Towards A Unified Zakat System

5.2.11 Shariah supervisory committee (SSC)To insure accountability and to verify that alltransactions conducted by an Islamic bank are observingShariah principles, each Islamic bank employs a SSC.Similar committees plays a major role in the Saudi ZakatDepartment by monitoring and providing advice on companiesdealing with Zakat. According to the Ministry of Finance(1988) all employees in the department monitoring Zakat areappointed by and receive salaries from the government. Inthe other GCC countries, there is no organisation whichregulates Zakat, but the Islamic banks in those countrieseach have a SSC to monitor and control all bank activitiesand transactions, especially Zakat calculation anddistribution. This committee is appointed by and receives asalary from the bank. Given that the committee is appointedby the bank, this would bring into question itsindependence, since it might be expected to be influencedby the bank authority. Management could influence thecommittee's opinion when making decisions about Zakat. Itwas, therefore, important to investigate the perceptions,of the selected respondents, regarding the appointment ofand salaries paid to the SSC.Research Question (11)" What are the various perceptions, of the selected groups ofrespondents, of who should appoint and pay for the SSC?176