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The Current Practice and Expected Transformation of Zakah Institution in Yemen in Light of the Current Crisis

Yemen is among the poorest countries in the region. It has become apparent during the current political crisis in which the majority of population is classified as poor so the poverty line's group has been widened. As far as Zakah is concerned, it is a duty on wealthy people to pay their alms to the poor and hence a redistribution of the wealth among the society would be achieved. Zakah rests under the responsibility of the government to supervise, govern, and apply the rules prescribed in the Islamic legislation (Shari'ah rules) to ensure that its role in the society is attained. For the last three decades, since the formation of the new country, the “Republic of Yemen” that emerged from two previously separated countries, Zakah institution has been governed and managed by the government, and its administration is formed under the responsibility of the Zakah Agency, and later on under the local counsel of each locality. Such management and administration has been criticized of being less transparent on Zakah resources on both collections or distributions issues. Therefore, Zakah efficient collections have suffered due to the low level of confidence in the governmental agencies assigned to collect Zakah funds, and this encourages Zakah payers to always seek an alternative way to channel Zakah funds, which has been found in many voluntary organizations to carry the same role the government should have made in collection of Zakah funds. This chapter is theoretical in nature. It aims and focuses on the discussion of administration and legislation of Zakah and its importance to the society in Yemen. It also highlights the current status of Zakah in Yemen. More than that, the discussion elaborates that Zakah in Yemen lacks its role in the society in reducing poverty, which has become more apparent recently. Analyzing the way Zakah is carried out revealed that Zakah administration needs a rethink on how to organize and restructure it in a way to serve its underlying purposes. Government may not be the proper Zakah administer at this point of time due to the rise of corruption in the government agencies. Since the Zakah fund is commingled with the other public budget resources, it is more likely to be misused as the other resources (i.e., oil and gas and tax) and no possible differentiation to be expected. Expected transformation of Zakah is needed and the role can be carried out by the non-government bodies supervised by scholars and experts who can be held accountable under certain governance system. This chapter originally is of importance to all stakeholders as it serves as the building block for initiating a proper system or framework of Zakah administration, a system that provides its contemporary guidelines on Zakah, taken into the consideration the original wisdom and objective of Shari'ah on Zakah enforcement by the Almighty.