Fatwa Pluralism on Zakat in Indonesia.

This paper examines the production of fatwas and pluralism of the Islamic legal perspective on almsgiving (zakat) issued by Muslim civil society organizations in Indonesia and analyzes the goals, methods, and logic of Islamic scholars in formulating their religious judgments (fatwa). Religious teachings have been instrumental in underpinning the spirit of giving and volunteering. Yet, questions about how religious teachings are interpreted through various Islamic legal examinations remain interesting to discuss, partly because the nuances of the fatwa on zakat indicate Muslims' pluralistic and dynamic reception of Islamic teachings. Some Muslim civil society organizations have produced hundreds of fatwas on zakat in response to Muslim communities' questions. This paper argues that efforts to contextualize zakat practices and endeavors to preserve the orthodoxy of the zakat tradition among Indonesian Islamic scholars and fatwa institutions have led to diversity in formulating legal reasoning and in turn resulted in fatwa pluralism and fragmented zakat practices in Indonesia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]