Empowering Zakat to Improve the Quality of Education in Indonesia

Abstract

Zakat and education are two elements that are bound together. Zakat is an investment for muzaki because zakat can also be interpreted as purifying or purifying. While education is an investment for future knowledge, zakat is a stimulus for the sustainability of education in Indonesia. This research uses a qualitative approach to library research. Library research is a type of approach that in its level of application is carried out by collecting and using data from various kinds of literature both from books, papers, scientific articles, and so on. In this study, zakat means spending some of the property, given to those entitled to receive it, so that the remaining property becomes clean and the people who get the property become pure in soul and behaviour. There are four types of zakat empowerment, namely: 1) Traditional consumptive, i.e., zakat is distributed to mustahiqq to fulfill the daily needs of the aṣnaf. 2) Creative consumptive, i.e., zakat that is realised in other forms, such as given in the form of school tools, scholarships, hoes, pottery and so on. 3) Traditional productive, where zakat is given in the form of productive goods, such as goats, cows, shaving tools, carpentry tools, sewing machines, and others. Giving in this form can facilitate the work productivity of the poor. 4) Creative productivity, namely zakat is realised in the form of revolving capital, both for social protection capital and to help or increase the capital of small entrepreneurs. The utilisation of zakat funds for the development of education is the right strategy and step. This is because education can provide solutions to poverty in Indonesia. Moreover, soft skills education and other skills can prepare students to directly enter the world of work.