This study attempts to analyse the zakat poverty line between regions (urban and rural) and differences between household head gender (male and female) among the poor and needy zakat recipients in Kelantan. The study is motivated by a few shortcomings of the current zakat distributions as well as an increasing amount of expenditure annually on the two categories of zakat recipients and yet the number of fuqara (poor) and masakin (needy) households is increasing. The current amount of zakat monthly distribution seems to raise some issues due to its weaknesses. This paper offers several alternative regional poverty line estimations with varying underlying assumptions. Using the Household Expenditure Survey 2014, poverty lines are estimated based on the consumption patterns of regional and gender household per capita expenditure. The regional poverty lines from these reference groups produced robust poverty measurement rankings across regions in the country. This study recommends the method of zakat distribution to be improved in order to strengthen the Muslims economy condition and then, it would facilitate poverty alleviation programs conducted by the zakat department.

The justice in Islam had attracted and opens the hearts of non-muslins to accept Islam. The justice and truthfulness of Islamic teaching attracts the human to be part of its through conversion or reconciliation of hearts (Muallaf al-Qulub) and it is one of the zakat recipients mentioned in Al-Qur'an. In Selangor, zakat assistance to the new converts begins from the first day they become Muslims. The new Muslim would be immediately helped with MYR 500.00 monthly allowance for five years until they manage to act in accordance with Allah's orders and to perform worshipping (Mukallaf). This paper identifies the factors of new converts' poverty in Selangor, Malaysia using a logistic regression method. A set of survey questionnaires has been used in this research and 80 respondents were randomly selected from Selangor Zakat Centre (SZC) zakat recipient's list from the New Converts category for nine districts of Selangor in 2013. We estimate the probability of households with specified characteristics to fall below Malaysia's official poverty line. Results show that education, size, region, income and amount of zakat received significantly reduces the chance of being poor while gender, age, status were not significant predictor. Thus, these statistical measures have proven the positive role of zakat in reducing poverty among the new converts. The findings have important policy implications for zakat institution and Malaysian government which has pledged to reduce overall poverty rate to 2.8 per cent and eradicate hard core poverty by 2010 under the Ninth Malaysian Plan.

This article attempts to analyse the determination of poverty among the poor and needy of the zakat recipients in Kelantan, Malaysia. The study is motivated from the Kelantan zakat collection (2003-2015) that suggests that the growth alone (high collection) is not enough to eliminate poverty, there are indeed, other elements of poverty eradication like the socio economic, demographic factors, remittances and the investments in social and economic factors like the food subsidy for the poorest, good quality education, opportunities for the most needy, regulation of job markets, and purposively designed social security nets also have significant impact on permanent reduction in poverty. In Kelantan, despite zakat centres having disbursed an increasing amount of expenditure annually on the two categories of zakat recipients, hitherto the number of fuqara (poor) and masakin (needy) households is still increasing (MAIK, 2014; JAWHAR, 2012). Thus, it is important to understand the nature and scale of poverty, the various driving forces that affect it and the determinants of poverty among the poor and needy as linked to this process. A sample of 505 households from 2016 Household Expenditure Survey (HES) among the poor and needy zakat recipients in Kelantan has been used in this study. The findings have important policy implications for Kelantan Zakat Department (MAIK) in making the zakat distribution becomes more efficient and uplift the important role of zakat as one of the poverty alleviation tools among the Muslims. This study recommends the method of zakat distribution should be improved and channelled accordingly in order to strengthen the Muslims economy condition and then, it would facilitate the poverty alleviation programmes by the zakat department.

This article attempts to analyze the food and non-food expenditure among the poor and needy zakat recipients in Kelantan, Malaysia, which holds the lowest quartile of poor population. This study is motivated by the lack of concern in providing the perfect amount of food and non-food items in zakat distributions as a poverty alleviation program for these groups. The difference between food and non-food expenditure that does not reflect the true expenditure among the poor and needy can make poverty alleviation (zakat distribution) ineffective. The Kelantan state was selected because of their achievement of being among the highest zakat fund collectors and distributors (fourth in Malaysia and the highest among the government zakat agencies) (MAIK, 2014). Conversely, the state of Kelantan also has among the highest number of poor and needy in Malaysia (EPU, 2014). A sample of 505 households from the 2014 Household Expenditure Survey (HES) among the poor and needy zakat recipients in Kelantan is used in this study. Descriptive statistics is used to profile the pattern of household expenditure on food and non-food items, expenditure patterns of food and non-food items across poverty status and an estimation of the effects of household characteristics on food and non-food expenditures. Household characteristics include age, region (rural/urban), gender, size, and household head's marital status. The findings show that the expenditure pattern among the poor and needy is different based on food and non-food items' shares. The result of this study indicates that not all poor and needy in Kelantan spend most of their expenditure on food items. Thus, applying the same higher food items on each poor and needy household would overstate the food expenditure and devalue the cost of non-food items. Therefore, it will create a flawed poverty line which will further create a flawed poverty assessment.

Zakat is one of the financial resources for an Islamic country to improve their society economy, especially those who in the bottom line. An effective zakat management in terms of collection and distribution will create a prosperous life for the Asnaf (zakat recipient). However, the current method of zakat distribution in Malaysia which focusing on the visible assistance form on periodic basis has some drawbacks in evaluating the poverty between gender in the Muslim community. Despite the increasing amount of zakat collection and distribution, the amount of poor and hard core poor are also continue to increase from year to year. This is because of some weaknesses in this distribution method. The current zakat distribution did not addressed the different needs among household head gender in calculating the Zakat Poverty Line (Had Kifayah). Methodology of this paper is based solely on a review of literature on the topic of poverty among gender and female headships. Therefore, this paper aims to review previous studies based on difference of poverty between different gender households head. It is found out that a new method of setting Had Kifayah should be designed based on current requirement and needs. Women often have to live with greater social constraints than men do. Legal and cultural restrictions, for example, mean that women have fewer possibilities than men of improving their lives economically by their own efforts. To make zakat distribution provides significant impact on the quality of life among the poor and needy, immediate actions need to be done to ensure that at least their needs are satisfied and adequate. The amount of zakat distribution should be re-evaluate due to the current amount is not suitable because of their different needs and consumption pattern between the household head gender.

This study attempts to examine the effectiveness of monthly zakat distribution as a mechanism to poverty reduction in the state of Kelantan, Malaysia. The target population of this study is the poor and needy zakat recipient of the Kelantan Zakat Department, (MAIK). 481 respondents were randomly selected from Kelantan’s zakat recipient’s list from the poor and needy category for ten districts of Kelantan. In depth interview were used to gather the data. For analysing the data, descriptive statistics were applied. Results indicate that zakat elasticity is about 0.46, suggesting that, holding other variables constant, if the zakat distribution goes up by 1 per cent, the monthly income goes up by 0.46 per cent. Further, the male coefficient is about 0.15, meaning that the male gender receives about 0.15 per cent more income compare to female gender, again holding other variables constant. Thus, zakat distribution is significant in determining the income distribution among this group and bringing positive effect towards improving the income distribution of this group. Thus, these statistical measures have proven the positive role of zakat in reducing poverty among the Poor and needy and once again prove our result from previous poverty measures.

Zakat merupakan antara sumber kewangan bagi sesebuah negara Islam untuk meningkatkan ekonomi masyarakat khususnya golongan bawahan. Pengurusan kutipan dan agihan zakat yang efektif akan membangunkan kehidupan masyarakat yang unggul. Disebalik peningkatan jumlah kutipan dan agihan zakat, jumlah peningkatan di kalangan golongan fakir dan miskin terus meningkat dari tahun ke tahun. Ini disebabkan terdapat beberapa kelemahan dalam kaedah pengagihan ini. Pertama, ianya tidak mengambil kira perbezaan antara kos sara hidup antara kawasan bandar dan luar bandar. Kedua, keperluan jantina ketua isi rumah yang berlainan tidak ditangani dalam pengiraan Garis Kemiskinan Zakat (Had Kifayah). Untuk menjadikan bantuan zakat memberi kesan yang signifikan kepada kualiti hidup golongan fakir dan miskin, satu tindakan yang drastik perlu dilakukan untuk memastikan kualiti hidup mereka adalah terjamin sekurang-kurangnya mendapat barang keperluan dan kecukupan. Nilai bantuan zakat perlu dinilai semula berdasarkan keperluan semasa kerana nilai bantuan yang diberi amatlah kecil berbanding dengan keperluan kehidupan semasa. Ini termasuklah mengambil kira keperluan yang berbeza dan kos sara hidup yang berbeza antara asnaf di kawasan bandar dan luar bandar serta jantina ketua isi rumah. Sehubungan dengan itu, kertas kerja ini bertujuan untuk meninjau kajian-kajian lepas berdasarkan dua faktor penting dalam penetapan Had Kifayah iaitu kemiskinan di antara kawasan Bandar dan luar Bandar dan jantina ketua isi rumah.

The effects of zakat distribution on poverty are analysed within the context of burden of poverty; specifically in terms of incidence, intensity and severity of poverty. These are examined using three major indices of poverty, which include the Headcount Index, Poverty Gap Index and Sen Index. The findings show that the poor and needy have higher poverty measures based on expenditure compare to income poverty measures. Poverty incidences are higher in the rural areas. All methods identify the poorest gender household head is rural female. From the results, it is noted that poverty is prevalent among the households with female household's head who live in rural area. Besides that, the results of this study show that the extent of poverty can be high in low poverty incidence area. This suggests that poverty should be measured based on expenditure method which reflect on their poverty conditions. Results of this article is important for policy implications for Kelantan Zakat Department in making the zakat distribution more efficient and uplift the important role of zakat as one of the poverty alleviation tools among the Muslims.

This study attempts to analyze missing items in current zakat distribution among the poor and needy zakat recipients in Kelantan. The study is motivated by few shortcomings of current zakat distribution as well as an increasing amount of expenditure annually on the two categories of zakat recipients, and yet the number of poor (fuqara) and needy (masakin) households is increasing. The current amount of zakat monthly distribution seems to raise some issues due to its weaknesses. This paper examines several missing elements in the current zakat distribution in Kelantan, Malaysia. The research was conducted through in-depth interviews with selected zakat recipients from a variety of socio-economic-cultural backgrounds in Kelantan, Malaysia. This study recommends that these items should be included in future zakat distribution in order to improve and strengthen the Muslims economy condition, and then, it would facilitate the poverty alleviation programs by the zakat department.

The objective of this article is to analyze the related literatures on zakat between 2003 until 2013. The methodology of this article is through qualitative research based on content-analysis on previous articles and literatures that specifically discuss about zakat between 2003 until 2013. This study looked at several variables which number of publication by year, subject areas, and a brief content analysis of zakat issues such as management, collection, distribution and poverty alleviation on zakat. This is important in order to examine its prospects for research in the future. The general finding of this article shows that there are a lot of issues pertaining to zakat management, collection, distribution and poverty alleviation program were published for this timeframe. Henceforth, this article provides significant suggestions and strategies for the future exploration on zakat.

In Selangor, zakat assistance to the new converts begins from the first day they become Muslims. The new Muslim would be immediately helped with MYR 500.00 monthly allowance for five years until they manage to act in accordance with Allah's orders and to perform worshipping (Mukallaf). The main problem statement is, how the effectiveness of zakat distribution among muallaf was?. Thus, this article presents structural equation models for effectiveness of zakat distribution among muallaf in Selangor. The formation of the models consists of the condition of the muallaf and success factors as well as the income before and after zakat distribution towards the muallaf, which are the observed variable. This specification will able to examine the predictors of differences between income without zakat and income with zakat. The Muallaf really need and seek for help from the Muslim especially in Muslim country in terms of economic strength and support. Thus, developmental programs are crucial in order to support them physically and mentally. An effective program can be an instrument to equip them with negative perception that they received after becoming a Muslim. The main objective of this article is to explore the effectiveness of muallaf development programs organized in Selangor, this article uses the crosstabs methods based on several critical success factors. The method been use in this research is mix method by conducted through in-depth interviews with selected Muallaf from a variety of cultural backgrounds, living in the area of Selangor, Malaysia. Then the next phase, this article conducted set of survey questionnaires among 80 respondents to confirm the findings. The respondents were randomly selected from Selangor Zakat Centre (SZC) zakat recipient's list from the New Converts category for nine districts of Selangor in 2013. The main finding of this article indicates that Muallaf who are receiving zakat assistant are able to manage successfully in their economics life and manage to assist their non-Muslims family for solving family problem as a result of conversion to Islam as well as helping them out from poverty.

This study attempts to examine the effectiveness of monthly zakat distribution as a mechanism to poverty reduction among the new converts in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. The target population of this study is the new converts categories of the Selangor Zakat Centre (LZS) 1 zakat recipients. Simple Random sampling procedure is applied to collect primary data related to zakat recipients from the new convert category of the ten districts of Selangor. Poverty maps are derived based on the collected data. These facilitate an examination of the most affected area of poverty within the context of selected socio economic variables. The effects of zakat distribution on poverty are analysed within the context of burden of poverty; specifically in terms of incidence, intensity and severity of poverty. These are examined using four major indices of poverty, which include the Headcount Index, Average Poverty Gap, Income Gap and Sen Index. To measure the effect of zakat distribution towards the income inequality, this study uses the Gini Coefficient and Lorenz Curve. Results reveal that zakat distribution reduces poverty incidence, reduces the extent of poverty and lessens the severity of poverty. Although, the current practice of zakat distribution in Selangor only gives a small effect on increasing the income of the poor. Hence, by locating the perfect amount of zakat distribution to eliminate poverty and to offer alternative zakat distribution model is the best way in reducing the income inequality and maximization of social welfare. This study manage to identify the group most affected by income inequality and poverty will pave the way towards policies for a more effective and efficient utilization of scarce zakat resources.

Zakat is one of the pillars of Islam that emphasises the socio-economic development. Any discussion on zakat in the context of worship cannot be disconnected from the socioeconomic factor, especially in aiding the underprivileged. The primary purpose of zakat is to redistribute wealth of the society among the poor. Zakat is not purely welfare-oriented that relies on the contribution of the giver but an obligation that must be carried out to qualified recipients.Therefore, it is pertinent that the management of zakat is made efficient to ensure that the rights of the recipients and the society, in general, will not be put in jeopardy. The question is then raised regarding the type of zakat distribution or programmes pertaining to the asnaf Muallaf. The objective of this article is to explore challenges and the success of zakat distribution and aids for sustaining muallaf belief (Tauhid) and thoughts (Iman). The methodology of this article is based on qualitative research through document analysis and interview with zakat officer and respondents. This article has revealed that some challenges and success perception said by the Muallaf as the zakat recipient benefited from the zakat aids. Results show that State Islamic Religious Council should continue support and to improve from time to time to a more comprehensive program that focus on sustaining the Muallaf belief (Tauhid) and thoughts (Iman).

Zakat is one of the financial resources for an Islamic country to improve their society economy, especially those who in the bottom line. An effective zakat management in terms of collection and distribution will create a prosperous life for the asnaf (zakat recipient). However, the current method of zakat distribution in Malaysia which focusing on the visible assistance form on periodic basis seems cannot solve the poverty issue in the Muslim community. Despite the increasing amount of zakat collection and distribution, the amount of poor and hardcore poor are also continue to increase from year to year. This is due to some weaknesses in the distribution method. The current zakat distribution did not addressed the different needs among household head gender in calculating the Zakat Poverty Line (Had kifayah). Women often have to live with greater social constraints than men do. Legal and cultural restrictions, for example, mean that women have fewer possibilities than men in improving their lives economically by their own efforts. In order for zakat distribution to provide significant impact on the quality of life among the poor and needy, immediate actions need to be done to ensure that at least their needs are satisfied and adequate. The amount of zakat distribution should be re-evaluate due to the current amount is not suitable because of their different needs and consumption patterns between the household head gender. The methodology of this article is based solely on a review of literatures on the topic of poverty among gender and female headships. Therefore, this article aims to review previous studies based on differences of poverty between different gender households head. The general finding of this article shows that a new method of setting Had Kifayah should be designed based on current requirement and needs of household head of different gender..