Zakat is an instrument of Islamic economic and social funds that contributes to the achievement of people wellbeing. This study examines the business growth as a mediating variable on the relationship between the impact of the zakat empowerment programs and mustahiq’s (zakat recipient) welfare. This quantitative study employs Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) analysis on 100 mustahiqs from different zakat empowerment programs in East Java and DI Yogyakarta. Zakat empowerment positively affects mustahiq’s welfare. This indicates that the empowerment program successfully increases mustahiqs’ wellbeing and their business. Business growth as a mediating variable on the relationship between business assistantship and mustahiq welfare also shows a positive and significant effect. Further, macroeconomic indicators consisting of GRDP and inflation and internal factors consisting of age and educational level, have different impacts on the business growth of mustahiq. This study confirms the zakat empowerment program’s role in improving the mustahiq’s welfare based on maqashid al-shariah (the Islamic objectives). Zakat community empowerment is a solution to suppress the poverty rate and possible for reducing inequality and ending poverty in Indonesia. This study extends the literature by providing a unique measurement of mustahiq welfare. This study incorporates maqashid al-shariah considerations to measure the wellbeing.

This study proposed an integrated model of Islamic Social Finance (ISF) to accelerate the transformation of the poor toward prosperity. This is a qualitative and quantitative approach using grounded theory and the Average Weighted Index (AWI). The integration model of Islamic social finance is implemented through 4 ER (Economic Rescue, Economic Recovery, Economic Reinforcement, and Economic Resilience) by integrating Islamic social finance instruments in a joint project scheme. The additional finding of the empirical investigation shows that integrated Islamic social finance is 12% more effective in enriching the poor than the non-integrated program. This study emphasizes the significance of integrating Islamic social finance in accelerating the well-being of the poor community.

This research aims to examine the effects of the Islamic social finance (zakat), the Islamic Human Development Index (IHDI), and the quality of governance on poverty alleviation in 39 Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member countries from 2007 to 2020. This study uses a fixed effect model to analyze the relationship between variables. The findings show that the Islamic human development index, as a proxy for the quality of human resources, supports the reduction of poverty in OIC countries. Furthermore, the zakat, voice and accountability, and trade openness have a negative and significant relationship with poverty. The quality of governance, population, inflation, and exchange rate, on the other hand, has no significant effect on the poverty rate. These findings can be used as the foundation for state government as the policymaker to solve poverty. The uniqueness of this study is the application of the modified human development index based on the five Islamic objectives and empirically investigates its impact on poverty.

This study attempts to identify the causes and dominant factors that hinder the development of cash waqf in Indonesia, using the IFE-EFE Matrix and SWOT methods, while offering solutions to solve it. Based on the results of IFE analysis, the highest-rank of strengths is the ability of cash waqf in expanding the base of waqf fund sources followed by the ease and zero cost of funds. In comparison, the top weaknesses are the lack of socialisation to the community and the lack of professional nazhir human resources. The results of EFE analysis imply the highest-rank opportunity is the potential of unlimited cash waqf followed by the emergence of many sharia financial institutions and Islamic economics study programs in universities. Meanwhile, the top threat is a weak political will of authorities, followed by the majority of traditional nazhir. It is expected that there will be a joint commitment from various parties, both from policymakers and academics and practitioners to support and encourage efforts to develop the Islamic (social) finance industry, especially in developing cash waqf in Indonesia.

Background: People are more aware of halal products in commodity markets. Halal meat is an essential commodity for society in the Islamic commodity market in particular. The objective of this study was to analyze differences in research trends related to halal meat in published papers indexed by Scopus and Web of Science. The objective is to observe how was halal meat as commodity become the trend of research written by Indonesian authors, as well as what was the novelty of the research trend related to such tiopic. Methods: This study used purposive sampling with a bibliometric approach in collecting the samples. The samples were published papers from the Scopus and Web of Science (SCI) databases from 2006 to 25 th October 2021. The were 154 samples found from cSopus and 50 samples in Web of Science (SCI). Analysis was performed by VOSviewer and biblioshiny. Results: Overall, 154 papers from Scopus and 50 from SCI were analyzed. Scopus and SCI exhibited different research trends. Moreover, papers from Scopus were dominated by Indonesian authors; those from SCI were not. The source growth of published papers in SCI was more dynamic than that in Scopus. The research trends in papers from SCI were more focused on the types of meat and the source itself. This was different to papers in Scopus, which placed greater emphasis on the supply chain. Conclusions: This paper can act as a reference for continued research into halal meat in commodity markets, especially in Islamic countries. This paper is the first to compare the research trends in halal meat in the commodity market by comparing the differences in two major indexes, Scopus and SCI.

Purpose: The implementation of zakat fund management especially in some zakat institutions is considered not optimum yet. This condition is represented by disparity between potential and actual collection. In Islam, the objective of zakat is not only to collect wealth and keep it idle, instead zakat should become a source of productive fund to fulfill societal needs. Some countries with advanced zakat institutions have developed zakat to become a pillar of economic development. Today, each zakat institution is competing against each other to innovate in zakat fund management. Empowerment in zakat institutions with the appropriate strategies will enhance zakat management and distribution for the betterment of zakat recipients (mustahiq) and the Muslim society at large. Design/Methodology/Approach: This research is aimed to analyze optimization of management in regional zakat institution with SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity, threat) analysis approach with IFE-EFE Matrix. Descriptive qualitative analysis is used to explain optimization of fund in zakat institution. Major Findings:Findings of this research shows that zakat institution should improve their strategy by developing strength and turning threat into opportunities. Originality/Value: The study provides a guideline for regional zakat institution on how they can enhance their role and efficiency to boost the economic growth for the Islamic community in Indonesia. It may also be instrumental for the government to improve in efficiency and innovative manpower, considerable research and development in optimizing Islamic Gift Economy to enhance economic growth of the Islamic community of Indonesia.