Economic development and zakah

Zakah, within the scope of individual worship; with its social, cultural, political and economic dimensions, it has the quality to contribute to the economic development of the society. Although it is a duty that must be carried out by the administrators with the indication of the verses and hadiths, the fact that it is not implemented by the state in most of Muslim Muslim countries prevents the full benefits of zakah to be seen. In this study, firstly, the concepts of zakah and economic development were investigated, together with other related concepts, taking into account the relations between them, then the place of zakah in the economic system was discussed and compared in the context of taxation, and then the history of zakah was briefly mentioned. Zakah goods and expenditure items have been examined in terms of fiqh and economics. In addition, the effect of zakah on economic balances, macro variables and development indicators has been examined. As a result, it has been determined that the meaning of zakah is development, it develops the individual and society materially and spiritually, and this duty, which is commanded in all divine books, has been applied in certain periods of history. It is understood that receiving zakah at certain rates at the end of a year from the portion of real or juridical increasing goods, which reaches the nisab amount after the basic needs and debts are removed, does not cause economic problems to the taxpayer and provides many benefits to the society. While zakah is taken from assets and income, it is not taken from consumption, the multiplier effect, the fact that it cannot be reflected to the consumer and may prevent interest-bearing transactions are important economic findings. Another result achieved is that zakah recipient and giver increase investment and employment by influencing consumption and savings decisions. The resources transferred from the rich to the expenditure items meet the needs of not only the individual but also the society such as defense, education, transportation; contributes to the solution of problems such as injustice in income distribution, poverty, unemployment, inflation; it has been seen that it spreads social security and welfare to the base. For this reason, it has been concluded that when zakah is applied as an Islamic tax, it will provide economic growth and development both by collecting and distributing it and can be applied all over the world.