Zakat Distribution to Beneficiaries and The Extent to Which it Agrees with The Shafi’i Doctrine And Achieves The Objectives of Sharia Law An Analytical Study of The Efforts of The Zakat Foundation In Kedah State, Malaysia

Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam, and Allah -Glory be to Him- has made it obligatory for the rich who have the quorum estimated by law. Zakat was imposed in the second year of the Hijra, and the Messenger –May Allah bless him and grant him peace- was the one responsible for taking and distributing it among the eight categories of beneficiaries who were determined by the Holy Qur’an in Surat Al-Tawbah; moreover, this was the situation during the time of the Rightly Guided Caliphate. This is how things remained under successive Islamic rulers, with a major change in not paying it by some, or giving it incompletely, or paying it themselves and perhaps reaching an undeserving person, which affected this obligation not achieving the purpose for which it was imposed in many states of the Islamic world. When modern countries appeared in their current form in the middle of the twentieth century, some Islamic countries established institutions for Zakat to achieve the goals for which it was imposed, and at the forefront of these countries was the state of Malaysia. In this study, we attempt to study the efforts of the Zakat Foundation in Kedah State, Malaysia, in distributing Zakat to the beneficiaries, and the extent to which it agrees with the Shafi’i Doctrine, which is the school of thought approved by the state, as well as the extent to which it achieves the noble objectives of Sharia law regarding this obligation.