KOTA BHARU, Aug 25 (Bernama) — The Kelantan Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council (MAIK) has recorded more than RM117 million in zakat or tithe collection from January to June this year.
Its president Tengku Tan Sri Mohamad Rizam Tengku Abdul Aziz said the collection recorded an increase of 29 per cent, compared with the same period last year which was more than RM91 million.
Tengku Mohamad Rizam, who is also the Tengku Temenggong of Kelantan, said that the collection includes income tithe, business tithe, gold and agricultural.
“From the collection, MAIK has thus far spent more than RM95 million on the target group, including asnaf (tithe recipients), for the period from January to June this year, compared with the same period last year which was over RM83 million.
“This distribution recorded an increase of 14 per cent higher than the previous year, and there were only two categories of asnaf that recorded a decrease, namely Bantuan Al-Gharimin and Al-Riqab and Bantuan Asnaf Amil,” he said.
He said this at the media conference on a special report on MAIK zakat collection and expenditure from January to June 2022, here today, which was also attended by MAIK deputy president, Zulkifle Ab Rahman and state Mufti, Datuk Mohamad Shukri Mohamad.
Earlier, Tengku Mohamad Rizam also presented the MAIK asnaf housing assistance for the year 2022 to 180 recipients statewide, involving allocations worth more than RM10 million.
Tengku Mohamad Rizam said that MAIK would like to express its appreciation to all zakat payers who are consistent with MAIK, and thus far a total of 33 per cent of payers are those aged 31 to 40.
“This group is the largest group in donating zakat to MAIK. It is a signal that the young generation has a high awareness of fulfilling the third pillar of Islam.
“In fact, with the presentation of a report such as today, it also has a good impact on zakat payers, who can find out about distribution activities transparently,” he said.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency