Page 18 - Zakat & Waqf: Impact on Women and Community Development

8 | Zakat & Waqf: Impact on Women and Community Development
© Zakat & Waqf: Impact on Women and Community Development
ISBN 978-967-####-##-#

and national administration, which were subject to British civil and
criminal legal systems, on the other, throughout the colonial period. A
central organisation in each state oversaw the administration of the
former. This agency eventually earned the name Council of Religion
and Malay Customs, including the administration of Zakat (Azmi
Muhammad, 2009).

Kelantan was the first state in Malaysia to establish such council, which
become a model of other states. Under this model, Zakat
administration for each village was under its respective village Imam
(person who leads the prayers in mosque or surau). Eventually, part of
the Zakat collected at the village level was surrendered to the state as
a source of financing for the administration of Islamic affairs.

Zakat administration in Malaysia has been institutionalised, however
this does not mean that it is consistently synced and coordinated
between states. Each state's Zakat administration continues to be
autonomous. As a result, individual governments in Malaysia have
adopted a variety of organisational structure models (Mahmmod
Zuhdi Abdul Majid, 2003). Each state has a separate Head of State and
written constitution. In every state, the head of state also oversees
Islamic affairs. The National Ruler is the Head for Islamic affairs in
the situations of Penang, Melaka, Sabah, and Sarawak (none of which
have a Head of Islamic Affairs at the state level) and the Federal
Territory.

Zakat is totally managed by individual nations because Islamic matters
are the responsibility of the Head of State. The relevant State Council
of Religion serves as the primary administrative and policy-making
body. The only exception is Kedah, where a separate Zakat Office
directly reports to the State Ruler and is run by an independent body
known as the Zakat Committee. The State enacts laws and rules

8