From Charity to Sustainable Development: A Review of Zakat Institutions in Poverty Alleviation

Zakat, being a pillar of Islamic social finance, has long been proven as an effective mechanism for poverty reduction and advancing social welfare. However, despite its potency, the dispersed nature of zakat institutions’ administration and the lack of structured integration with international development agendas have limited its impact in addressing contemporary socioeconomic issues. The problem is also deepened by the scarcity of empirical evaluations of zakat effects and comparative insights that can enrich its implementation. Against this backdrop, the present study aims to conduct a critical review of the literature on Zakat, examining its contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), integrating Maqasid al-Shari’ah into its management, and learning from the comparative experiences of China’s poverty alleviation efforts. Utilizing Scopus AI as the data extraction and analysis software, the study synthesises review metrics, maps a conceptual map of thematic clusters, identifies the top experts in the field, and plots emerging themes in the literature. The findings reveal three directions: first, Zakat has tremendous untapped potential towards contributing to the achievement of SDGs, particularly poverty elimination and economic empowerment; second, the integration of Maqasid al-Shari’ah provides a robust moral basis for ensuring fairness, transparency, and accountability in Zakat distribution; and third, lessons from China’s poverty alleviation experience underscore the importance of targeted policies, localized programs, and institutional capacity-building that may inform Zakat management models. The study has two implications: theoretically, it contributes to the literature on Islamic social finance by bridging classical principles and contemporary development agendas; practically, it highlights the need for Zakat institutions to adopt innovative, accountable, and cross-culturally informed strategies to ensure optimal socioeconomic impacts.