In Search of Debt Free Economic Development: The Role of Zakah and Awqaf Funds

Several Islamic countries have a lot of external debt/public borrowing. They tend to get involved in public borrowing because they require many financial resources to reduce poverty. Despite the amount of money, they received, they were not able to lessen the amount of poverty within their countries. Therefore, external debt has become a serious issue in these countries and this paper argues that these place should switch to internal funds (zakah and awqaf) to deal with their economic problem.