Poverty and sufficiency in Islam

الفقر وحد الكفاية في الإسلام

Muhammad Shawqi al-Fanjari distinguishes kafaf, the bare minimum to keep a person alive, from kifaya or richness, the decent standard suited to time, place and a person's work and duties, and holds that Islam defines poverty by the second (pp. 170-172). He places the local problem in imbalance among members of a society and the global problem in the gap between developing and developed states (p. 171). He cites attributed sayings of Umar and Ali and classical jurists on the imam's duty to meet the needs of the poor, and calls zakat an institution of social security (pp. 172-173).

Depth

At a glance

Region: Global / Diaspora
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The poor and the worker

Overview

Muhammad Shawqi al-Fanjari distinguishes the line of sufficiency (kifaf) — the barest minimum that keeps a person alive — from the line of adequacy or wealth, the level fitting the time, place and the person's work and responsibility; Islam, he argues, defines the poor by the second ¹ ². The economic problem within one society is imbalance among its members; in the world it is the gap between developing and advanced states — he cites the Hashr verse that wealth must not circulate only among the rich ². He quotes sayings attributed to 'Umar and 'Ali and to al-Sarakhsi and al-Shatibi on the imam's giving.

People and things also explored

Agriculture in Islam· Ajr al-mithl (customary wage)· Basic needs· Spending in the way of God (infaq)· Natural and unnatural economic activity· Economic scarcity· Capitalism as criticised by Qa'dat· Seeking bounty in the land (sa'y fi al-ard)

Sources

This Is Islam — a group of Azhar scholars , p. 170
This Is Islam — a group of Azhar scholars , p. 171

Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Poverty and sufficiency in Islam”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/poverty-and-sufficiency-in-islam/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

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Agriculture in Islam

Al-Maraghi presents agriculture as the oldest livelihood, after Ibn Khaldun, the simplest and closest to nature (pp. 27-28). Islam encourages it as the source of people's and animals' food and forbids farming usurped land (p. 28). Reviving dead land gives title, and a tract left unworked for three years may pass to another who works it, subject to the ruler's permission in practice (p. 29). The book warns against withholding surplus water and tells the Zubayr water dispute (pp. 29-30). Sharecropping is called muzara'a (p. 30).