Poverty Revisited: Presenting Poverty the Normative Way

Abstract

This paper delves into the issue of poverty from the Islamic perspective. Particularly, the author aims to present the concept of poverty in the "normative" [as it ought to be] way and enquires whether concerns regarding poverty, or the state of poverty, is for Muslims a justified issue. In other words, are the absence of material supplies and wealth widely seen today in a negative light or is it the real or true poverty-as represented by the Qur'ān (Allah) and (Sunnah) His Messenger (PBUH)-really the poverty worth focusing on? Without adequately understanding what poverty is there cannot be effective solutions and interventions. Employing scriptural evidence vis-à-vis Islamic legal reasoning, we argue that normative poverty, in accordance with the Islamic tradition, is the real poverty and not material poverty.