Why do Zakah Institutions in Sri Lanka Underperform?

Zakah as a compulsory worship obligation of Muslims has been practiced for several decades in an institutionalized form in Sri Lanka. Although the institutionalized mechanism contributes to some improvements in socioeconomic conditions, recent research highlighted that the impact of such a model is yet below the expected level. The institutional zakah practice in Sri Lanka has remained essentially informal lacking any state recognition or zakah specific regulation. This paper examined the contemporary challenges and root causes of the zakah institutions’ underperformance in Sri Lanka. This paper took a qualitative methodology and collected primary and secondary data through official documents, interviews, and published literature. The empirical findings of the paper reveal a threefold challenge that contributes to the inefficient institutional zakah performance, namely low collection, ineffective disbursement, and external hurdles. The paper suggests that the prolonged dominant informal and individualist zakah culture of Sri Lankan Muslims fails to actualize the designated goals of zakah and this in turn has contributed to the contemporary challenges. The paper highlights the need for developing an alternative jurisprudential methodology that has the potential to offer sensible remedies to the contemporary identified challenges. The paper suggests that zakah institutions must thoroughly re-evaluate existing zakah applications to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their zakah management systems. It is also suggested that it would be helpful to establish a National Zakah Consultative Body that can advise the government on adopting effective regulations or guidance relevant to zakah management for the Sri Lankan Muslim minority

Why do Zakah Institutions in Sri Lanka Underperform?

Zakah as a compulsory worship obligation of Muslims has been practiced for several decades in an institutionalized form in Sri Lanka. Although the institutionalized mechanism contributes to some improvements in socioeconomic conditions, recent research highlighted that the impact of such a model is yet below the expected level. The institutional zakah practice in Sri Lanka has remained essentially informal lacking any state recognition or zakah specific regulation. This paper examined the contemporary challenges and root causes of the zakah institutions’ underperformance in Sri Lanka. This paper took a qualitative methodology and collected primary and secondary data through official documents, interviews, and published literature. The empirical findings of the paper reveal a threefold challenge that contributes to the inefficient institutional zakah performance, namely low collection, ineffective disbursement, and external hurdles. The paper suggests that the prolonged dominant informal and individualist zakah culture of Sri Lankan Muslims fails to actualize the designated goals of zakah and this in turn has contributed to the contemporary challenges. The paper highlights the need for developing an alternative jurisprudential methodology that has the potential to offer sensible remedies to the contemporary identified challenges. The paper suggests that zakah institutions must thoroughly re-evaluate existing zakah applications to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their zakah management systems. It is also suggested that it would be helpful to establish a National Zakah Consultative Body that can advise the government on adopting effective regulations or guidance relevant to zakah management for the Sri Lankan Muslim minority

تحديات العولمة الغربية للتعايش الحضاري والعلاقات الدولية: مقاربة إسلامية = Challenges of western globalization to civilizational coexistence and international relations: an Islamic approach

يسلط هذا البحث الضوء على بعض ما تواجهه شعوب العالم من تحديات تمثّلها العولمة الغربية التي ظلّت تكرّس على العلاقات الدولية واقعا جديدا يتّسم بالهيمنة، متجاهلة أن حجر الزاوية في العلاقات الإنسانية، الاعتراف بوحدة الأسرة البشرية، التي تمتد من أبينا آدم وأمنا حواء إلى قيام الساعة، وأن الله تعالى خلق جميع الناس من أصل واحد. إن جذور مشاكل البشر في كل عصر هو التجاهل المتعمّد لبعضهم البعض، وسعي كل فئة لاستئصال المخالفين والمعارضين لها، وحرمانهم من حقهم في الحياة، انطلاقا من اعتقادها بكريم أصلها، وطيب معدنها، وأنها هي التي يجب أن تسود وتقود، وعلى الآخرين أن يكونوا تابعين. ومما توصلت إليه هذه الدراسة - التي استخدمت المنهجين الاستقرائي والتحليلي - أنه ما كانت الحروب لتقوم بين الشعوب لولا عدم الاعتراف بان أصل البشر واحد، خلقهم الله من آدم وحواء، وجعلهم شعوبا وقبائل للتعارف والتآلف، لا للتعارك والإيذاء والتخالف. لم يكن اهتمام أصحاب فكرة "العولمة" باستقرار الشعوب، واستتباب الأمن، وتعاون الدول، وتحقيق العدل، وانتشار السلام بين الأنام، بقدر ما كان اهتمامهم بجمع الثروات ونهب الخيرات، واستغلال الشعوب المقهورة، وفرض ثقافة الهيمنة والسيطرة والقطب الأوحد، ومساندة قوى الظلم والاحتلال وهو ما يرفضه منطق النديّة في العلاقات الدولية، واحترام سيادة الدول على أراضيها ومواردها. ***** Challenges of Western Globalization to Civilizational Coexistence and International Relations: an Islamic Approach is a study intended to shed some light on the challenges faced by the peoples of the world in this globalized village where the Western Globalization continued to impose on international relations a new reality characterized by hegemony, ignoring that the cornerstone of human relations is the recognition of the unity of the human family, which extends from our father Adam and our mother Eve until the Day of Judgment. Moreover, Allah the Almighty created all people from one origin. The roots of human problems in every era are the deliberate neglect of each other, and the efforts of each group to eradicate those who violate and oppose it, and deprive them of their right to life, based on its belief in the noble origin and good nature of its origin, and that it is the one who must prevail and lead, and others must be followers. Among the findings of this paper, which used inductive and analytical methods, is that wars would not have occurred between peoples had it not been for the lack of recognition that the origin of humans is one. Allah the Mighty and Sublime created them from Adam and Eve and made them into nations and tribes for the purpose of knowing each other and getting along, not for fighting and harming one another. The thinkers behind the idea of “globalization” were not concerned with the stability of peoples, the establishment of security, the cooperation of states, the achievement of justice, and the spread of peace among nations all over the glob, as much as their interest was in amassing and plundering wealth, exploiting oppressed nations, imposing a culture of domination and control, and a unipolar mentality, and supporting the forces of injustice and occupation, which is rejected by the logic of equality in International Relations, and respecting the sovereignty of countries over their lands and resources