Administering an Islamic Public Value by a Non-Muslim Agency: The UNHCR Refugee Zakat Fund

The post-Arab Spring conflicts generated large-scale displacement across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), producing acute humanitarian needs among predominantly Muslim refugee populations. The United Nations High Commissioner to refugees responded by opening the Refugee Zakat Fund, to be used to mobilize the Islamic philanthropic resources to emergency relief efforts. The implementation of a non -Muslim multiparty organization to reach Zakat as a key cornerstone of Islamic social finance has created long-term academic controversy in relation to theological legitimacy, authority to govern, accountability, and institutional sovereignty. Two analytical strands are fulfilled in this paper. First, it critically examines the distribution and efficiency debate surrounding the UNHCR Refugee Zakat Fund, including questions of scale, the “100% distribution” policy, traceability, and compliance with classical Zakat jurisprudence. Second, it suggests a more reform-based structure, which recommends organized convergence of international humanitarian systems with local Islamic organizations to balance the operational competence and Shariah principles of governance. Using the policy documents, the literature, and the data of the institutions, the paper places the UNHCR initiative into the wider context of the discourse of Islamic public value and humanitarian management on the global scale. This paper contributes to Public Administration scholarship by conceptualizing Zakat governance as a hybrid model that requires balancing operational efficiency with theological legitimacy.