Paying Zakat is one of the five main pillars of Islam. There are already clear, definite and indisputable rules to calculate and pay Zakat. We have to calculate once a year based on our all possessions, property, merchandise, cash etc.

I am amused but also rather worried about the newly introduced Zakat monthly collection by the Inland Revenue Board (IRB). As the new calculation is based on monthly income, it will be totally wrong from the traditional calculation method mentioned above.

The established Islamic calculation is never based on monthly income but on yearly possessions. It is calculated after legitimate expenses for food, education, health etc. It depends on how we use our possessions, for self-use or commercial use.

Beware! Don't make or create new rules in Islam. It will be the biggest sin.

And besides, some of us want to manage and pay our Zakat ourselves. Some of us want to send it back to our distant roots. Or we may want to send it to poorer, famine-ridden or war-torn countries. Not forgetting downtrodden Muslim minorities throughout the world.

Because of the favorable exchange rate and lower costs of living in these places, we could help a dozen number of people if we send our Zakat there.

And one important thing to remember is that we are not allowed to pay Zakat with the expectation of some kind of reciprocal return of favours.

So it may be a great sin if someone we trusted to distribute our Zakat misuses it by donating it to the poor just before the elections to fish for votes.

So even if the government wants to gazette and authorise the IRB to collect monthly Zakat payments from our salary, please don't make it compulsory. Make it a voluntary exercise.

The IRB is welcome to recognise our Zakat payments, if we choose to pay it ourselves, as a tax deductible expenditure.