From Charity to Risk Governance

Zakat, Infaq and Islamic Social Finance in Disaster Response in Aceh

Abstract

This article examines the legal and institutional conditions under which zakat and infaq administered by Baitul Mal Aceh can complement disaster response and socioeconomic recovery without compromising Islamic beneficiary restrictions or public accountability. It revisits documentary claims concerning 2020–2024 through a normative–sociolegal case study combining Aceh’s special-autonomy framework, the law of zakat distribution, published institutional accounts and disaster-risk governance literature. The central finding is conditional rather than celebratory. Aceh’s legal architecture permits a distinctive form of publicly administered Islamic social finance, while an institutional account confirms the use of the gharimin category for disaster-affected recipients. Yet expenditure on immediate relief is not equivalent to risk mitigation, and aggregate collection or distribution figures cannot establish causal poverty reduction or disaster resilience. Official 2023 and 2024 budget and financial statements provide a firmer basis for examining fund restrictions, programme classification and accounting balances than several uncorroborated figures in the initial manuscript. Drawing on maqasid al-shari'ah and the Sendai Framework, the article develops a restricted-fund, stage-sensitive governance model organised around eligibility, additionality, traceability and resilience. It proposes separate accounting for zakat and infaq, needs-based eligibility decisions, interagency referral protocols, auditable digital records and outcome measurement. The study contributes a framework for distinguishing lawful emergency redistribution from demonstrable disaster-risk reduction in a subnational Islamic public-finance institution.