In Malaysia, jurisdiction of such Islamic matters as zakat is under the supervision of states and administered by the Islamic Religious Council. Zakat is compulsory for all Muslims and should follow the maq??id ashshari'ah principles to ensure proper distribution. Every scheme provided should be evaluated as to whether it fulfils the main elements in maq??id, which are preservation of religion, preservation of life, preservation of intellect, preservation of lineage/family and preservation of wealth. This research assesses zakat distribution schemes provided by Bait-Ulm?l department in Negeri Sembilan Islamic Religious Council. The findings of this research were that all schemes provided for the Mu 'allaf followed the maq??id ash-shari'ah aspects but revision is needed to ensure zakat distribution followed the maq??id rules.

Giving zakat is the third of the five pillars of Islam and it is obligatory. The issues arose when the gantang for zakat payment in Malaysia is converted to kilogramme, a metric unit for weight as usually used for foods and there was no available standard for gantang used for zakat payment in Malaysia. However, this unit is inaccurate since gantang (sa') is not a measure of weight (mizan) but it is a measure of volume (mikyal). Thus, the objective of this research is to study the volume of the sa' and to calibrate it in the correct metric unit for standardisation purpose. A qualitative method was used by calibrating the gantang replica at Volume Laboratory, National Metrology Institute of Malaysia and the interviews with State Islamic Council, State Zakat Centre and State Mufti Department. From the calibration, the capacity of the gantang (sa') was obtained, and subsequently, the respective capacities for cupak and agricultural nisab were calculated. The finding of the research found that the volume of gantang was important in the determination of nisab, a minimum amount of crop for a certain cropping season. Hopefully this research would be a guideline for all states in Malaysia to be more systematic and efficient for the zakat agriculture determination.