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Nowadays, there are three major institutions which are officially responsible for managing the zakat affairs of the Muslim community in Bangkok, namely the Bangkok Islamic Religious Council, Bangkok Islamic Center Foundation and Santichon Bangkok Foundation. These three institutions face social challenges which are part of the obstacles towards the enhancement of the role of zakat among the Muslim society in Bangkok. Those social challenges can be divided into three aspects, namely the understanding, attitude and appreciation of the Muslim society towards zakat obligations. The study is based on interviews with Muslim leaders in Thailand namely Arron Boochom, the President of Bangkok Islamic Religious Council; Ismail Ali, an Adviser to the Islamic Centre of Bangkok; Banson bin Kasan, a Committee Member of Santichon Islamic Foundation; Samad Matlulim, the President of the Central Foundation Bangkok; Prasert Wongsan, the Deputy President of Santichon Islamic Foundation and Issra Santhisath, a lecturer at Chulalongkorn University. Based on the findings, these social challenges must be continously addressed by all parties in the Muslim society to ensure that the management of zakat in Bangkok will generate positive benefits enhancing the prosperity of sosio-economic life of Muslim society in Bangkok. Some recommendations are suggested in order to overcome the social challenges, namely the promotion of zakat forums, implemention of a population census and the establishment of zakat law in Thailand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam. It is a legal obligation of every Muslim. Prophet Muhammad PBUH was the leader of an Islamic government, and at once the most accountable party in zakat management, responsible for collecting zakat property from the muzakki and distributing it to the mustahiq. Currently, the main issue is that there are states with a Muslim majority but yet without the right and authority to manage zakat. In fact, zakat is handled by a legal authority in the state or exercised individually. No proper management of zakat property on the part of the government adversely affects zakat management itself, such as the right to implement zakat for Muslim citizens. Zakat management becomes ineffective and inefficient and causes injustice to mustahik. This research discusses zakat management from the viewpoint of its concept and the parties responsible for implementing it based on Islamic shariah, whether by a Muslim or non-Muslim government. Therefore, the government needs to take over responsibility for zakat management because it requires rules and regulations involving many parties. Thereby, only the government will have the legal authority and apparatus to regulate and enforce zakat among citizens. In zakat management by a state, the Muslim government must strongly uphold Islamic shariah and manage justly. As for a non-Muslim government, it must deal justly in implementing zakat management. The implication of this research is that states with a Muslim population need to give attention to the people’s interest in the aspect of implementing ibadah, particularly in affairs of zakat management, particularly by passing legislation and enforcing regulations for zakat for Muslim citizens to exercise their right to implement zakat, without compromising the rights of non-Muslims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

FX forward is a contract to buy or sell certain amount of foreign currency at a pre-agreed or locked-in exchange rate, but the delivery of currencies is done on the future. Although this contract is needed for the purpose of hedging, but the issue arises, whether FX forward fulfill the ruling of al-sarf. How to ensure that this contract is free from prohibited elements as it is needed in the context of the global economy? Since this contract involves the exchange of currency in the future, it violate the sarf requirement of spot exchange, thus incurring riba al-nasi'ah. Therefore, this paper seeks to examine Islamic FX forward contract that is structured using wa'd mulzim on one party. To achieve the objective, this study applies content analysis and interview method. The interviews are done with some shariah scholars and market players from local banks. This study found that, in order to make FX forward meets the condition of spot exchange of currencies, majority of banks adopt the principles wa'd mulzim at an early stage and the actual contract occurred on the delivery date. However, the practice of wa'd mulzim has drawback as it only protects the right of banks, while customers who are commonly the promissor exposed to the risk of default. To overcome this problem, the principle of wacdan should be explored to study its suitability and potentiality as a basis in structuring Islamic hedging products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]