REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Executive Board Chairman of Muhammadiyah Youth Organization, Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak, has called on the government to be careful while issuing a policy on deducting 2.5 percent zakat (tithe), from the salaries of State Civil Apparatuses (ASN). He reminded that not all people obliged to pay zakat.

"It should not happen that the government withdraws zakat from civil servants, who are actually not obliged to pay zakat," Simanjuntak told reporters on Wednesday (Feb 7). He stated that if this happens, it would make the country as one that is cruel to its citizens.

Therefore, Dahnil suggested that the government should regulate careful mechanism in withdrawing zakat, so that the government would apply the principles of justice while cutting the salaries of civil servants. In this case, the government should seriously observe and consider the fulfillment of the 'haul' and 'nisab' aspects in applying the zakat policy.

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According to Dahnil, nisab is the minimum amount of wealth/income that is subject to zakat, while haul is the one-year term needed for wealth (such as merchandise, gold, and cattle) to be subject to zakat.

"When the state withdraws zakat from the salaries of civil servants without fulfilling the aspect of nisab, it means that the state is committing cruelty against them. This would be different in the case of state cuts made as funds for charity. Charity is not obligatory, and the amount is not regulated like the obligatory zakat," he remarked.

He revealed that zakat can be paid per month or per year. However, many Islamic scholars suggest that zakat be paid after the earning is received.

Meanwhile, Minister of Religious Affairs Lukman Hakim Saifuddin explained that the government was currently drafting rules regarding ASN salary deductions for zakat. The discussion is still going on in the Religious Affairs Ministry. The ministry is absorbing public aspirations and academic studies.

According to Saifuddin, the issue of ASN salary cuts for zakat is not a new issue as it refers to Law No. 23 of 2011 on Zakat Management, Government Regulation (PP) 14 of 2014 on the Implementation of Zakat, Presidential Instruction No. 3 of 2014 on the Optimizing of Zakat Collection at the Ministries/state firms, and Religious Ministerial Regulation No. 52 year 2014 on Sharia and Procedures for Calculation of Zakat.

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