Agricultural zakat from the Islamic perspective

Agricultural zakat that is practiced in Malaysia is imposed on staple food of a particular region that has met the nisab (minimal value). However, there are issues of non-uniformity estimation of agricultural zakah for instance inconsistency nisab setting for metric weights, and the applied rate variability. What are the root causes of the problems? Therefore, this paper is an attempt to highlight some issues inherent in the conceptualisation of agricultural zakat from Islamic perspective by analysing the definition of zakat, crops that have to be imposed with zakat, nisab, the rates imposed based on irrigation, and the deduction of some costs prior to the imposition of zakat. A qualitative methodology was employed to analyse the data through inductive, deductive, comparative approaches. The findings identified non-uniformity estimation of agricultural zakah occurred due to the varied interpretation enriching the Islamic legal tradition by different schools of juristic thought. These findings will assist the policy makers and the management of zakat institutions to harmonise agriculture zakat framework based on the authenticity of Islamic law for the social and economic development in Malaysia