Islamic Case Study: Zakah alleviating poverty through tax rebate
by Dr. Magda Ismail & Buerhan SaitiFrom a mere glance at Muslim countries today, we realize that they are classified as third world countries even though they are adopting a secular system. The recent statistical data of 2009 shows that the majority of people who live below poverty are found in Muslim countries such as; Afghanistan 53%, Eritrea 50%, Yemen 45%, Bangladesh 45%, Sudan 40%, Pakistan 24%, Algeria 23%, Egypt 20%, Turkey 20%, and Indonesia 18%. Some scholars related this fact to the oppression, humiliation and the bad policies which had been imposed to almost all Muslim countries during colonization and which continued up to the present time. Others related this to the incompetence and the corruption on the part of their governments. We cannot deny the above mentioned reasons as the catalyst for the spread of poverty in the Islamic world and the recent uprisings. However, we believe that the main reason impeding Muslims themselves is the neglect exhibited towards their Islamic institutions forgetting the advice of the Prophet (pbuh) who said:
