The use of zakat in the pandemic response: the case of Islamic Relief and BAZNAS in Indonesia

Abstract

This article compares two Islamic organisations, a non-governmental and a national one, in their methods of collecting and distributing zakat, and analyses how they addressed the COVID-19 crisis with these funds in the period 2020–2021. The study examines Islamic Relief as a Muslim non-governmental organisation involved in humanitarian response, and the National Board of the Zakat Republic of Indonesia (BAZNAS) as a centralised national institution. Both of them are working to improve zakat management, due to the awareness of its untapped potential, but the measure of impacts and allocation of resources diverge in strategies and efforts. Considering their different structures, a comparison based on parallel analysis of collecting methods, distributing channels and programmes financed shows the limits, potentials and best practices of these two institutions committed to zakat management and its improvement.

Keywords:

• Zakat
• Islamic social finance
• Islamic Relief Worldwide
• BAZNAS
• COVID-19 response
• humanitarianism

Acknowledgements

The author thanks her anonymous reviewers for their constructive and intellectually stimulating engagement with this article, and the Third World Quarterly team for their help in the process of publication. She also thanks Professor Mehmet Asutay for being a continuous source of inspiration and for his valuable suggestions and support of the research, and all the people who contributed to this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Fatwa Majelis Ulama Indonesia, Number 23, 2020.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Altea Pericoli

Altea Pericoli is a PhD researcher in Institutions and Policies and a teaching assistant in history and institutions of the Muslim World at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart (UCSC), Milan, Italy. She conducted visiting periods at Vienna University, the Department of Near Eastern studies and Durham University Business School. She took part in the project ‘Humanitarian Diplomacy’ at the Chr. Michelsen Institute and carried out field research at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, regarding the role of Qatar in financing humanitarian and development aid. Her research interest concerns the humanitarian and development aid implemented by Islamic actors and the Gulf States in fragile and conflict-affected contexts, especially in the Syrian recovery.