Mezbah Uddin Ahmed; Noor Suhaida Kasri (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021)
Ensuring socio-economic justice, eradication of poverty and equitable distribution of wealth are among the primary objectives of Islam. Even so, a significant number of Muslims around the world are deprived of their basic needs. The scenario only worsens in times of financial and political turbulence. There is a desperate need to find sources of funding to rescue people from their miseries and offer sustainable solutions. Zakat has great potential to meet the funding needs. This chapter argues that zakat contributions will be amplified if corporate entities pay zakat as legal persons or on behalf of their Muslim shareholders. This chapter proposes development of a zakat calculation software to facilitate corporate entities and Islamic financial institutions calculating their zakat obligations reliably. Development of such software requires Islamic finance research entities to team up with information technology experts. Prominent Shariah scholars will play the essential role of validating and endorsing the Shariah compliance of the software.
