From Redistribution to Empowerment: Institutional Pathways of Zakat and Waqf-Related Social Finance for Inclusive Development in Malaysia and Türkiye

Islamic social finance is increasingly presented as a mechanism through which faith-based redistribution can support poverty reduction, social protection and sustainable development. This article undertakes a structured comparative institutional analysis of Zakat and Waqf-related social finance in Malaysia and Türkiye using publicly available administrative data, audited or official financial reports, legal documents and institutional reporting. The comparative unit is the institution or reporting jurisdiction rather than a harmonised national beneficiary population; indicators are therefore interpreted within their source context and are not treated as like-for-like country performance measures. In Malaysia, MAIWP Zakat collection rose from RM1.031 billion in 2023 to RM1.134 billion in 2024, while distribution increased from RM1.019 billion to RM1.220 billion. In Selangor, collection increased from RM1.07 billion in 2022 to RM1.31 billion in 2025, with distribution rising from RM1.05 billion to RM1.33 billion. In Türkiye, VGM reported 6,180 entities in the statutory category of “new foundations” in 2024 and extensive foundation-sector welfare outputs in 2025, while TDV reported TL2.152 billion in voluntary Zakat from 259,273 donations in 2025, reaching approximately 2.16 million people. The evidence base is asymmetric: Malaysian public reporting is more detailed for Zakat and includes emerging self-reliance indicators, whereas Turkish evidence is more dispersed and relies heavily on foundation-level outputs and voluntary Zakat reporting. VGM foundation statistics are not treated as equivalent to counts of Islamic Waqf, and Waqf-specific empirical evidence is more limited than Zakat evidence, particularly for Türkiye. Because the design is descriptive and lacks beneficiary-level longitudinal or counterfactual data, the study does not infer causal developmental effects. Instead, it proposes a resource–output–outcome–impact framework for evaluating how far institutional reporting can move from documenting redistribution toward assessing sustained socioeconomic inclusion.

Islamic social finance; Zakat; Waqf-related social finance; foundations; beneficiary empowerment

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