Zakat and green investment: The role of Zakat in achieving sustainable development in Islam
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Abstract
This study aims to analyze the role of zakat in achieving sustainable development in Islam, by illustrating its legislative and jurisprudential objective-based foundations, reveal its economic, social, and environmental dimensions, and identify the institutional requirements necessary to activate its developmental impact. The study is based on a problematic issue which is that zakat, despite its religious significance and social function, is still, in many practices, employed within the framework of immediate aid, without fully utilizing its potential in economic empowerment and achieving sustainable development. The study adopted a descriptive analytical approach, supported by the inductive method, by analyzing religious evidence, jurisprudential rules, and the objectives of Sharia, along with reviewing scientific literature on zakat, social financing, and sustainable development. The developmental role of zakat was also classified into three main dimensions: economic, social, and environmental. The study concluded that zakat represents an integrated financial and social system capable of contributing to a number of Sustainable Development Goals, especially eradicating poverty and hunger, improving well-being, and boosting work and productivity. It also showed that zakat developmental impact does not merely depend on the amount of money collected, but on the efficiency of zakat institutions, accuracy in identifying beneficiaries, adherence to legitimate channels, transparency, supervision, and impact measurement. The study emphasized that moving from consumptive distribution to productive empowerment, and achieving integration between zakat, waqf (endowment), sadaqah )charity(, and Islamic finance, are two important conditions for maximizing zakat’s contribution to sustainable development. The study recommends developing zakat governance, creating accurate databases, and adopting scientific indicators to measure the economic, social, and environmental outcomes of zakat programs.
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