Zakat as a Poverty Reduction Mechanism Among the Muslim Community: Case Study of Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia

Abstract

Poverty reduction remains the most important challenge for policy makers in Islamic communities. The World Bank (2010: Poverty profile in Muslim world, from http://www.worldbank.org) estimates that approximately 3 billion people are living in poverty and 46 million more people will come under the income level of US$1.25 a day due to the recent global economic meltdown and slow economic growth rates. Thirty-five percent of these people are Muslims from Islamic countries. The global Muslim community has an essential role to play in addressing the injustice of global poverty through zakat. Zakat is an Islamic faith-based institution and is being underutilized for poverty reduction in many of these poor Muslim countries. Since zakat constitutes one of the pillars of Islam, it is logical to assume that policy makers among Muslims should pay serious attention to it. However, that is not the case for many Muslim countries and this paper will show that not all Muslim countries are seriously applying zakat in its strategy of combating poverty. This paper will specifically examine the role and effect of zakat in three Muslim countries (Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia) providing the facts of countries that practise zakat in comparison with those that do not.

Full text

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Zakat as a Poverty Reduction Mechanism
Among the Muslim Community: Case Study
of Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia
Isahaque Ali
1
and Zulkarnain A. Hatta
2
1
Department of Sociology and Social Work, Gono University, Dhaka, Bangladesh;
2
Department of Social Work, School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia
Poverty reduction remains the most important challenge for policy makers in Islamic communities.
The World Bank (2010: Poverty profile in Muslim world, from http://www.worldbank.org)
estimates that approximately 3 billion people are living in poverty and 46 million more people will
come under the income level of US$1.25 a day due to the recent global economic meltdown and
slow economic growth rates. Thirty-five percent of these people are Muslims from Islamic coun-
tries. The global Muslim community has an essential role to play in addressing the injustice of glo-
bal poverty through zakat.Zakat is an Islamic faith-based institution and is being underutilized for
poverty reduction in many of these poor Muslim countries. Since zakat constitutes one of the
pillars of Islam, it is logical to assume that policy makers among Muslims should pay serious atten-
tion to it. However, that is not the case for many Muslim countries and this paper will show that
not all Muslim countries are seriously applying zakat in its strategy of combating poverty. This
paper will specifically examine the role and effect of zakat in three Muslim countries (Bangladesh,
Malaysia and Indonesia) providing the facts of countries that practise zakat in comparison with
those that do not.
Keywords Bangladesh; Indonesia; Malaysia; poverty; spirituality; zakat
doi:10.1111/aswp.12025
Introduction
Zakat is a mechanism and social work is the practice of assisting people to solve poverty
and make social change at the community, organizational, and international levels. This
paper contends that zakat should be incorporated into the Muslim community, while
social work provides knowledge for poverty reduction and the overall development strat-
egies. Drawing distinct a dichotomy between these two, they can play an important role
in wealth redistribution to enable as well as empower the poor to be more independent
and to generate income.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Isahaque Ali, Department of Sociology and Social
Work, Gono University, Mirzanogor, Savar, Dhaka 1344, Bangladesh. E-mail: ialisw@yahoo.com
©2014 The Authors
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Asian Social Work and Policy Review 8(2014) 59–70

Poverty in the majority of Muslim countries is severe, with more than 50% of their
populations being extremely poor. Islamic countries with over 1.2 billion people com-
prise six regions: North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia,
South Asia, and South-East Asia. Except for a handful of countries in South-East Asia
and the Middle East, there are high and rising poverty levels among them. Part of the
explanation for the poverty is unequal income distribution and low productivity. In
Indonesia alone, over half of the population (about 129 million) are poor or vulnerable
to poverty with incomes less than US$2 a day. The following are percentages of poverty
among the poorest Muslim countries: Burkina Faso (46.4%), Chad (64.0%), Guinea
(70.1%), Gambia (61.3%), Mali (63.8%), Mozambique (74.7%), Mauritania (46.3%),
Niger (63.0%), Nigeria (64.4%), Sierra Leone (70.2%), and Uganda (51.5%). The inci-
dence of poverty in Bangladesh (45%), Benin (47.3%), Comoros (46.1%), Guinea-Bissau
(48.8%), and Uzbekistan (46.3%) is also very high (World Bank, 2010). Bangladesh
and Pakistan account for 122 million Muslims who live below the poverty line (Islamic
Development Bank, 2011).
The above statistics underestimate the percentage of poverty in all these countries
compared with their national poverty lines, which indicates the real picture of poverty in
the respective countries.The World Bank (2010) report overestimates the percentage of
poor population (under $1.25 a day) in Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, and
Uganda compared with their national poverty lines.
Against the global benchmarks, 400 million of the 1 billion people estimated to be in
absolute poverty live in 31 of the 56 members of the Organization of Islamic Countries
(OIC); i.e. 40% of the world’s poor live in Muslim countries. In relative terms, out of 975
million people living in these countries, 400 million or 40% are below the absolute pov-
erty line. In other words, the incidence of poverty in these 56 OIC member countries is
twice the average of the developing world (Khan, 2010).
Poverty scenario in Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia
Each of the abovementioned countries has a different scenario of poverty. Although
some are relatively better off than others, poverty still remains in all of the three coun-
tries. In Bangladesh, poverty is one of the major social problems. Poverty has multidi-
mensional characteristics in Bangladesh. The level of poverty is relatively high due to the
fact that employment opportunities are limited and average income level is low. Poverty
in Bangladesh is not only a phenomenon of low income, but also a phenomenon of the
poor quality of and limited access to basic services such as food, education, adequate
healthcare and sanitation, proper housing, and pure drinking water. In terms of poverty
and inequality, large differences exist between rural and urban areas (Islam, 2004). Pres-
ently, nearly 45% of the population are living below the poverty line (Bangladesh Bureau
of Statistics, 2011). Poverty reduction remains the most daunting challenge for Bangla-
desh.
Although Malaysia is not facing the severity of poverty in Bangladesh, the country
still has pockets of poverty. Severe poverty was reduced from 1.2% in 2004 to 0.7% in
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Isahaque Ali and Zulkarnain A. Hatta Zakat and Poverty Reduction

2010. The incidence of overall poverty fell from 5.7% in 2004 to 3.7% in 2011 (Ministry
of Finance Malaysia, 2011). The global financial crisis of 2008 brought enormous ramifi-
cations for the world economy. Like many economies in South-East Asia, Malaysia cur-
rently faces a number of challenges that could have a significant impact on its economic
growth, development, and poverty reduction.
Unlike Malaysia and Bangladesh, the poverty performance in Indonesia reveals a
different scenario. In the case of Indonesia, poverty and inequality still exist on a large
scale, and are pronounced in rural areas and in the eastern part of Indonesia. In 2004,
with a population of 220 million, the poverty rate in Indonesia was 16.7%. The tsunami
and earthquake in Aceh and North Sumatra has affected at the end of 2004, and created
new poor to the country. To assist authorities combat poverty, Indonesia joined and
signed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) global agenda of poverty reduction
and agreed to accomplish MDGs targets by 2015. The agenda of MDGs has been incor-
porated into the National Medium-Term Development Plan.
The historical path of poverty reduction and the social protection agenda in Indone-
sia were influenced by the impacts of the financial crisis of 2008. The country’s develop-
mental programs took a severe beating and the nation suffered both economically and
socially. The financial crisis affected all sectors of Indonesia’s development, and predomi-
nantly extended unemployment in rural and urban areas (Suharto, 2008). In addition,
1.2 million new poor affected by the disaster were added to the number of poor people in
Indonesia. The hike in food and oil prices in 2005 also created new poor people. With all
the mishaps that Indonesia has faced during the last few years, the poverty rate in 2006
increased to 17.8%.
Using the World Bank’s standard of poverty line, which is US$1.25 per day, the total
number of poor people in Indonesia who are still under the poverty line was about 40
million people in 2008 (CBS, 2009). The path to recovery is difficult, and Indonesia is
slowly recovering from the setbacks of the world economic crisis and natural disasters.
In 2010 the poverty rate dropped to 13%, which bodes well for the country.
In summary, the three countries present different scenarios. In Bangladesh, apart
from the phenomenon of low income, there exist also the poor quality of and limited
access to basic services. In Malaysia, while poverty has been reduced dramatically, due to
the global economic downturn, the impact on its economic growth has negative ramifica-
tions on poverty reduction efforts. Indonesia on the other hand encounters double chal-
lenges of trying to combat existing poverty while at the same time adding the new poor
to its already heavily populated pool of poverty-stricken people.
Principles of zakat
The religion of Islam has a mechanism, which is called zakat, to assist in mitigating
against poverty. Zakat is an important institution in the socioeconomic framework of
Islam. Zakat is an Arabic word which means “purity” and “cleanliness”, and it is an act
of giving away part of one’s wealth to the poor—a contribution paid once a year on
savings of at least 2.5%. In doing so, one purifies one’s wealth and soul.
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Isahaque Ali and Zulkarnain A. Hatta Zakat and Poverty Reduction

Zakat is one of the five pillars
1
in Islam; hence, it is obligatory on every Muslim who
has the financial means (nisab). Nisab is considered an amount equal to the essential
needs of a person or family for 1 year. Basic needs refer include any or all of the follow-
ing: food, clothing, housing, medical treatment, and transportation for oneself and one’s
dependants. Dependants include spouses, children who are unable to earn a living, and
parents who are in need. In many modern societies, nisab is considered equivalent to a
governmentally determined poverty threshold.
Islam has a code of life which includes, among other things, the economic side of life.
Consequently, the religion has its own scheme of mitigating poverty (see Fig. 1). Zakat is
one of the basic principles of the Islamic economy, based on social welfare and fair distri-
bution of wealth.
It is the right of the poor who do not have enough to take care of their basic needs,
the needy whose basic needs are met but their income does not take care of other impor-
tant needs, for those whose sole job is to collect and distribute the zakat funds, for freeing
a Muslim person from bondage (whether a slave in the old times, or a prisoner of war in
our times), for those who are indebted and cannot pay their debts, and for the wayfarer
(ibn as-sabil) who is stranded in a foreign land and cannot get enough money to go back
to their homeland, even though he might be rich but is cut off from their wealth.
Religion and social work practice
The helping profession has been in existence universally from time immemorial. Prior to
the advent of mainstream religion, communities have been helping each other. With the
coming of various religions, mosques, temples, churches, and synagogues have been the
major institutions in these endeavours. Many associated with various religions are active
in assisting the community at large and their specific constituents in getting aid, subsidies,
Poverty Reduction Scheme in Islam
Positive Measures Preventive Measures Corrective Measures
Income Growth
Functional Distribution
of Income
Equal Opportunity
Control of Ownership
Prevention of
Malpractice
Compulsory
Transfer: Zakat
Recommended
Transfer: Charity
State Responsibility
Figure 1 Poverty reduction scheme in Islam. Source: Hassan, 2010.
1
There are five pillars in Islam, namely, shahadah (testimony of faith), solah (five daily prescribed
prayers), siyam (fasting in the month of Ramadan), zakat (giving of charity), and hajj (performing
a pilgrimage to Mecca once in a lifetime if one can afford it).
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Isahaque Ali and Zulkarnain A. Hatta Zakat and Poverty Reduction

community work, and counselling. These organizations have been delivering their ser-
vices based on their respective religious values. Their social support and services include
providing shelter and care to orphans, people with a physical or mental disability, elderly
people, the poor, problem children, women, and disaster victims, to name some.
Social work as it is understood now emerged in the West during late 19th century
as a charity-based practice and today has been transformed into a rights-based practice
(Hatta & Saad, 2010). Practising social workers, however, appear to have little training
in religious issues and values (Sheridan, Bullis, Adcock, Berlin & Miller, 1992), and a
number of scholars advocate a greater presence of religion in the social work curriculum
and the origin of the definition of social work from religious values (Netting, Thibault &
Ellor, 1990; Sheridan, Wilmer & Atcheson, 1994).
The ultimate goals of zakat are to reduce inequality and to establish human rights,
social justice, and empowerment the poor by poverty reduction in Muslim communi-
ties. This sense of collective responsibility is further reinforced by how Muslims view
their place within society. Islam, it should be emphasized, is not concerned with the
welfare of the individual alone; it seeks to achieve a wider societal well-being. While
ensuring the individual’s freedom, it places equal stress on mutual responsibility. This
principle, in turn, is two-dimensional. The individual achieves balance between
thought and action (internal), while caring for the collective welfare of society (exter-
nal) (Azmi, 1991).
On the other hand, the primary mission of the social work profession is to enhance
human well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular
attention on the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and
living in poverty. A historic and defining feature of social work is the profession’s focus
on individual well-being in a social context and the well-being of society. Fundamental
to social work is attention to the environmental forces that create, contribute to, and
address problems in living. Social workers promote social justice and social change with
and on behalf of human beings. The term “human beings” is used inclusively to refer to
individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. Social workers are sensi-
tive to cultural and ethnic diversity and strive to end discrimination, oppression, poverty,
and other forms of social injustice. These activities may be in the form of direct practice,
community organization, supervision, consultation, administration, advocacy, social and
political action, policy development and implementation, education, and research and
evaluation. Social workers seek to enhance the capacity of people to address their own
needs. Social workers also seek to promote the responsiveness of organizations, commu-
nities, and other social institutions to individuals’ needs and social problems for poverty
reduction (NASW, 2008).
Religious forms of charity or “financial worship” have historically played a key role
in funding charity and philanthropy at the individual and institutional levels in South
Asia, with zakat being the largest source of such funding in Muslim communities (Kir-
mani, 2012). The religious values and beliefs could play an important role in motivating
social workers, individuals and organisations to respond to people’s immediate needs
and partially filling social services that have been left by the state (Kirmani, 2012).
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Isahaque Ali and Zulkarnain A. Hatta Zakat and Poverty Reduction

Zakat and poverty reduction in the Muslim community
In most contemporary Muslim countries, zakat is collected through a decentralized and
voluntary system, where eligible Muslims are expected to pay the zakat. Under the volun-
tary system, zakat committees are established which are tasked with the collection and
distribution of zakat funds. In a handful of Muslim countries, zakat is obligatory, and is
collected in a centralized manner by the state. Ideally the zakat institution should be
under the responsibility of the government or it also can be under the special Muslim
supervisory body that has been appointed by a government (Lubis, Yaacob & Omar,
2011). The governments of Muslim countries should be accountable in collecting and dis-
tributing zakat funds for a few reasons. Zakat distribution by the government will ensure
the dignity of the needy and poor people.
Zakat constitutes the basic institution and addresses the needs of the poor and needy
in the form of a permanently working social and economic security system. Zakat, how-
ever, is not only an institution for the purpose of poverty eradication. Poverty can be
tackled through other means such as sadaqah (Hassan & Khan, 2007). Zakat is different
from sadaqah. The term sadaqah refers to non-obligatory actions, where it is left to a
man’s faith and charitable nature to give without being asked believing that the Creator
will compensate him, and hoping for a greater reward. It is the act of voluntarily spending
one’s resources with one’s closest relatives or next of kin, as well as with other members
of the human community, including those of other faiths, and also includes charitable
deeds aimed at providing continuous flow of reward after one’s death (Haq, 1996).
By having a centralized body to disburse zakat funds makes the process systematic
(Yusuf, 2000). Countries such as Indonesia, Brunei, Sudan, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia
already have compulsory zakat administration, while other countries such as Malaysia,
Egypt, Jordan, and Kuwait have voluntary zakat administration (see Table 1) (Sadeq,
2002).
Zakat and poverty reduction in Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia
Bangladesh
In countries such as Bangladesh, foreign aid from donors contributes a significant por-
tion of the development budget. If zakat funds are properly managed, these funds could
reduce foreign aid and significantly reduce the debt burden (Hassan & Khan, 2007). Sev-
eral economists projected that, in 2004–2005, potential zakat funds could have contrib-
uted up to 43% of the annual development plan of Bangladesh. For example, the GDP
of Bangladesh was US$163.72 billion (using purchasing power parity, PPP) in 2005, and
the Muslim population was 88%; therefore, the adjusted GDP for the purpose of zakat
estimation was US$144.08 billion (Shirazi & Amin, 2009).
In the private sector, there are a number of volunteer organizations mostly associated
with religious associations. However, many of these associations do not have transpar-
ency in zakat funds management. In the absence of transparency and accountability,
people are weary and reluctant to contribute to zakat. These ineffective institutions and
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Isahaque Ali and Zulkarnain A. Hatta Zakat and Poverty Reduction

practices have an adverse effect on the poor as they are denied access to the benefits of
zakat. In addition, the planners of poverty alleviation strategies, both in the public and
private sectors, are not seeing the urgency to adopt zakat in poverty reduction policies.
Part of the reason could be their lack of proper Islamic understanding and faith in zakat,
and their perception that any religious ideas be seen as “non-progressive”.
Although the government of Bangladesh is very keen to alleviate poverty, it has never
seriously looked at the institution of zakat as a national strategy for poverty reduction.
For the fiscal year 2012–2013, the government of Bangladesh did not include zakat as
one of the poverty reduction programs (Bangladesh Ministry of Finance, 2012).
Malaysia
Malaysia does not have a compulsory zakat law, but the collection system that is in exis-
tence is systematic. Nonetheless, the total zakat collection remains small compared with
the number of the Muslims, who represent 61% of the population. For example, zakat
collection in 2009 was US$0.4 billion compared with US$37.27 billion total tax collection
and US$54 billion in total government revenue (Departments of Statistics Malaysia,
2011). An integrated approach is required to strengthen the presence of the zakat system
in Malaysia’s socioeconomic development. First, similar to tax deduction on salaries,
perhaps there is a need to pass a law to make zakat deductions compulsory on the
incomes of all “zakatable” Muslims.
“Zakat management in Malaysia is under the authority of state government. The
roles of zakat institution are not only to collect the zakat dues but also to distribute the
zakat funds to the zakat recipients, so called asnaf.Zakat is being collected from variety
of sources such as individuals as well as corporate companies, while later on is distributed
to the eight groups of recipients (asnaf) mentioned above” (Lubis et al., 2011: 3). Malay-
sia’s authorities have created zakat institutions for zakat contributors and zakat recipi-
ents in collecting and distributing zakat efficiently. Presently, the development of zakat
institutions in Malaysia is constantly improving in terms of zakat collection (Hairunni-
zam & Radiah, 2010). Additionally, Yaumidin (2009) established the resources needed
Table 1 Poverty of compulsory zakat and non-compulsory of zakat collection in Muslim countries
Compulsory zakat
collection by state
People living below
poverty line (%)
Non-compulsory
zakat collection by state
People living
below poverty line (%)
Saudi Arabia N/A Sierra Leone 70.2
Brunei N/A Chad 64.0
Libya N/A Mali 63.8
Indonesia 13 Niger 63.0
Pakistan 24 Gambia 61.3
Sudan 40 Burkina Faso 46.4
Yemen 40.2 Bangladesh 45.0
Malaysia 3.7
Source: World Bank, 2010.
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Isahaque Ali and Zulkarnain A. Hatta Zakat and Poverty Reduction

for poverty reduction and potential zakat collection for Malaysia and Indonesia. She also
mentioned that Malaysia performs better than Indonesia. The total of zakat collection in
Malaysia has been increased drastically in every year. In Malaysia, the zakat manage-
ment authority is called the Center of Zakat Collection (Pusat Urus Zakat—PUZ) and is
under the supervision of each state and territory (Malaysia has 13 states and one federal
territory).
The system will be able to generate up to approximately US$1.617 billion zakat on
income alone calculated by multiplying the estimated average zakat of US$365 per per-
son per year (Osman, 2011). According to the Departments of Statistics Malaysia (2011),
there are 17.4 million Muslims between the ages of 15–64, of which 64.5% participate in
the labour force, and only the highest income earners (60%) are “zakatable.” US$1.617
billion zakat on income alone is sufficient to bring about major poverty reduction or
finance a large-scale and comprehensive community development project (Shariff, Man-
sor, Hazlina & Jusoff, 2011). Zakat will be effective as a supplement to eradicate poverty
if the zakat collected is equal to at least 3.1% of national GDP. By using these funds, it is
fully expected that the number of poor can be enormously mitigated (Shariff et al.,
2011). Malaysia can be considered as one of the outstanding and excellent countries in
managing and distributing zakat compared with other Islamic countries. The result of
peace and national development helps to reduce poverty successfully (Lubis et al., 2011).
Indonesia
As far as Indonesia is concerned, it has embarked on incorporating zakat into the devel-
opment plan for effective poverty reduction. It has two entities called LAZNAS and
BAZNAS to administer zakat collection and distribution. Unfortunately, the grievance
from the masses is the existence of corruption in those entities which leads to many not
wanting to use their services. However, with improvements in efficiency and rooting out
corruption within the administration, public confidence will return.
Zakat is now one of the most important instruments for increasing the wealth of the
poor in contemporary Indonesia, albeit the problem of mismanagement within the two
institutions entrusted. As the collection of funds grows significantly, the utilization of
zakat funds has now been transformed from a charity purpose into social empowerment
and economic development. Nationally, the amounts of zakat funds that have been
collected by all the zakat institutions have risen significantly for several years. Collected
zakat funds increased from approximately 80 billion rupiah (US$8.4 million) in 2002 to
414 billion rupiah (US$43.9 million) in 2006, or an average annual growth of 51.65%
during the period 2002–2006. The financial experts of the country as well as the world
have forecast that the financial status of Indonesia is expected to be rosy in coming years.
Indonesian GDP continued to grow strongly at 6.5% during 2011, when GDP per capita
was US$4325. In addition, GNI per capita was US$2500 in 2011.
Discussion
In Islam, zakat plays an important role in poverty alleviation and socioeconomic devel-
opment. Zakat is an act of piety through which one expresses concern for the well-being
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Isahaque Ali and Zulkarnain A. Hatta Zakat and Poverty Reduction

of fellow Muslims, as well as preserving social harmony between the wealthy and the
poor. It attempts to promote an equitable redistribution of wealth, and fosters a sense of
solidarity among members of the community. It is believed if the zakat system is enforced
in letter and spirit then extreme poverty can be eliminated.
As a consequence of giving zakat, notwithstanding that it is an altruistic and benevo-
lent act, there are spiritual dynamics involved. Those who pay zakat are enhanced spiri-
tually, and, at the worldly level, their wealth is cleansed. By “cleansing” wealth, barakah
(grace) descends on both the giver and receiver. Barakah is the beneficent force or energy
from God that flows through the physical and spiritual spheres as prosperity, protection,
and happiness. As can be seen in the three countries, the Muslims of Malaysia and Indo-
nesia are giving zakat. In Malaysia, their zakat funds are being handled by a responsible
competent body and the poverty rate is relatively much lower than those in Indonesia
and Bangladesh. People in Indonesia are eager to give zakat, but the problem lies within
the less than ideal situation with the administration. Unfortunately, the system of han-
dling zakat in Bangladesh leaves much room for improvement. There are no government
initiatives to collect the zakat funds. Due to the corruption and non-existence of an
administrative body, zakatable people are reluctant to give. Consequently, the barakah
as promised by God is not manifesting to those countries.
The zakat system that has been established and practised in Malaysia, and Indonesia
to a lesser extent, can become a role model to other Muslim countries around the world.
In the age of transparency and accountability, people need to be assured that their contri-
butions benefit the target group. If majority are not giving, by the logic of how barakah
operates, the Creator is not cleansing the wealth nor making it grow (see Fig. 2). This
article has attempted to present circumstantial evidence of the relationship and correla-
tion between giving of zakat as government policy and the poverty of the country.
For societies such as Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia where the majority are
Muslims, zakat has to play a major role in the process of poverty reduction through poli-
cies and programs. Muslims in these three countries are believers in the power of spiritu-
ality, and it is thus logical to integrate zakat, which has spiritual implications on the
country’s poverty situation. Once a community and government begin to recognize and
acknowledge the role and the importance of zakat institutions as part of Islamic financial
institutions, it is the contention of this article that poverty can be mitigated.
Conclusion
“Faith-based organisations” (FBOs) are gaining increasing attention within development
circles—among practitioners, funders, and policymakers as well as academics. It is
argued that zakat should be incorporated into poverty reduction programs. The success-
ful implementation of zakat collection and distribution is expected to reduce poverty and
improve living standards of poor citizens in Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia and
become a model for many other similar countries. Zakat is a spiritual tax paid by every
Muslim under any circumstances. Therefore, the acceptance of zakat funds is relatively
stable. This will ensure the sustainability of poverty reduction programs, which typically
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Isahaque Ali and Zulkarnain A. Hatta Zakat and Poverty Reduction

require a relatively long period of time. Because of these characteristics, the presence of
zakat in the socioeconomic framework of Islam will become a strong basis for sustain-
able poverty reduction. Therefore, social workers could use of zakat as a model for pov-
erty reduction. In a responsible government ruled by Muslims, it is incumbent upon the
government to implement zakat. Muslim social workers have to acquaint themselves with
the principle of zakat from both the material and spiritual aspects of zakat. The needy
are the recipients of zakat (asnaf). Hence, Muslim social workers must be active advo-
cates of zakat. They have to find ways to influence poverty reduction policies to include
zakat. As researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and social workers should be dele-
gates in the society for the antipoverty work. Social workers should be familiar with the
basic beliefs, values, and rituals of Islam as it is practised in the client’s milieu. Social
workers could learn the manner from the religion which could be integrated into a help-
ing relationship for social work profession. In conclusion, the multi-faceted nature of
poverty requires a multi-dimensional approach to poverty reduction based on the devel-
opment of human potential, creativity, and resourcefulness of the poor, building upon
their resources, capabilities, and survival skills.
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Purity of
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