Beyond Income: Expenditure-Based Poverty and the Limits of Zakat in Supporting Urban Female-Headed Households in Malaysia

This study aims to examine poverty in female-headed households receiving zakat in urban Malaysia through an expenditure-based method, rather than traditional income-based measures. Based on primary data collected from 262 households in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur in 2023, the study applies the cost-of-basic-needs (CBN) method and equivalised monthly expenditure to measure poverty incidence, depth, and severity using Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) indices. The results show that as many as 68.3% of households are still below the urban poverty line of RM2,800 per month, even after receiving zakat, and 74.0% of them state that their expenditures exceed their incomes; therefore, these households are in considerable financial distress. The household expenditure patterns reveal that the food budget accounts for more than 60% of the total budget, corresponding to a poverty incidence of 91.2% and a significantly deeper level of deprivation. The paper argues that structural vulnerabilities are the main causes of poverty, rather than marital status; thus, the stereotypes of the most disadvantaged groups in the context of zakat targeting are questioned. The point is to highlight the inefficacy of the present zakat allocation practices and emphasise the necessity of a more reliable, income-sensitive, and evidence-based framework to enhance the precision, sufficiency, and overall effectiveness of Islamic social protection in Malaysia's urban context.