Abstract:

To pay Zakat (alms) is an obligation for a Muslim. However, this religious obligation cannot encourage Muslims in Indonesia to pay Zakat. In fact, in several  cities, some Zakat organizations are established to collect the zakat. Some of them is the BAZNAS which is spread in most cities in Indonesia. In fact, this organization is a semi-government because there are some collaborations between the BAZNAS and local government in most regions. This collaboration indicates also that it tries to get benefit from the modern and established government structure. This article aims to know the BAZNAS negoitation with modernity, specifically it wants to deal with the BAZNAS effort s to modernize its zakat socialization  in Indonesia. Using an ethnographic study, this article finds that the semi-modern zakat organization like the BAZNAS Kepulauan Meranti Indonesia deals with a complicated negoitation with modernity. In fact, there is a religious understanding among Muslims there that to pay zakat is an obligation but it cannot deal with their religious awareness to pay zakat. This shows that disseminating the zakat payment obligation is a never ending project. It also indicates that the BAZNAS should not necessarily improve Muslim understanding about Zakat but it needs to strengthen the implementation modern values in its organization structures and zakat socialization.