Addressing the contemporary jurisprudential issues faced by zakāh institutions in Sri Lanka: An analytical study

Abstract

Abstract

The institutionalized zakāh setup in the context of the Sri Lankan Muslim minority emerged i n the last phase of the twentieth century and it is currently estimated that more than a hundred voluntary zakāh organizations have been functioning across the country. Although the institutionalization contributed to the well-being of the Muslim minority community, some preliminary works have highlighted that such institutionalization of zakāh practices did not impact enhancing the socio-economic well-being of the Muslim minority community of Sri Lanka to the expected level. Against this background, this research paper critically examines the current state of zakāh institutions in Sri Lanka. For that purpose, this research has examined selected four zakāh institutions reflecting the and demographical distribution of the community. This qualitative study collected data through primary sources such as interviews and official documents. And also, the thematic content analysis method was used to analyze the collected data. This study finds that one of the major obstacles which prevent the realization of the objectives of zakāh in the contemporary Sri Lankan context is jurisprudential in nature. Classical jurisprudential reasoning does not provide alternative solutions to the jurisprudential problems peculiar to Sri Lanka. Thus, this study understands that a particular jurisprudential intervention is needed to respond to the challenges mentioned earlier. Hence, this study further suggests that the Fiqh of Muslim minorities could play a potential role in developing alternative jurisprudential discourse. In that sense, this research indicates that to contribute to the current debate on the application of Islamic jurisprudence regarding institutionalized zakāh management in Muslim minority contexts, the method of fiqh of Muslim minorities must be applied.