in distinction to obligatory alms, frequently also termed sedekah but more commonly known as zakat’. It says that zakat is the ‘obligatory payment by Muslims of a determinate portion of their lawful property for the benefit of the poor and other enumerated classes’. Because zakat rarely refers to voluntary giving in the Qur’an, it mostly expresses the portion of one’s wealth paid out as a duty. The manner in which the relinquishing of this portion is conducted involves worship – ibadah – for zakat is the third pillar of Islam, after the confession and the prayer.

Table 2. Type of Activities and Aid Given to Mustahik

Type Of Mustahik

Activity and Aid

Poor • Eid Token • Management of nursing

homes • Construction of clustered

houses • Medical assistance • Funeral management • House repair

• Construction of individual houses

• House rental support • Emergency/petty cash assistance • Monthly financial assistance • Install plumbing and wiring

houses

• Mustahik project • The monthly

food aid • Courses /

training • School fees aid –

primary and secondary schools.

• Educational needs support

Needy • Eid Token • Construction of clustered

houses • Eid token for needy

orphans • Sewing workhop

management • Medical assistance • Construction of individual

houses • House repair • House rental support

• Emergency/petty cash assistance • Monthly financial assistance • Takaful contribution • Funeral management • Install plumbing and wiring

houses • Business capital Support • Support for the fisheries capital • Support for farming capital

• Trust Fund for Needy (group capital)

• The monthly food aid

• Courses / training

• School fees aid – primary and secondary schools.

• Educational needs support

• Scholarship • Support for

agricultural investment

Amil • Amil of zakat institution • Amil of zakat fitr • Amil institution management

Mualaf (Convert)

• Eid Token • Construction of clustered

houses • Printing and publishing • Talk program • Contribution to

body/association of mualaf • Emergency/petty cash

assistance

• Circumcision aid • Wedding aid • Construction of individual

houses • House repair • House rental support • Funeral management • Monthly financial assistance • Token of encouragement • Missionary unit management

aid

• Missionary unit staffs’ allowance

• Capital assistance

• Courses/ Training

• Academic Trip • Allowance for

basic religious classes

• Allowance for basic religious

Source: Hamizul Abdul Hamid (2012). Esklusif Zakat. 239-244

Zakat has received little sustained attention by ethnographers of Java and Indonesia in general. Though it is often mentioned in many ethnographic accounts, this is mostly done in passing and with reference to zakat fitrah (dues paid at the end of Ramadan). With few exceptions, most notably Scott’s (1987) article on Malaysia, zakat on wealth (zakat maal), the main pre-occupation of my research, is rarely discussed extensively or theorised in anthropological works of Islamic prac- tice in the region. However, a new generation of Indonesian scholars trained in Islamic studies and the social sciences, comprising Abubakar and Bamualim (2006), Salim (2008), Fauzia (2013), Latief (2012, 2013) and Jahar (2006), has recently turned to zakat as an object worthy of in-epth investigation. This new focus has to be understood in the context of a broader shift in discourses regarding zakat and of its place and relevance in Islam in public and economic life Indonesia spurred by the reformasi movement of 1998 .

Zakat institutions have been given a mandate to look after the welfare of the community through a good zakat collection and distribution. Therefore, the task of zakat institution is to earn the trust of muzakki to continue paying zakat to them in order to improve the collection of zakat and thus greater funds can be distributed. In a survey conducted by Hairunnizam, et al. (2009), majority of respondents (36.7%) informed that they were not

classroom teachers

• Support for education

• Sponsorship Al-Riqab • Faith restoration assistance • Akhlaq reformation assistance Al-Gharimin • Loans for life necessities

• Medical Debt • Debt for community benefit • Funeral management (without

heirs)

• Debt due to treatment or dialysis machine donation

Fisabilillah • Allowance religious teacher / speaker

• Forum Program /religious talk

• Assistance to Muslim associations / bodies

• Course for mosque officials

• Support for research / publishing

• Good values integration Program

•

• Allowance for KAFA teachers • Monthly allowance for mosque

officials • Remuneration for assistant

registrar of marriage • Token for enforcement counselor • Token for volunteer counselors • Emergency assistance, flood,

storm, fire aid • Construction / reformation of

abroad religious institutions • Out reach Program

• Carpet/ mosque equipment support

• Support for school needs

• Higher education institutions

• The construction / refurbishment of the mosque /school

• Sponsorship for hufaz, excellent students, SAMR/T students whether studying local or abroad

• Support for education

• Construction / reformation of local religious institutions

Ibnu Sabil Support for wayfarer

• Two-ways ticket support • Support for students studying abroad.

satisfied with zakat institution performance because the distribution of zakat is unclear. This was followed by incomplete distribution information as a whole (32%), zakat distribution is not comprehensive by the type of mustahik (19.7%), total distribution of money is not enough (6.4%) and eventually other problems (5%).

Indonesia as the biggest Moslem populous country in the world has different experience in dealing with Zakah implementation. Until recently organizing zakah is being conducted by two types of institution. The first one is the one sponsored by society/community, this is known as Lembaga Amil Zakat (LAZ). The second one is the one sponsored by government which si known as Badan Amil Zakat (BAZ). Salim (2006) recorded that in July 1967, Saefuddin Zuhri as Minister of Religious Affairs, presented a draft Zakat Law to the legislature (DPRGR), but no further discussion from the legislature. In July 1968 Mohammad Dachlan, as Minister of Religious Affairs issued a Ministerial Decree concerning the foundation of the Badan Amil Zakat (the Zakat Agency) which was arranged for a governmental zakat committee to be established at alaa administrative levels across countries. This decree did not last long, when President Soeharto gave speech at the Isra Mi’raj celebration on October 26, 1968 announcing to take over the administration of zakat on a personal basis as a private citizen. The operation of the zakah agency under President Soeharto was maintained for only a few years to end in 1974 by collecting Rp 39.5 million and USD 2,473 for two years time. A number of provincial administrations established government-sponsored zakat agency called as BAZIS (Badan Amil Zakat Infaq dan Sedekah).

Such responsibilities, however, differ in significant ways from those entailed by zakat, something that the discourse on filantropi obviates, hindering differences from coming into full view. Concealed is not only the voluntary character of liberal and neoliberal practices of giving which contrasts sharply with the obligatory nature of zakat, but even more the differences regarding the sets of relations people are deemed to form with things, that is ‘property’. In other words, liberal and neoliberal practices regarding generosity are permeated by conceptions of private, individual property rights which entail the forfeit of the object given. In contrast zakat worship is established on the basis of conceptions of property and rights to it, which are significantly distinct and extremely complex to unravel. It is important to note that zakat as seen from an alternative perspective to that privileged by current discourses in Indonesia, corresponds to a break, a cut or caesura that forms a legal requirement for the establishment of rights of possessing wealth. With respect to zakat, Sayyid Qutb (2000: 162) notes that it effects the ‘purification of property itself, because it means paying what is due on the property, after which its possession is legal’. Another important authority Yusuf al-Qardawi (2000: 9) concurs, writing that ‘sincere believers realised their wealth is not only for their use. They realised that part of it belongs in fact to the needy not as a charitable gift given with condescendence but as a clear-cut right without humbleness on the part of the received or pride on the part of the payer’.

Thus, zakat indicates that a person in Islam can proceed to enjoin rights of possession and disposal of wealth in a legitimate manner only after a set portion of it has been duly transferred to its rightful owners. Such people are none other than the eight categories named in the Qur’an as zakat claimants, the mustahiq, literally those entitled to zakat (from haq in Arabic, or hak in Indonesian, meaning right). The primary category of those entitled to zakat, are the destitute and the poor.

Zakat differs both from the free gift and philanthropic giving in that the wealth transferred is not one’s own to offer (or keep) as it properly belongs to others. Adjusting our language would require that we speak of wealth transferred (or handed over) rather than bestowed: a mustahiq is not a recipient but a person entitled to that wealth.

Recognition of the rights of mustahiq requires therefore the payment of zakat, that is, the calculation of the exact portion of wealth due to others and of its prompt transfer.

According to this conception, it is only the remainder that one can claim to possess and dispose; it is only what remains after this process of calculation, division, partition and apportion has taken place that is legally one’s to take hold of. The kinds of ‘private, individual property rights’ envisioned are not absolute but contingent on the performance of zakat; as such, they do not accrue automatically from the labour process, whether intellectual or manual, but follow upon zakat’s division and partition, founded upon the transfer of other people’s dues (Powell 2009). Moreover, such ‘property rights’ are better understood within a theological context that fully acknowledges Allah as the however, totally absent from the Indonesian context and frequent reference to a particular Qur’anic verse attests to this. The verse is no. 19 from Surah Az-Zaariyaat (the Winds) and often features in conversations on the issue and in print and electronic materials promoting zakat. In 2012 it appeared in a leaflet relating to zakat profesi and published by Dompet Dhuafa, a major zakat management body in the country. The leaflet presents a visualisation of the purifying effects of zakat on zakat payers (muzakki), featuring the photo of a well-off nuclear family having gathered over a kitchen sink. All three members smile widely, and while looking at each other in a con- gratulatory manner, they wash their hands carefully. On the left of the photo some newly rinsed vegetables are placed for the family and one assumes, for dinner time to come. On the other side of leaflet, verse 19 is cited in Indonesian, framing the overall message: Dan dalam harta-harta mereka ada hak untuk orang-orang yang memerlukan, baik yang meminta maupun yang tidak. The English translation is either, ‘And in their prop- erties there was the right of the Saˆ’il (the beggar who asks) and the Mahruˆm (the poor who does not ask others)’ (al-Hilali and Khan 1994: 708), or as, ‘And in their wealth was what was due to him who asked, and him who was kept back from asking.’17 In this highly modern portrayal of domestic harmony, zakat as the right of the poor and the destitute is explicitly acknowledged along with the conception that the legitimate possession and consumption of wealth is predicated on the prior deduction of zakat (Figure 1).

FIGURE 1. Leaflet front and back, from Dompet Dhuafa. The front page reads: ‘Zakat on income – A clean source is safer, more blessed.’ Surah Az-Zaariyaat, Verse 19 is cited at the back of the leaflet.

Otherwise it is simply stealing: the non-deduction and non-transfer of zakat tallies with the illegal and unlawful taking away of the property of another. In this respect we are reminded of something I noted above: if a Muslim hands over zakat, it is expected that one’s wealth, business, etc. will be protected and possibly multiplied by Allah; if not, they will be destroyed, lost, or vanished into thin air. Punishment for the non- deduction of zakat is not only met in the afterlife with the wealth withheld assuming the shape of a monstrous snake but has consequences in this life too with many a misfortune befalling one, the decrease of wealth one enjoys been among them. Seen from the perspective of habluminallah, the non-transfer of zakat is an affront to Allah for it amounts to avoiding submission in worship and is thus considered akin to unbelief. Yet seen from the perspective of habluminannaas, it is basically a theft from and crime against the eight categories of people entitled to zakat. While the first perspective pertaining to sin is readily repeated time and again on innumerable occasions that range from televised sermons to small study groups, all privileging the transcendental character of human obligations to the divine, the second perspective that conceives zakat as relating to immanence – ‘And in their properties there was the right of . . .’ – and construes the failure to hand over other people’s due as stealing enjoys very little currency amongst both Islamic scholars and zakat activists. Contrary

therefore to the proliferation of recent efforts for empowering the poor this is a standpoint that is little elaborated and explicitly commented upon.

The immanent presence of others is paramount when considering zakat for it makes particular demands on us as analysts as seeking the most appropriate concept for think- ing about the social relations involved is primary. Normally zakat is owed when a certain threshold of value (nisab) is reached. Its transfer is also performed either immediately as in the case of agriculture produce, following upon the harvest and before the crop reaches one’s barn, or within the time period marked by the passing of a full lunar year (haul) as in the case of the proceeds of trade. In both occasions two distinct categories of persons, the mustahiq and the muzakki, have rights to the new wealth (‘growth’) generated with each category entitled to a portion of it by divine decree. In the case of immediate division, the crop is instantly cut into two (or more) parts. This act differentiates wealth into an inside and an outside, producing a fixed share, which is one’s own, and a share belonging to others. In the case of the delayed division (haul), the parting is postponed for a considerable length time. During this interval, it is difficult and indeed impossible to differentiate between what is one’s own and what belongs to others; this is a period when the boundaries between the self and other are displaced in favour of a zone of amorphous ‘inter-involvement’ and inexact co-impli- cation. According to this reading of the practice, the distinction between the self and the other is set to emerge subsequently and consequently to wealth’s division as predicated by zakat.

Along with a lack of stressing the immanent presence of others, contemporary Indonesian discourses pay little or no attention to yet another fundamental implication of zakat practice: the dependency of those owing zakat to those to whom zakat is owed remains largely unelaborated and unrecognised. For the muzakki’s salvation in the Hereafter and their fate in this world depends to a certain extent upon the readiness and willingness of the mustahiq to accept and receive the wealth transfer. It is only on condition of such acceptance that the wealthy can safely take possession of the remaining wealth generated, enjoy and pass it to their kin in a way that is legitimate and, equally importantly, see it multiply. Construing zakat as debt owed rather than as gift donated has important implications for it reverses the positionalities the discourse on filanthropi generates: the muzakki can no longer assume the position of the ‘giver’ or ‘donor’, the social distinctions involved are duly reconstituted and imagined anew, the mustahiq are understood to render a service by accepting zakat and as such they come to occupy a position of distinction vis-a`-vis zakat payers. While zakat activists in Indonesia are careful to stress that transferring zakat to the destitute and the poor has to be done in such a way that their pride is not injured and their feelings are not hurt, not deriding them for their condition or in any way blaming them for their poverty, they nevertheless shy away from going as far as al-Ghazali. A prominent 12th-century Islamic scholar, al-Ghazali in his magisterial study titled ‘Revival of the Religious Sciences’, explicitly commends at length on such reversals, writing: Actually the [muzakki] should deem himself a beneficiary and the poverty-stricken, by virtue of accepting his [zakat] which is due to God, his benefactor. For in this lie man’s justification and his salvation from Hell-fire. Had the poverty-stricken declined to accept his [zakat], man would have remained under the obligation to zakat. It is his duty therefore to acknowledge that he is under the obligation to the poverty stricken who has made his hand substitute of God in receiving the dues [which man owes to] God.

From the late 1990s onwards, and as a result of reformasation and the emergence of discourses about democracy, civil society and empowerment, zakat came to be seen anew, primarily as a gift, that is, as alms generously bestowed by the well-off to those less fortunate. While this periodisation might not be comprehensive, serving only as shorthand to acknowledging important shifts in zakat practice in Indonesia, its value is nevertheless that of bringing into sharp focus the route to justice that remains to be traversed. Such a

route is bound up with a series of issues which if not altogether suppressed from public discourses endure unacknowledged, are definitely marginalised and made difficult to view and articulate. In contrast to the prominence afforded to discourses about community devel- opment, empowerment and generosity, what is downgraded and under-elaborated in contemporary Indonesia is zakat as the right of mustahiq and a debt owed by the muzakki. Such misrecognition I argue partly stems from an unwillingness to engage with key conceptual complexities regarding property rights in Islam in its historical trajectory as a world religion. It also relates to the fact that emphasis is currently placed on the transcendental character of obligations, themselves conceived only in relation to Allah and the state. This stress is achieved at the expense of acknowledging the everyday immanence of others and the importance of dues owed to them. As a result of down- playing such entitlements and avoiding embracing the reversals they promote, the ghosts of the mid 1960s and of the late 1990s will continue to haunt the living in their extra- vagant and luxurious shopping malls.

4. CONCLUSION

Considerations regarding the poor resurfaced transformed in the 1980s at a time when the new middle class in Indonesia was growing as it benefited from the development programmes of the New Order. In this context, a new discourse on zakat arose as a result of a new wave of Islamic consciousness, serving both to underpin claims to dis- tinction and to reinforce the legitimacy of the new wealth the middle class commanded. Zakat came in the first instance to be conceptualised not only as part of the ritual obligations to Allah but also as a social duty necessary for the maintenance of social peace and a means for bringing the state to account. Efficient distribution of zakat is one of the priorities of zakat institutions in Malaysia. The mustahik are not only assisted in terms of their basic needs, but also in terms of education and improvement of their living standards, have become an important focus for the zakat institution. Eradication of poverty among mustahik help to boost their self-respect within the community. Moreover, there is no denying the important role played by zakat productive where it seeks to improve self-esteem and ultimately change the mustahik to become muzakki. This scenario shows that, with the help of zakat institutions, the mustahik have succeeded in increasing their economic level and Malaysia economic growth as a whole.

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