A review on the contribution of zakat as a taxation system towards economic development postulated by two contemporary research scholars

This paper is an attempt to analyze the contributions of zakat towards an economic system. Often zakat is viewed as a taxation tool that is focused on anti-poverty policies, especially during the classical Islamic civilizations. The paper reviews and discusses postulations bought by Russel Powell and his attempt to conceptualize zakat as a modern taxation system, and Monzer Kahf and his analysis of how zakat can truly impact economies in modern times. Powell has made a tremendous effort in wanting to realize zakat as a fully functioning taxation system in modern Islamic economies through implementation and its benefits. Kahf has shown his commitment to sparking the narrative that zakat on its whole, whether institutionalized in a country or not, can be a significant contributor to the economic systems existing today. The proceeds of such discussions have found that zakat is not an equal substitute for modern-day taxation systems, and more importantly, it was never truly designed to solve all poverty issues in existence. There is a reconciliation that zakat plays a more important role in spirituality than it does in worldly pragmatism. Needless to say, zakat has contributed to poverty alleviation in the past, however, along with other pivotal mechanisms concurrently in place such as Awqaf (endowments) and Infaq (disbursements)