The Empowerment of Zakat According to Islamic Law Dr Anwar and Mulia Saputra
Introduction In principle, Zakat1 should be directly accepted by mustahiq. However, a wise and precise consideration regarding the mustahiq’s needs is indeed required, including their ability to utilise the zakat to improve their welfare, so that in turn they no longer are a mustahiq, but a muzakki (zakat’s giver) instead. The distribution of zakat is not to provide a temporary financial aid to the poor due (duafa’), i.e. as soon as the zakat is fully spent, they will demand another zakat. Instead, the vision of zakat is to “transform” the mustahiq (zakat’s receiver) into muzakki (zakat’s giver). Thus, since zakat is an instrument to elevate the economy of the society (ummat), its management should lead to eliminate all sources of poverty, systematically and comprehensively.