Sustainable Development in Africa: Zakat as a Viable Means

• Main Author: Fahrn AbdulGafar Olawale
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia 2015
• Subjects: Islam; Zakat; Nigeria; Africa
• Online Access: http://ddms.usim.edu.my/handle/123456789/9258

Islam does not deal with issues related to development as it is being discussed today. The reason for this is easy to decipher - the issues we are facing now are not same as what was experienced back then. This statement does not remove the fact that Islam through its Shari'ah shows quite clearly how it envisages sustainable solutions to developmental problems that lie in the world's foreseeable furture. This is apparent in the concept of Zakat. Zakat is a system which organizes the distribution of wealth from the wealthy to the poor and needy. Literally, Zakat means purity or purification. Zakat is one of the major ways Islam discourages greed, voracity, insatiability, self-indulgence, selfishness and rapacious abuse of resources, all of which currently plague Africa. This paper therefore, looks at sustainable development from an Islamic perspective with a focus on a major pillar in Islam: Zakat. Islam is a religion that aims for peace and tranquility while sustainable development can be said to be aiming at the harmonization of human, economic and natural resources.