The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) has announced the 2022 zakat fitrah(زكاة الفطر) rates for Ramadhan 2022 (1443). The normal rate is pegged at S$5.10 and the higher rate at S$7.60. Zakat contributors should base their chosen rate on their daily consumption.
Zakat fitrah is an obligatory contribution by all Muslims during Ramadhan. It must be fulfilled during Ramadhan and before Aidilfitri (Eid) prayers.
The amount is determined by the Muis Fitrah Committee based on the country’s staple food, which in Singapore's case is rice. The rates are derived from the median price of 2.3 kg for each grade of rice – normal and higher – as generally consumed by the local Muslim community. Higher grade rice refers to more expensive premium rice such as brown rice and basmati rice.
Recent global events such as the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war were taken into consideration, but the committee's assessments showed that prices of rice in Singapore have not been much affected thus far.
Muis highly encourages the Muslim community to fulfil their zakat fitrah and zakat harta obligations digitally to avoid long queues at the mosque during the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital payment methods include, for both zakat fitrah and zakat harta, zakat on wealth:
- At the Zakat Singapore website using PayNow or debit card
- Via banks
* DBS, POSB, PayLah app, or Internet banking at https://internet-banking.dbs.com.sg
* CIMB Clicks at https://www.cimbclicks.com.sg
- AXS stations island-wide using NETS
Muis will also accept cheques made payable to 'Muis'.
For zakat harta only:
- OCBC Al-Wadiah
- Monthly instalments via GIRO (download the GIRO form at www.zakat.sg)
From 6 April 2022 onwards, the public has also been able to utilise the following payment methods:
- AXS m-Station app, available on the App Store, Google Play and Huawei AppGallery for download
- eNETS, DBS PayLah!, debit cards, NETSPay, OCBC PayAnyone
- eNETS, DBS PayLah!, debit cards, PayNow QR
To fulfil Zakat offline, the public is urged to exercise prudence in observing safe management measures (SMM) in place and to monitor their own health condition before heading down to Muis or authorised zakat collection centres, including selected mosques. A list of zakat collection centres can be found at the Zakat Singapore website (www.zakat.sg).
Users on the website are encouraged to read the security advisory on the home page to reduce the risk of being targeted by scammers. These features include:
- Accessing the authentic and secure Zakat Singapore website and payment portal
- Discerning legitimate communications from Zakat Singapore
- Learning to protect one’s zakat account
- Recognising scams and phishing attempts
- Protecting oneself from scams and phishing attempts
Muis introduced the two-tier zakat fitrah rate in 2005 to facilitate
zakat contributors who may wish to contribute more than the normal rate
(i.e., they consume higher-grade rice).
Details:
For more information call the Muis hotline at +65 6359 1199.