Title: Education Zakat Distribution Practice in the Kedah Zakat Board: Analysis Towards the Maslahah and Social Principles
Abstract: Zakat is a Maliyah act of worship that involves the sharing among humans. In the distribution of zakat, the priority in a zakat institution is given to the development of human capital encompassing zakat for the education field. Additionally, the education sector is among the most important sector in the effort to develop the human capital by the government. Evidently, in the 2019 annual budget, the distribution for the education sector remains to be at the highest position which totaled RM60.2 billion or 19.1% from the entire government budget. However, simultaneously, there are a lot of people who are financially unfortunate so they face some difficulties in furthering their studies. The purpose of this study is to identify the method of distribution of the education zakat at the Lembaga Zakat Negeri Kedah (LZNK). Also, this paper discusses several maslahah principles applied by the LZNK when distributing the education zakat fund. This study adopts the qualitative research methodology by means of collecting the data through library study and site study using the interview method. Meanwhile, the data analysis method uses the inductive and deductive methods. Finally, the study finding will lead to the construction of the model and the conceptual framework of the education zakat distibution in the fiqh maslahah and social framework so that the role and sustainability of the education zakat are guaranteed and achieved.