Djakat — Atjehnese/Dutch spelling of Arabic zakāt (زكاة), the obligatory alms-tax on wealth, “the third of the five pillars of Islam” — is the contribution that every Muslim must pay on certain categories of property (agricultural produce, livestock, merchandise, gold and silver) at fixed rates, for distribution to specified categories of recipients named in the Quran (the poor, the needy, those in debt, etc.). The Atjeh form of the djakat, and its collection, is recorded in Prof. Dr. Kernkamp’s chapter De invloed van den Islam in Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk (1946).
The Atjeh djakat
Kernkamp’s account of the djakat places it within the broader Indonesian context of Islamic obligatory contributions. He notes that “the Islam knows yet a second religious tax — and then no more: what is further demanded by superiors is of the Devil! — which consists of the tithes of various agricultural products and (under certain conditions) a smaller percentage of livestock, merchandise, and gold and silver. In the Indies, one pays almost exclusively the tithes of the harvest, a few very pious persons not excepted. In a land with a non-Muslim government, no collection or distribution of it naturally takes place on the part of the fiscus. The tax, called djakat on Java, which forms the third of the 5 pillars of Islam, is therefore paid entirely voluntarily, as is also the pitrah.”
In Atjeh, Kernkamp further specifies, the djakat is collected by the imam (rather than by the lebé as in West Java): “in West Java one knows a hierarchical collection by the religious officials, beginning in the desa and with the top at the Regentship-head-place. There the lebé’s go round in the villages in harvest month and get from each tani some padi. (In the Gajo and Alas lands, the imam does this, for example.) Elsewhere, for example in Atjeh, the candidates wait calmly for what one wishes to bring them.” The contrast between the hierarchical West-Javanese collection and the Atjeh “wait and see” approach is characteristic of the looser institutional structure of Atjeh Islam, in which the village imam waits at the meunasah for the householders to bring their contributions rather than going round to collect them.
Significance
For the Atjeh-focused reader, the djakat is significant as one of the three principal Islamic obligatory contributions (alongside the *pitrah* and the zakāt on mineral wealth) that Kernkamp documents for the Indies. The Atjeh form of collection — by the village imam at the meunasah, on a “wait and see” basis — places the village prayer-house and its imam at the institutional centre of Atjeh Islamic life, alongside the pitrah collection at the same venue. The same chapter notes that, in Atjeh, the kadi (religious judge, pronounced kali) had historically been independent, but that “his jurisdiction has been usurped by the secular heads, who now use them only as unsalaried advisers” — a development that places the Atjeh djakat collection in a context of institutional erosion of the religious-legal apparatus.
Dutch terms used in this article
- Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk — What the Indies Received and Gave
- Wereldbibliotheek N.V. — World Library Ltd.
- invloed van den Islam — influence of Islam
- kadi — religious judge
- kali — religious judge (Atjeh pronunciation)
- imam — prayer-leader
- lebé — village religious official
- Teungku — religious teacher (Atjeh form)
- Meunasah — village prayer-house
- meunasah — village prayer-house
- pitrah — fast-breaking alms
- djakat — wealth-alms
- pen — open/wide (Atjeh concept)
- Atjeh — Aceh
- Acheh — Aceh
- Java — Java
- Gajoland — Gayo country
- Gajo — Gayo
- Alaslanden — Alas lands
- Alasland — Alas land
- Alas — Alas
- padi — unhusked rice
- Regent — Regent
- desa — village
- Prof. Dr. — Professor Doctor
- Dr. — Doctor
Sources
The Achehnese, Vol. I, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.
See Also
- Pitrah
- Meunasah
- Teungku
- Ratib in Atjeh
- Kadar night
- Hokm
- Adat and Hokm Atjeh proverb
- Acheh
- Gajoland
- Alaslanden
- C. Snouck Hurgronje
- J. Kreemer
- Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk
- W. J. A. Kernkamp
- Holy War (Jihad) against the Dutch
- Pitrah (zakat fitrah)
- Puasa (Ramadhan fasting month)
- Teungku Tiro
- Kanduri
Source
Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk, onder leiding van Dr. C. W. Wormser (Amsterdam: Wereldbibliotheek N.V., 1946), pp. 91–92 (chapter De invloed van den Islam door Prof. Dr. W. J. A. Kernkamp).