Zakah index: Islamic economics' welfare measurement

Zakah is one of the five pillars of Islam. Compared to the other pillars, Zakah with most the human dimensions: spiritual, individual, social, economic, and is quantifiable. Zakah also fulfills all of the aspect of the Maqa>s}id -Shari>‘ah that preserves public interests (maslahah). This paper argues that lack of full observance of the objectives of the obligation in performing, which is intended to increase the welfare/wellbeing of the society, Islamic Economics as a discipline completely ineffective and inefficient performing its essential characteristics in fulfilling the Maqa>s}id al-Shari>‘ah. expected outcome of this study is Zakah Index that will represents the of Zakah payment in Islamic or Muslim populated country, hence academics, students, society, and policy maker in Islamic or Muslim populated country an alternative measurement of economic progress, instead of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The method used in the of the Index and its derivatives are content analysis and inductive method, which is exploratory in nature, that covers Islamic and literature. Finally, Zakah Index is intended to be as an Islamic tool to measure not only the welfare/wellbeing of Islamic Society, but also its religious (spiritual). On the last part of the paper, the Zakah Model then is applied to the East Java province