While the great monotheisms all stipulate a duty of charity towards the destitute, there are significant differences between their respective concepts of benevolence: Christian charity arises from compassion for the suffering of the poor, but also from the bad conscience of the Christian for whom the deprived offer a role model. The desire for mystic poverty does not exist in Islam. For all that, it is the only recognised religion to have institutionalised and codified its principles of benevolence, in making it not only a moral duty but also a legal obligation. Prosperity, potentially dangerous since it generates temptation, may become purified once the superfluous portion is redistributed. Islam therefore advocates without any confusion individual economic liberalism and at the same time a redistributive egalitarian socialism.

The Religious Foundations of Muslim Solidarity

The Koran stipulates that justice, benevolence and solidarity are the bases of sociability within the umma, the community of the faithful which must always be preserved. Two institutions form the pillars of this community: the zakat, obligatory alms, and the sadaqa, voluntary complementary alms.

The zakat, often mentioned in the Koran, forms the third pillar of Islam after the profession of faith (shahada) and prayer (salat). The doctrine defines many categories of beneficiary: the destitute who find it impossible to provide for their own needs; bankrupts, on condition that their debts arise from circumstances which do not contravene divine laws and regulations; ‘travellers’, a category which includes refugees, fugitives and deportees, or those who are unable to access their own money. Add to this the newly converted (or those likely to be converted) ‘whose hearts should be rewarded’ by a gift, as well as Muslims living in areas bordering on countries hostile to Islam; and finally the administrators of the zakat (collectors, treasurers, accountants). A special place is granted to orphans (the Prophet having been orphaned when very young), that is to say those children who have lost a father, the spiritual guide and economic pivot of the family, even though their mother might still be alive.