INTRODUCTION
Islam is a religion built upon five pillars, namely: the
testimony that there is no god except Allah and
Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, establishing
prayer, paying zakat, fasting in the month of Ramadhan,
and performing pilgrimage. Every Muslim must
establish themselves on these five pillars. Therefore, it is
compulsory for them to fully and correctly understand
each of the pillars.
Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam. Zakat
means growth or increase and by paying zakat we purify
and clean our wealth and heart. All Muslims whose
wealth is above the minimum zakatable limit(nisab) are
required to pay zakat. The zakat payment can only be
given to specific groups of people as stated in the al-
Quran. There are eight categories of zakat recipients,
namely the needy (fakir), poor (Miskin), zakat official
(Amil), those whose hearts are reconciled to Islam
(Muallaf), slaves and captives (al-Riqab), debtors (al-
Gharimin), for the cause of Allah (Fisabilillah), and
travelers (Ibnu Sabil). The rationale for imposing zakat
is to prevent the concentration of wealth in a few hands,
which is clearly stated in al-Quran in Surah al-Hashr,
verse 7.
Zakat also plays an important role in Islamic social
welfare system to alleviate poverty in Muslim nations. In
Malaysia, zakat administration is under the Islamic
Council of each state, which has the authority to
organize the collection and distribution of zakat on its
own. Toward this end, it has developed a variety of
systems such as establishing offices, employing and
training officers, designing a computerised system of
zakat collection, financial and reporting system, and
general operation plan.
The modern practices of zakat collection in
Malaysia can be found at the Pusat Pungutan Zakat
(Zakat Collection Centre) in the Federal Territory, which
was set up in 1991 for the purpose of collecting of zakat
with a more systematic management, including
computerisation. It is now has become a model of zakat
administration which has evolved to suit the changing
environment.
The Zakat Collection Centre in the Federal Territory
is an agency under the Majlis Agama Islam Wilayah
Persekutuan (The Islamic Religious Council of Federal
Territory) and is authorized to carry out its primary
responsibility to collect zakat. This zakat collection
centre covers the three Federal Territories, namely:
Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, and Labuan. On the other
hand, the distribution of zakat in the Federal Territory is
done by the Baitulmal which was established in 1974. In
the early stage, the Baitulmal of Kuala Lumpur focused
on zakat collection, mainly on zakat fitrah (an obligatory
charity imposed on every Muslim at the end of the
month of Ramadhan), with a small focus on zakat in
business and wealth. Currently, this institution is
responsible for zakat fund management and
disbursement in the Federal Territory. It distributes zakat
