<i>Zakat</i> as a Poverty Reduction Mechanism Among the <scp>M</scp>uslim Community: Case Study of <scp>B</scp>angladesh, <scp>M</scp>alaysia, and <scp>I</scp>ndonesia

Poverty reduction remains the most important challenge for policy makers in I slamic communities. The W orld B ank (2010: Poverty profile in M uslim 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 M uslims from I slamic countries. The global M uslim 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 M uslim…