Exploring the Lived Experience of Zakat Awareness and Legal Consciousness among Muslim Urban Entrepreneurs in Indonesia
Keywords:
Islamic Law, Phenomenology, Legal Consciousness, Zakat, Spiritual Experience, Maqāṣid al-Sharī‘ahAbstract
Islamic law, as both a legal and ethical framework, governs not only behavior but also the moral and spiritual consciousness of Muslims in daily life. Within this context, the phenomenon of zakat represents a critical intersection between faith, law, and social justice, yet the subjective experience of those who practice it remains understudied. Despite extensive legal and economic studies, little is known about how Muslim entrepreneurs experience zakat as an act of spiritual accountability and legal compliance. This study addresses that gap by exploring how Muslim urban entrepreneurs construct and interpret the meaning of zakat in their lived experiences. Using an Interpretative Phenomenological Approach (IPA), this research examines participants’ narratives to reveal how zakat is experienced as both a spiritual awakening and a moral obligation. To ensure methodological transparency, the study employs purposive sampling, selecting eight Muslim entrepreneurs whose business scale and consistent zakat practices make them information-rich cases relevant to the phenomenon. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with eight Muslim entrepreneurs in Indonesia and analyzed using a systematic, multi-stage IPA coding procedure to enhance analytical rigor, including initial noting, emergent theme development, and cross-case abstraction. The results show that zakat is not perceived merely as a juridical duty but as an existential practice uniting divine accountability, ethical reflection, and social responsibility. These insights expand the understanding of Islamic law as a lived moral phenomenon, providing a bridge between doctrinal interpretation and experiential reality. Overall, the study offers a concise yet methodologically robust contribution to Islamic legal scholarship by clarifying how analytical rigor and sampling decisions support the phenomenological interpretation of lived spirituality among contemporary Muslim professionals.
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