Zakat Management as a Tool for the Economic Empowerment of the Muslim Community: An Empirical Study of BAZNAS’s Role in Improving Community Well-Being

Productive zakat management by the National Zakat Agency (BAZNAS) is often assumed to linearly alleviate poverty without examining operational barriers at the field level. This study aims to analyze zakat management by the National Zakat Agency (BAZNAS) of City X as an instrument for the economic empowerment of the Muslim community and its impact on community well-being. Using a descriptive qualitative approach, data were collected through in-depth interviews with BAZNAS representatives and mustahik, observation, and documentation studies. The results reveal that the business capital program increased average income by 25–30%, but it also faced critical operational barriers, including fragmented mustahik data that is not yet digitally integrated, limited competence of amil human resources in micro business management, and minimal sustainability of post-distribution mentoring, which often triggers bias in assessing program success. This study recommends practical implications for BAZNAS to accelerate the digitalization of its database and to institutionalize a sustainable business mentoring unit in order to improve zakat governance comprehensively. This study concludes that optimizing zakat as an instrument of economic independence cannot rely solely on the amount of funds allocated, but requires governance reform through database digitalization and the strengthening of sustainable business mentoring.