ORGANIZATIONAL AND DEFINITIONAL RECONFIGURATION OF ZAKAT MANAGEMENT

Abstract

The encouraging accomplishment of contemporary zakat management is undoubtedly praiseworthy, but a thought on the avoidance of hiccups along the way is necessary. Based on the Malaysian experience, this paper attempts to explore into two simple objectives. Firstly, to identify the hiccups of the zakat management; and secondly, to endeavor a proposition to solve the hiccups so as to allow for a smoother zakat transformation. It will be shown that the occurrences of the hiccups lie mainly inter alia in the organizational structure and the definitional usage within the zakat management itself, hence we name them structural hiccup and definitional hiccup respectively. In the case of the former, there are issues of professionalism versus traditionalism and centralization versus decentralization; while in the case of the later, there are issues of the usage of Islamic definitions of the zakat-related concepts versus the western ethnocentric definitions of the same. The solutions prescribed for the structural hiccups would be the reconfiguration of the centralization and decentralization, and the professionalism and traditionalism. For the definitional hiccups, this paper is in favor of the reconfiguration of the definition of zakatrelated concepts based on authentic sources of Islam, not on an eclectic-accommodativemodified definitions of the western ethno-centric concepts.

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