Islamic Civilisation and Poverty Alleviation in the Context of SDG 1: A Systematic Literature Review

The first goal of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is SDG 1: No Poverty. From the historical perspective of Islamic civilisation however, efforts to address poverty had already been undertaken by prominent Muslim leaders and caliphs in the administration of their societies and states. Although numerous studies have examined the efforts of Islamic civilisation to alleviate poverty, systematic synthesis of the mechanisms employed across different periods remains limited. This article therefore examines the occurrence of poverty in Islamic civilisation and analyses the approaches and mechanisms applied to alleviate it. A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) approach. Searches were undertaken through Google, Google Scholar, Scopus, ResearchGate and Academia using keywords related to the Sustainable Development Goals, sustainability, poverty, Islamic civilisation, zakat, waqf, sadaqah, nafaqah and Bayt al-Mal. Of 55 records initially identified, 19 studies were included in the final analysis. The review shows that poverty occurred across several periods of Islamic civilisation, but a range of institutional, fiscal and socio-economic mechanisms were employed to address it. These included the distribution of zakat, the development of Bayt al-Mal, encouragement of trade and productive economic activity, ‘Ata’ and Iqta‘at, and the institutionalisation of waqf. The findings demonstrate that poverty alleviation formed an important component of governance and social welfare in Islamic civilisation well before the formulation of the contemporary SDG framework. These historical mechanisms offer a civilisational perspective for understanding the pursuit of SDG 1 and the broader objective of social justice.

Social Science

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