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on Zakat management. The mosque committee indicated that the villagers understand that Zakat

is compulsory; however, they do not have adequate knowledge in terms of practice such as kinds
of Zakat, different conditions of Zakat and Zakat. These reduce amount of Zakat collected at

Baan Kota. The second issue is reluctance among the villagers who possess enough properties
and required to pay Zakat on their properties. Many rich people in the village tend to ignore this

pillar of Islam.

These two main issues should be seriously look into by the Zakat committee. The committee
pointed out that they should regularly communicate with the villagers so that they may

understand their role and obligation related to Zakat. Khutbah on Zakat should be regularly made
in the mosque to encourage the villagers to pay Zakat. Personal talk and communication can also

be made among the villagers, in particular the rich. The Satun Provincial Islamic Council should
also pray the role in promoting Zakat awareness among the people in the province. Zakat festival

can be a good start. Printed and non-printed media, especially social media, can be used to tackle

this issue. The 3% Zakat collection at the provincial level can be used for this purpose. In
addition, governmental and non-governmental organisations can be used as partners to promote

Zakat awareness and payment in the Muslim communities. Village, provincial and national Zakat
management institutions need to be created to directly oversee this institution. It can be a part of

the Central Islamic Council of Thailand and is governed by a specific regulation under the

Council.

In summary, the results in this study indicate that most Zakat payment is done through the Zakat

committee formed among the mosque committee. However, it is limited to only Zakat fitr. A
small number of the villagers pay Zakat on properties and Zakat fitr by themselves. The trend is

increasing as the villagers see the effectiveness of Zakat management of the Zakat committee.

5. Conclusion

Zakat is an important pillar of Islam in which many Muslims neglect. The effective management

of Zakat institutions shall bring about the promotion of social welfare and poverty reduction in
Muslim communities around the world. The institutional structures of Zakat in Muslim countries

tend to follow formal ministerial structure where Zakat institutions fall under ministry of

religious affairs. With some exceptions, non-Muslim countries tend to follow informal structure