Zakat, Non-State Welfare Provision and Redistribution in Times of Crisis: Evidence from the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The funding of social protection initiatives is especially complex in times of crisis. While social protection is critical as a means of redistributing income, delivering relief to those in particular need, and building economic resilience, crises severely limit states’ abilities to fund these efforts. Immediate pandemic relief efforts have prompted renewed attention to this dynamic. While state-driven social protection efforts around the pandemic have been studied extensively, little attention has been paid to non-state welfare provision in a context of crisis. There has been particularly little analysis of the role and implications of what is likely the world’s largest system of non-state welfare provision – zakat. Summary of Working Paper 163.