Housing Assistance Under the Zakat, Disbursement Schemes in Malaysia

Housing assistances such as rental, repair, deposit and construction have been part of the zakat disbursement schemes in Malaysia. Majority of the fourteen States in Malaysia do provide this kind of assistances under their zakat disbursement schemes though the practice varies from one State to another. At the Federal level however, the proposal for standardization has been made by the Department of Awqaf, Zakat and Pilgrimage (JAWHAR), Malaysia. Thus, it is the objective of the paper to document the practice of providing housing assistances to the eligible asnafs (zakat recipient) using the Manual of Zakat Disbursement Administration by JAWHAR as the basis. The study employed content analysis method to unveil the practices of providing housing assistances taking the state of Perak practices as an example. The study confirms that the zakat fund is used for housing assistances stemming from the principle that accommodation is one of the human necessities other than food, costumes, medication, education and transportation, but it is not on the large scale of housing development. These housing assistances are aimed to provide a better living environment for the wellbeing of asnafs.