Digital entrepreneurship empowerment for asnaf zakat families from the B-40 Muslims in Malaysia

Despite the country’s general socio-economic development, the Department of Statistics Malaysia’s recent report reveals that poverty has overtaken more households. It can be confirmed that pockets of poverty in Gombak are rampant among the elderly, women, and Bumiputera youths. However, the Lembaga Zakat Selangor (LZS) is active in its socio-economic relief package and empowerment initiatives. The LZS’s efforts aim to achieve the Maqāṣid Sharī‘ah goal of empowering human resources. This is achieved by activating halal digital empowerment for the asnaf (eligible recipients) zakat families in Malaysia, specifically those belonging to the B-40 (bottom 40% income) group. Moreover, contemporary juristic opinions suggest that empowering some of the asnaf is necessary to achieve the higher objective of Sharī‘ah, which is to protect personality, wealth, and family institutions. However, the reviewed studies indicate a lack of research on the potential of Sharī‘ah-compliant digital enterprises and their effectiveness in empowering the female asnaf zakat. This study aims to investigate the accessibility to and effectiveness of digital empowerment in alleviating poverty for asnaf families in Malaysia. While face-to-face businesses may persist, the prominence of the digital economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic is crucial. The use of cash transactions is becoming obsolete, but the readiness of Islamic social finance, especially in digital empowerment, is yet unknown, triggering the dire need for zakat institutions to explore digital entrepreneurship empowerment for women among the asnaf zakat. This study is motivated by the fact that one of Sharī‘ah’s significantly higher objectives is to repel hardship rather than to attract benefits. As a result, digital poverty has been on the rise since the COVID-19 lockdown, and the recovery stage necessitates a robust approach to reducing the digital challenges of the less privileged through the empowerment of digital entrepreneurs among Zakat recipients. The study is qualitative, employing two main approaches. It uses interview data to investigate Sharī‘ah scholars of Islamic social finance’s perspective on juristic conditioning for the empowerment of asnaf zakat. Conversely, the study employs a systematic literature review approach to explore sustainable halal business recommendations for female asnaf zakat. The study aims to determine the Sharī‘ah parameters for zakat asnaf empowerment using applicable and sustainable digital businesses in Malaysia. This research aims to recommend collaboration with significant Islamic financial institutions and the halal industry to achieve sustainable digital empowerment for the female asnaf zakat.