Islamic welfare system dealing with the poor in rural area

Abstract

This paper try to review the practice of Islamic welfare system (such as zaka,
waqf, shadaqa, infaq, hibah and qurban) dealing with poor people in rural area.
Then, this study looks at four main issues, namely how the structure of the
commitee, the management of such system, fund rising strategy, and people
accessibility to this welfare system. In order to deal with this, it is used some
frameworks namely; firstly, the welfare strategy as proposed by Spicker (1995)
including economic production, redistribution, and solidarity. Secondly, the concept
of welfare offered by Azmi (1991), Midgley (1997), and Zastrow (2004).
This research took place in North and South Wonorejo, a village located in Magelang
district, Central Java. Finding of this research shows that this scheme has operated
conventionaly and has not contributed much on enhancing people welfare.
There is no formal institution that organizes all element of such scheme. As the
social welfare institution, this system ideally offers program, benefits and services
that help people meets those social, economic, educational and health needs.
However, there is no specific program for the poor people offered by the committee
of the Islamic welfare scheme.

Studi ini berusaha mengkaji praktik system kesejahteraan dalam Islam (seperti
zakat, wakaf, shadaqah, infak, hibah dan qurban) dalam hubungannya dengan
masyarakat miskin di wilayah pedesaan. Kajian melihat empat persoalan utama,
yakni bagaimana struktur panitia, pengelolaan sistem kesejahteraan, strategi
pengumpulan dana, dan akses masyarakat terhadap sistem tersebut. Untuk
menjawab persoalan ini, kajian mempergunakan kerangka kerja antara lain strategi
kesejahteraan sebagaimana diusulkan Spicker (1995) termasuk produksi,
redsitribusi, dan solidaritas ekonomi, dan konsep kesejahteraan sebagaimana
dikemukakan Azmi (1991), Midgley (1997), dan Zastrow (2004). Kajian ini
dilakukan di Desa Wonorejo Utara dan Selatan, Magelang, Jawa Tengah. Kajian
ini menemukan antara lain: skema kesejahteraan masih dilakukan secara
konvensional dan tidak banyak berkontribusi terhadap kesejahteraan masyarakat.
Tidak ada lembaga resmi yang mengorganisir semua unsur dalam skema tersebut.
Sebagai lembaga kesejahteraan sosial, sistem ini idealnya menawarkan program,
manfaat dan layanan yang menolong masyarakat dalam memenuhi
kebutuhan-kebutuhan ekonomi, sosial, pendidikan dan kesehatan. Namun
demikian, tidak ada program khusus bagi masyarakat miskin yang ditawarkan
oleh pengelola skema kesejahteraan Islam.