Zakat vs Charity

MM Online:

After Anwar moots zakat reforms, Penang mufti says Muslims must get priority

BY OPALYN MOK

Penang Mufti Datuk Seri Wan Salim Mohd Noor says Muslim recipients should be prioritised when distributing Islamic tithes or zakat

Picture by Sayuti Zainudin 

GEORGE TOWN, Nov 1 ― Muslim recipients should be prioritised when distributing Islamic tithes or zakat, said Penang Mufti Datuk Seri Wan Salim Mohd Noor amid calls for reforms.

He said said this was because the contributions come solely from Muslims who pay the tithe as a religious obligation.

“Non-Muslims who are poverty stricken can obtain assistance from other governmental resources such as the Welfare Department,” he said in response to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s suggestion that such funds also be extended to non-Muslim recipients.

Wan Salim said distributions should only go to non-Muslims if collections exceed what was needed for Muslim recipients.

He said according to the al-Quran, zakat could be extended to non-Muslims with the purpose of making them to favour Islam, to encourage them to help Muslims against the latter’s enemies, or for them to sympathise with Muslims.

He said zakat funds were meant to use the Muslim poor using the contributions of fellow Muslims who were better off.

“The needs of Muslims should be considered first even though on principle, whether zakat should be extended to non-Muslims or not is solely up to the government to decide based on public needs,” he said.

At a recent international conference on zakat, Port Dickson MP Anwar called for reforms of the zakat institution.

He also suggested the distribution of zakat to non-Muslims, citing an opinion by prominent Muslim jurist Yusuf al-Qaradawi.

Anwar said Islam encouraged the distribution of zakat to non-Muslims in a multi-racial society but qualified that this should not be at expense of the Muslim poor.

Anwar Ibrahim had graciously, compassionately and correctly proposed the zakat to be extended to non-Muslims. But alas, the Mufti ...?

While the Penang Mufti has not been too "conservative" like the one in Perak, or the one in Perlis, or indeed the one in Pahang, wakakaka, I am somewhat disappointed with him because he has in his wary concern for where zakat may be going (following Anwar Ibrahim's proposal), has expressed words that have very much diminished the compassionate nature of the zakat.

Najib Razak with S Sukumarah, his wife M Kanagi (far right) and their two children, at their home in Padang Jawa, Shah Alam 

Everyone knows that zakat is principally for the Muslim needy's, thus there was no necessity for him to say what he has just said.

Additionally, charity must be open-hearted and not be based on quid pro quo or conditions.

What if non-Muslims argue:

"Muslims who are poverty stricken can obtain assistance from other governmental resources such as zakat and the Welfare Department."

"Tax revenue derived from non-Muslims should only be used as welfare aid for Muslims if there are excess aid money after what has been distributed to non-Muslim recipients."

But alas, the Penang Mufti was (I would say genuinely) concerned the Pakatan government would give the bulk of zakat to non-Muslims. But as I've said above, charity should be given based on compassionate, care, humanitarianism, love, the need of the poor, etc and not on all sorts of selfish or grudging conditions, like whether one is a Muslim o non-Muslim.

Years ago, when the Boxing Day tsunami hit Penang and devastated a few Malay fishing villages in the NW, the Penang Buddhist Society went out to help with aid (food, clothing, money, etc), and one Malay villager was reported saying: "The Buddhists have been generous with their aid without conditions, unlike UMNO and PKR who want to know who you side or have voted for".