Muis introduces 2022 zakat fitrah rates

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 

- AXS e-Station

- 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.

Lembaga Tabung Haji recognised for business zakat contribution

Source: TH. TH received an IKTIRAF award for its zakat contribution to LZS.

Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) has received one of the inaugural Muzakki Recognition (IKTIRAF) awards introduced by the Lembaga Zakat Selangor (LZS) as a sign of appreciation towards muzakki (zakat contributors) in Selangor, Malaysia.

TH and 33 corporate bodies received the IKTIRAF Berlian (Diamond) recognition for contributing more than RM1,000,000 in business zakat to LZS on 28 December 2021.

The IKTIRAF award has four categories:

- IKTIRAF Diamond - Appreciation to muzakki who have given zakat of more than RM1,000,000

- IKTIRAF Gold - Appreciation to muzakki who have given zakat valued between RM500,000 to RM999,999

- IKTIRAF Silver - Appreciation to muzakki who have given zakat worth between RM100,000 to RM499,999

- Bronze IKTIRAF - Appreciation to muzakki who have given zakat from RM50,000 to RM99,999.

Those present at the ceremony included the Chairman of the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (MAIS), Tan Sri Dato 'Seri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof; Dato' Seri Utama Diraja Mufti of Selangor, Dato' Dr Anhar Opir; LZS Chairman Tan Sri Syed Anwar Jamalullail, and LZS Deputy Chairman Tan Sri Dato’ Setia Ambrin Buang. LZS CEO Saipolyazan M. Yusop was also present.

MUIS launches new COVID-19 relief fund

The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) will allocate S$1.6 million for the COVID-19 Muis Support Fund (CMSF) to help ease financial burden of households affected by the economic uncertainty resulting from the current pandemic. The support fund aims to assist 4,000 households with each eligible household receiving a one-off assistance of S$400.

Since the start of 2020, Muis has seen a noticeable increase in the number of families receiving zakat monthly financial assistance. To further help families in need, Muis will be providing additional support from zakat. In April, Muis had announced that families receiving zakat financial assistance would be automatically renewed for six months when their assistance expires.

The Singapore Fatwa Committee agreed in May 2020 that those impacted financially by COVID-19 through loss of jobs, or whose household incomes are drastically affected, will qualify for zakat assistance. The committee further recommends that aid can be put together drawing from at least three traditional categories: (fakir miskin¹, gharimin², fisabilillah³ and riqab⁴).

In doing so, Muis as the zakat authority will be able to preserve and retain the use of the traditional categories for existing cases, whilst dedicating funds for a new category of recipients who face financial hardships due to the pandemic. This will also demonstrate the responsiveness of zakat as a tool for financial assistance in times of need more directly, Muis said, and also act as a stimulus to encourage Muslims to come forward and help.

CMSF assistance is open to individuals who are not current beneficiaries of zakat or ComCare financial assistance, and extra consideration will be given to those who have not received any COVID-19 related assistance. The support fund also seeks to financially support families whose children’s Islamic learning classes had to be disrupted due to lack of means.

The CMSF also aims to assist people who are self-employed and employees who have been affected by the economic impact of COVID-19. As such, individuals who have not been in employment before the start of the COVID-19 period would not be eligible⁵.

Muis will also allocate S$200,000 under CMSF to support asatizah and their families during the pandemic. The asatizah have been adversely affected by the outbreak of COVID-19, particularly those who are self-employed and doing freelance teaching. This is due to the earlier mosque closures and continued suspension of physical classes at mosques.

The one-off top-up grant will be channelled to asatizah through the Singapore Islamic Scholars and Religious Teachers Association’s (Pergas) Gracious Package. This package is a financial assistance scheme initiated by Pergas and offered to asatizah in March 2020, at the onset of the lockdown. The topup grant will be utilised to provide more support for current Gracious Package recipients and also to support new applicants.

Details:

Applications for the CMSFwill be open until the end of August 2020. At the end of the application exercise, Muis will shortlist 4,000 applications who are most in need based on their per capita income.

To apply, click here.

¹ Fakir is a category when the individuals has neither material possessions nor means of livelihood; one who suffers, and has no means to sustain his/her daily needs. The definition of miskin refers to when an individual has insufficient means of livelihood to meet his /her basic needs.

² Gharimin is the category when an individual is in debt and needs assistance to meet his/her basic needs.

³ Fisabilillah is when an individual strives in the cause of Allah for the betterment of the community.

⁴ The category of riqab in Singapore refers to those who require some assistance to pursue their education, children of zakat recipients. More details of the above categories of beneficiaries of zakat (asnaf) can be found at www.muis.gov.sg/Zakat/About/Beneficiaries-of-Zakat-Asnaf

⁵ 23 January 2020 is the date determined as to when COVID-19 first occurred in Singapore.

Muis announces S$2.5 million disbursement for the needy

The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) will disburse over S$2.5 million through the annual year-end disbursement (YED) exercise which comprises bonuses and back-to-school vouchers and activities to 4,459 low-income families across Singapore.
This payout is to eligible families receiving monthly financial assistance from Muis. The YED is in addition to the monthly assistance received by zakat recipients, supplementing other national assistance schemes for the disadvantaged.

This increase in YED as well as number of recipients is made possible by the revisions made to the per capita income (PCI) eligibility criteria in September 2018. The YED aims to supplement expenses for families with school-going children before the school term starts in January 2019.

Zakat-receiving children under the financial assistance scheme who have been actively participating in core programmes at the mosques will also be receiving back-to-school kits or vouchers. These will be distributed islandwide at selected mosques until end-December.

The children also benefit from enrichment programmes such as learning journeys, team-building and motivational talks under the Back-To-School Activities programme which was piloted in 2017.

A total of 1,724 children will benefit from the back-to-school component (voucher and activities) with an allocation of S$163,650. This is 15% less than the S$192,670 from last year due to the number of eligible children decreasing by 14.2%.

Close to S$400,00 will be disbursed to families with children aged 18 years old and below, as part of the yearly Reqab (Study) Bonus. Some 5,420 children will benefit from this bonus. Those with one eligible child can receive S$100 whereas families with two or more eligible children will receive S$70 per child.

Muis reports disbursement of zakat contributions

The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) has reported that 2017 zakat contributions amounted to S$2.3 million, which allowed 3,765 families to receive Year-End Grants (YEGs). This is an increase of 42% compared to the amount given in 2016, Muis said.

The YEG, which comprises bonuses, "Back-to-School" vouchers and other activities, is given on top of monthly financial assistance (FA) received by zakat beneficiaries. An estimated 1,500 primary and secondary school children will have received a "Back-to-School" vouchers worth between S$50 to S$100. 

In 2017, an additional S$320,000 will be given to families with children aged 18 years old and below, as part of the yearly Reqab (study) Bonus. This bonus is an extra amount given to families to cope with the costs of textbooks and learning programmes.

Madrasah students receive Muis awards for doing well in 2015 examinations

According to the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis), 26 madrasah (religious school) students recently received Progress Fund Madrasah Assistance Scheme (PROMAS) Performance Awards for excellent results in the 2015 examinations.

A total of S$341,000 has been distributed to all six madrasahs to support the educational and developmental needs of children from zakah-receiving families.

The news was announced on Muis' Facebook page.