Paper short abstract:

This research critically assesses how zakat practice locates itself within the broader UK state welfare system. It examines recipients' attitudes from the perspectives of piety and rights and the motivations of charity organisations and Islamic institutions on this wealth redistribution.

Paper long abstract:

According to the tenets of Sunni Islam, zakat is an obligation ordained by God unto Muslims not merely as an act of personal piety but as a means to produce and sustain a moral community based on an ethic of (socioeconomic) justice. Indeed, Qur’anic traditions underscore that the prescriptive wealth redistribution engendered by giving zakat would work to contain economic inequality and social disparity and strengthen (civil and political) society. Furthermore, zakat-giving has been presented not simply as a religious duty but as a right of those who receive it. In other words, zakat is not an act of charity or philanthropy, but it is the restitution of an amount of wealth that givers had kept in trust on behalf of the rightful recipient. Most studies tend to focus on the givers’ perspective of their motivation and intention in giving zakat, this research, on the other hand, focuses on the perspective of zakat recipients, despite having been missing or somewhat neglected, have a unique position in this wealth redistribution relationship. Therefore, this research examines zakat recipients’ thoughts on receiving zakat and how they perceive the money (or other types of assistance) given to them. The research analyses the relationship between piety and the human agency of zakat recipients in the context of how religiosity plays a role in influencing the people’s agency that would shape the existence of transformative aspects in the practice of zakat for social mobility.