Pakistan's Zakat system: A policy model for developing countries as a means of redistributing income to the elderly poor

Summary Pakistan's national zakat system is a simple welfare system based on traditional Islamic law. It provides minimal benefits to the very poorest of Pakistan's poor, especially the elderly. Although the system was launched with the highest religious ideals, utilizing creative approaches to collecting and disbursing zakat, over time this system has experienced deficiencies due to corruption, favoritism, and government greed. While zakat has not met the original goals of eliminating poverty or eliminating beggary, and while it has met the goals of providing rehabilitation and redistributing income in only the most modest sense, Pakistan has still demonstrated the potential for a zakat system to provide some cash income to the very poorest old in a very poor country who would otherwise have no cash income at all.