Zakat, SDGs, and Poverty Alleviation of Muslims in India

Abstract

Muslims are the largest minority in India, yet the federal government has, in place, just a single Muslim-specific poverty alleviation scheme, which is utterly insufficient to meet their financial needs. Hence, in the face of governmental apathy and indifferent attitude, Muslims are left to fend for themselves. In this scenario, Zakāt turns out to be a more-than-handy tool to alleviate poverty among Muslims in India. Zakāt, over the years, has manifested itself as a successful means to meet out the financial needs of the developmental activities across the level including the non-Muslim countries. Zakāt possesses a robust potential to play a critical role to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to alleviate the poverty of Muslims in a Hindu-majority country like India.