Integrating Zakat and Waqf in Islamic Social Finance: Models, Governance, and Implementation Challenges in Recent Literature

Abstract

Zakat and waqf are administered through two separate institutional tracks although both pursue the same objectives of welfare and poverty alleviation, and this separation limits their combined effect. This study maps the direction of research on their integration and establishes the conditions under which integration can operate accountably. It applies a library research method with a qualitative descriptive-analytical approach, drawing on content analysis of twenty one peer-reviewed articles published between 2020 and 2022 and indexed in Scopus, the Directory of Open Access Journals, SINTA, and Garuda, analysed through reduction, thematic categorisation, and synthesis, with claims triangulated across independent sources. Three findings emerge. The literature has shifted from normative argument towards operational design, producing four models: a hybrid service model in which endowment funds a facility and zakat funds recipient access, cash waqf linked to sovereign instruments, micro waqf banks supporting micro-entrepreneurs, and the productive use of endowed land. The binding constraint is institutional rather than jurisprudential, since regulatory fragmentation, limited administrator capacity, and the absence of uniform reporting standards restrict practice far more than any disagreement over Islamic law. Digitalisation widens collection and improves traceability but secures the integrity of records rather than the accuracy of what is recorded, so it cannot substitute for governance reform. The study concludes that integration is feasible at the level of programmes and beneficiaries while the two funds remain separately accounted for, and it specifies five governance prerequisites that institutions and regulators can apply without legislative amendment.