KUALA LUMPUR: Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) depositors need not worry about the status of zakat payments made on their behalf, as these were valid and carried out in line with Shariah law, the Dewan Rakyat was told on Tuesday (Aug 11).
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Dr Zulkifli Hasan said TH has consistently fulfilled its obligation to pay zakat on behalf of depositors, following a 1979 ruling by the National Fatwa Committee that TH was not itself liable to pay zakat but was required to pay zakat on behalf of its depositors.
He said TH’s zakat practices had also been presented to and endorsed by the Muzakarah Committee of the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs of Malaysia (MKI) in June 2024 and subsequently presented to the 267th Conference of Rulers in October 2024.
“Therefore, depositors need not worry, as all zakat payments on your behalf have been carried out by TH properly and in accordance with Shariah law.
“All of TH’s zakat operations and governance are guided by its approved Zakat Guidelines and overseen by the TH Shariah Advisory Committee (JPS), which comprises experts in Shariah and Islamic finance,” he said during the tabling of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report on TH in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday.
He also said that at a meeting on Sept 2, 2020, the JPS found that zakat payments made on behalf of depositors before the introduction of the Wakalah concept in 2019 were valid and complied with Shariah law.
“For the 2016 to 2019 period, when the Wadiah Yad Dhamanah contract was used, the zakat paid was business zakat on behalf of depositors, calculated collectively on the pool of depositors’ funds that were invested and traded,” he said.
Meanwhile, Zulkifli said TH is now at the final stage of refining improvements to its haj management policies, which would be announced in the near future.
He said this followed the RCI committee’s recommendations on policy changes in haj management, particularly eligibility requirements and the waiting period for prospective pilgrims.
“The improvements will include a clearer, more structured and systematic haj plan, in line with the concept of capacity, with greater emphasis on early preparedness,” he said.
