The Practice of Zakat: An Empirical Examination of Four Gulf Countries

As one of the cornerstones of Islamic economics, zakat has been given little attention in Islamic economics literature. Both theoretical and empirical studies are scarce, and thus this paper is an attempt to initiate discussion on the realities of the practice of zakat in the Muslim world. It is hoped that this will draw attention to the need to investigate the practice of zakat throughout the world. Some empirical results on a number of practical aspects of zakat are provided. The discussion is based on a collection of perception data from respondents in four Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries regarding the evaluation, collection and payment of zakat.