His private secretary, Mohamad Munir Bani, in a statement said Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah also had been advised by state mufti Mohd Tamyes Abd Wahid that zakat money could only be given to non-Muslims if such help would result in their conversion to Islam.
“Although Islam stresses humanitarian values, zakat collected from Muslims should only be distributed among the eight categories of asnaf (zakat recipients) from among the Muslims only, including the destitute, the poor and new converts,” said the statement, which added that it was a response to news reports quoting “two muftis and a politician”.
The suggestion to open up zakat to the poor from other religions was recently made by PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, when he called for reforms of Malaysia’s zakat institutions during a conference on zakat organised by the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Council (MAIWP) and UiTM on Oct 30.
Anwar had said that in the context of a multi-racial society, Islam encouraged the distribution of zakat funds to non-Muslims without sidelining needy Muslims.
But he said the proposal would require fatwa and policy changes.
The suggestion was welcomed by US-based Islamic scholar Ebrahim Moosa, who also warned that it could face resistance from Muslims due to their lack of Islamic literacy.
Moosa had said that the giving of zakat to non-Muslims was a practice going back to classical times.
Zakat is a religious obligation for Muslims who meet several criteria of wealth. A Muslim owning wealth above a minimum amount is obliged to pay an annual rate of 2.5%.
The Selangor ruler hoped that the issue of zakat for non-Muslims would not be “debated openly in the mass media”.
“His Royal Highness does not want any one using the issues related to Islam as an opportunity to gain popularity or be in the good books of certain people,” said the statement by Munir.
Meanwhile, the sultan said helping the non-Muslim poor is an obligation of the government through various agencies.
“HRH would like to remind that there are differences in the function of the zakat and the income tax.”