Page 101 - Dimensi Baharu Zakat di Malaysia

© DIMENSI BAHARU ZAKAT DI MALAYSIA
ISBN 978-967-2959-04-5

INTRODUCTION
Zakah (alms due) is an obligatory payment upon all types of
businesses, including financial institutions (Ibn Qudamah, 1984; al-
Zuhayli, 1989). The obligation is based on the following
commandment in the Qurʾān:

Establish prayer and pay zakah and whatsoever good you
send before you for your souls, you will find it with Allah
(Qurʾān, 2:110).

In Malaysia, all businesses are obliged to pay their zakah due to
state religious councils. The obligation of zakah on business is in
line with the concept of legal entity. This concept has long existed
and is embedded in Islamic law (Abdullah, Rosele and Ahmad,
2020). The order is in accordance with the decision made by the
National Fatwa Committee in its 31 conference on 9 December,
th
st
1992. The fatwa says that all businesses or companies are required
to pay zakah when all the following conditions are met including
fully owned by independent Muslims as well as nisab and hawl are
both reached.The fatwa also stated that the rate of zakah on the
company is 2.5 percent. For a company that is jointly owned by
Muslims and non-Muslims, the payment is only mandatory for the
number of shares owned by Muslims based on the net income earned
(Pusat Pungutan Zakat-Majlis Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan,
2017).
This article hence discusses the issues in zakah assessment in
Malaysian financial institutions based on a research carried out
through 2017-2018. The earlier parts of the article will deliberate
briefly on previous literatures and research methodology.
Subsequently, some issues discovered from the research will be
revealed which among other include, assessment method, fixed asset
adjustment and exclusion of non-Muslim’s shareholders from zakah
calculation.

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