BY: LIZAWATI MADFA
SHAH ALAM, MAR 6: The Selangor Zakat Board (LZS) collected a total of RM673.7 million of zakat in 2016, as announced by the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (MAIS) Chairman, Dato’ Setia Mohamad Adzib Mohd Isa.
He said, LZS has also distributed RM697.5 million last year compared to RM676 in 2015.
He said that was a 3.2 percent increase equivalent to RM21.4 million, compared to last year.
“This increase is supported by LZS’s initiatives in 2016 to update the distribution of zakat aid based priority according to ‘Maqasid Syariah’.
“Based on this approach, zakat distribution is categorised based on Dharuriyat needs (Primary Aid), Hajiyyat (Secondary Aid) and Tahsiniyat (Optional Aid),” he said.
He said that during a media conference at the LZS headquarters today. Also present was LZS Chief Executive Officer, Hussin Mohd Ali.
There are eight groups of people eligible for zakat which are the fakir (very poor), poor, amil (those authorised to collect zakat, fisabilillah (those working ‘in the cause of Allah’), gharimin (those in debt to fulfil basic necessities), ibnu sabil (stranded travellers on journeys for reasons approved by Syaria) and riqab (to liberate slaves or people under a certain control).
In 2016, those in the poor category received the highest amount of zakat which is RM200.5 million while those in the very poor category received RM98.2 million.
Meanwhile, amil received RM84.2 million, muallaf (RM60.9 million), fisabilillah (RM150.2 million), gharimin (RM72.9 million), ibnu sabil (RM206,000) dan riqab (RM30.4 million).
