Zakat and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Assessing the Ripple Effect of Obligatory-Alms Spending on Education. Empirical Evidence From Pakistan

This study employed a novel methodological perspective to evaluate the impact of Zakat on one of the sustainable development goals (SDGs), i.e., education. The study has employed macrolevel data on Zakat spending collected from the Zakat department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, and microlevel data from a renowned national survey, the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey (PSLM). Based on the data set used for empirical analysis, a multilevel model was used to control the effect of intraclass correlation. The findings of this study confirmed that Zakat spending by the public sector reduces deprivation in education. Hence, the households benefiting from Zakat allocations are less likely to face barriers in accessing education. Furthermore, the study shows that educated and female-headed households are less likely to experience deprivation, emphasizing the importance of empowering such households as a strategy to reduce educational inequality. However, the mechanism of Zakat disbursement should be refined and made transparent to pursue SDGs by empowering individuals through quality education, vocational training, and enhancing technical skills, which may ultimately reduce poverty in the country. In addition, the methodology adopted in the study opens doors for further research to decompose the results and design policies accordingly.