The Zakat Collection Centre of the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Council (PPZ-MAIWP) in Malaysia has begun piloting a software-only point-of-sale (softPOS) solution that enables designated collectors to accept contactless charitable donations on their Android NFC smartphone.
The pilot allows Muslims to make traditional zakat fitrah donations to support charitable food distribution during Ramadan by tapping their contactless debit card on a collector’s mobile device at PPZ-MAIWP’s main office, the Al-Syakirin Mosque and the Jalan Masjid India pedestrian shopping street in Kuala Lumpur.
“We will be among the first government-mandated zakat institutions in the world to accept card payment via tap on phone […] which will enable those wanting to contribute their zakat with MyDebit (ATM cards) powered by Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd [‘PayNet’],” PPZ-MAIWP says.
“As the society turn to cashless solutions to pay for their daily activities, we believe this will offer a more convenient option for those with many dependents and encourage the younger cashless generation to fulfil their Islamic duties, Insya-Allah PPZ-MAIWP targets a total zakat fitrah collection of RM13.8m [US$3.11m] throughout Ramadan this year.”
PPZ-MAIWP is trialling the service using the Fasstap softPOS solution developed by Malaysia-based payments technology provider Softspace that can also be used to accept payments above the Malaysian contactless limit of RM250 (US$56) that require verification with a PIN.
A short video shows how Fasstap works.
“Following this pilot, PPZ-MAIWP foresees a full deployment of Fasstap, where the zakat collection will be extended to other types of zakat harta, including zakat pendapatan (income), zakat emas (gold), zakat simpanan (savings) to name a few,” PPZ-MAIWP adds.
“There are also plans for Fasspay to develop a zakat-friendly payment ecosystem where key details can be entered before generating an official PPZ-MAIWP receipt, which will be emailed directly to each zakat payer for records and tax exemption purposes.”
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