Zakat as an economic and social instrument for poverty alleviation

Zakat is a significant economic and social instrument for the poverty alleviation. The study presented an analytical justification of the how importance of Zakat to humankind. It is a theoretically dominated empirical study that looked into the analytical views of justification about how Zakat can alleviate poverty from the society. The results of the study disclosed with some concrete justifications that Zakat can be considered as a well being program to establish peace, prosperity and socio-economic development for mankind as a whole all times. However, the study could not consider a good number of numerical examples in favour of the main message of the study because of lack of data availability. Zakat funds can be utilized for the development of resources especially concentrates in the area of human capital development for the long-term rather than short-term relief for those in need. We should aim at using Zakat fund as a means of providing assistance that will have a long lasting effect. This study proposes that if Zakat are fully collected and distributed to the deserving people according to Shariah law, we can expect to root out poverty from the society.