Conception of Zakat from an Islamic perspective

Poverty in Islam is concerned with insufficiency of income and the inability in fulfilling basic human
needs. One is considered poor if he does not possess sufficient necessities to fulfill his basic needs (The
World Bank Group. Poverty Trends and Voices of the Poor. 4th Ed, May 2001)

Islam views poverty as a threat to human’s believes and to the security and stability of the society as a
whole. The objectives (Maqassid) of Shari’a in preserving faith, human soul, progeny, property and mind
will be difficult to fulfill in the state of poverty (Al-Abdin 1997).

These objectives require the provision of basic human needs so that people may not be obliged to cross
the limits of religion and morality (Al-Qaradawi 1393H).

Indeed, the Prophet (P.B.U.H) linked poverty to unbelief by saying, “Poverty is almost like unbelief in
God”( Abu Na’im in Al Hilyah, Al Bayhaqi and Al Tabarani)

Islam looks upon poverty as a religious and social problem, which pushes a person to lowliness, sin and
crime (Al-Abdin 1997).

That is why the Prophet (P.B.U.H) sought the refuge of Allah from it by saying “O Allah ,I seek your
refuge from poverty ,insufficiency and lowliness”.(Abu Dawud ,Al Nissa’I, Ibn Majah and Al Hakim)

Poverty in Islamic Sources

The terms fakr, fakir and plural form fukara are mentioned in the Qur’an twelve times. When these
verses are examined, it is seen that two speak of “spiritual poverty.” (The Quran)

The remaining verses are related to “material poverty” and mean helping, protecting, and sheltering
poor people. (The Quran)

In these verses, those who are not rich have material needs and require other peoples’ help. Thus, it is
seen that the majority of verses deal with material poverty.

The words for poverty in the hadiths are generally used in the same way. There are many hadiths
related to poverty and the poor and these hadiths mainly refer to “material poverty” as it is in the
Qur’an.
Islamic Understanding of Poverty

A group of people called “zuhhad” affected mostly by foreign cultures such as Iranian and Indian
emerged that advocated withdrawal from food and worldly goods. Later, this current of thought found a
place for itself in the area of tasawuf and deeply affected the entire Islamic world. (Studies in Islam and
the Middle East journal [SIME], January 2005 by Osman GÜNER)

Islam does not have any negative attitudes towards property; instead it places great value on prosperity
as long as it is used properly. Again, Islam basically does not see poverty as a virtue, but as a social
anomaly that must be alleviated, and a situation from which a Muslim should pray to Allah to be
protected from its consequences. (Studies in Islam and the Middle East journal [SIME], January 2005 by
Osman GÜNER)

This understanding has become an important threat to the political and economic independency of
Muslim communities. (Studies in Islam and the Middle East journal [SIME], January 2005 by Osman
GÜNER)

Classification of Poverty

Poverty can be interrelated to two basic classifications of poor, which are faqir who are the needy, and
miskin who are the poor, as identified and understood in Islam.
Faqir: someone who can only satisfy less than half of his basic necessities
Miskin: a poor man who can satisfy half or more of his basic necessities, but is still below the minimum
requirement of basic necessities required. (Significance of Islamic Economy Towards poverty Alleviation,
Mohd. Ma’sum Billah)

In another classification there are three distinct concepts of poverty: These concepts dominate the
literature on poverty.

Absolute poverty: inability to attain a minimal standard of living (WB, 1990a: 26). It, thus, tends to
emphasize the notion of subsistence: the attainment of which is necessary for existence, i.e. survival.

Relative poverty: identifies the poor relative to other segments of the society, i.e. relative to a
comparator group. Thus, has much to do with the issue of inequality (income and wealth distribution.
Subjective poverty: is a self-defined concept and it reflects the attitude and perception of a person
towards what is regarded as minimum to meet basic needs, i.e. it compares “actual income against the
earner's expectations and perceptions” (WB, ibid:67).

Why poverty persists?

Towards The Establishment of Poverty reduction strategies

In September 1999, the Annual Meetings of the WB and the IMF saw the development of the notion of
“Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs)”, which resulted from an agreement that each country must
have a nationally-owned participatory poverty reduction strategy programme (PRSP) as a basis for all
WB and IMF concessional lending and debt relief. (UN NGLS (2002).)

The United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000 has produced what are known as the
‘Millennium Development Goals’ (MDGs). The first of the MDGs is to eradicate extreme poverty and
hunger by halving, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one
dollar a day and the proportion of those who suffer from hunger. (UN NGLS (2002).)

For fourteen centuries, however, Islam has been calling on people to fight poverty at all levels via many
voluntary and compulsory measures, both financial and non-financial.

In 1996 the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) published its “Strategic Agenda for the
Medium-Term: Priorities and Main Operational Aspect” with poverty alleviation and human resource
development as two of the key five development themes. This coincided with the declaration of “1996
the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty” by the General Assembly of the United Nations.

The Bank is, therefore, renewing its commitment to support its member countries in achieving their
socioeconomic development goals.

Only East and South Asia regions (but not necessarily all the countries in these regions) are expected to
reduce poverty by half in 2015; meaning that all developing regions have lost momentum in achieving
their poverty goals. (THE CHALLENGES OF POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN IDB MEMBER COUNTRIES Dr. Siddig
Abdelmageed Salih 1999)
Why Poverty cannot be eliminated?

The empirical findings confirm the widely held view that the magnitude of poverty in the Muslim world
is high, if not the highest in the world. (THE CHALLENGES OF POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN IDB MEMBER
COUNTRIES Dr. Siddig Abdelmageed Salih Rajab 1420H (October 1999)

Even in Islamic Economic system Poverty cannot be eliminated because there is either:

1. Unavailability of poverty alleviation strategies

2. Failure to implement these strategies

These strategies consist of four main elements: Economic Growth, Income Distribution, Investment in
human Capital and the development of sociopolitical institutions and arrangements dealing with the
poor.

These broad strategies, although interrelated, could have different impacts in the long-term and in the
immediate and short-terms, on the sustainable reduction of chronic, transitory and other types of
poverty.

The four main elements:

1. Investment in human Capital

Social investments (in education, health and social security) can reduce poverty by improving the
productivity and health of all people, particularly the poor.

2. Economic Growth

Reading through the United Nations Human Development Reports, countries that were able to achieve a
sustainable reduction in poverty are those that achieved sustained levels of economic growth and
development. Notable examples are Korea, Malaysia, and Singapore among others in which poverty has
been reduced to below 15%. (ELIMINATION OF POVERTY: CHALLENGES AND ISLAMIC STRATEGIES
ISMAIL SIRAGELDIN*, 2000)
 3. Distribution

Development experience suggests that a highly unequal income distribution makes it harder to reduce
poverty (Demery and Walton 1997)

That is, incidence of poverty is a function of both economic growth and income distribution.

The establishment of an equitable distribution system calls for certain governmental functions. This will
overlap to other factors such as investment in human capital and development of sociopolitical
institutions.

4. Development of sociopolitical institutions:

In the prevailing political economy of the time, government role should be conducive to sustaining
broad-based economic growth, equity and social progress.

Poor governance and market failure are two aspects, which should be properly addressed to attain
justice in the economic activities, which will help in poverty eradication. (Norbaini bt. Abdul. An Islamic
view on poverty : a preliminary study (1993) International Islamic University, Petaling Jaya)

The institutions of Zakat, sadaqatul fitr, inheritance, waqf etc. come under this category. In these cases,
one has to dispose one’s wealth to one’s fellow-beings whereby have-nots become better off. Mutual
gifts, endowments and other optional charities, on which Islam places a heavy emphasis, also reduce the
disparity between the haves and the have-nots of society (Detail information on, Abul Khair Mohd
Jalaluddin, The Theory of Distribution in Islam)