This study was designed to empirically determine: (i) to look the factors causes micro enterprises opt for using internal funding instead of external funding; and (ii) to observe the probability of micro enterprises opt for Cash Waqf fund as alternative source of funding their business. The primary data is collected from the administered survey questions in Klang Valley (Selangor and Kuala Lumpur) and the analysis is conducted using statistical analysis and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The model is validated its acceptance in the field by adopting the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). From the findings, among the factors that lead micro enterprises to use internal funding are strict collateral requirement by commercial financial institutions, high cost of financing, strict documentation requirement and good financial and business track record. Unfortunately, most of them cannot fulfill these conditions and continue to face the problem of accessing finance. The present study has developed the Cash Waqf Investment model to support micro enterprises to improve their access to finance and enhance the skills. Based on the responses received from the field, it has been shown that the intention and readiness of micro enterprises in accepting the model as a source of financial and human capital development services is impressive.

Islamic economics is currently moving from a mere discourse on economics in Islamic perspective towards becoming a distinct science of Islamic economics. There is a systematic effort from Islamic economic scientific community to develop a discipline of Islamic economics marked by a complete body of knowledge, clear subject matter, methodology/methodologies to appraise theories and continuous growth and accumulation of knowledge. This could be done if the scientific community put strong effort in explicating all the necessary foundations of science and achieve consensus on certain important aspect of discipline. In this paper we attempt to historically survey the development of Islamic economics towards becoming a distinct discipline, evaluate the current practices a adopted by the Islamic economics’ scientific community in settling up problems, and outlining forward agenda in order to achieve this discipline status.

This research attempts to analyze the role of productive-based zakat program in reducing poverty level of mustahik (zakat recipient) households from the perspective of material and spiritual dimensions. The study utilizes primary data which is obtained from interview through questionnaire in DKI Jakarta and Bogor Regency. 221 respondents are selected and interviewed as research samples. They are zakat beneficiaries managed by BAZIS DKI Jakarta and Dompet Dhuafa. The primary data collection was conducted on February until May 2015. CIBEST model comprising four indices is used as tool of analysis. These indices are welfare index, material poverty index, spiritual poverty index and absolute poverty index. It is found that the presence of zakat utilization program is able to increase welfare index of the mustahik by 96.8 percent. The material poverty index and absolute poverty index can also be reduced by 30.15 percent and 91.30 percent, respectively. Unpredictable result occurs on spiritual poverty index in which there is an increase of two households living under spiritual poverty. It means that these two zakat recipient households suffer weakening spiritual values despite materially better-off in the presence of zakat program.

The Problems of education and poverty are interrelated. The poor people cannot access higher education and they will remain poor with insufficient education. Therefore, the effort to break the cycles of poverty is to provide opportunities for the poor to obtain higher education Dompet Dhuafa through Beastudi Etos empowers education by providing coaching, mentoring and education financing funding. The population of this research is all of the beneficiaries alumni Beastudi Etos scholarship with a total sample of 190 respondents. The result of the research has shown that Beastudi Etos scholarship program is one of the programs that are quite effective in breaking the cycles of poverty through education and economic improvement. The result also indicates that the program is effective in creating excellent and independent generation. It is shown that 81.58% of respondents have successfully completed their studies (Bachelor, Master and Doctoral degrees), the others are in the process of finishing bachelor degree. 88.95% of the respondents have worked and earn income more than 7,000,000 Rupiah/month, 21.5% have dependents from 1 up to 13 persons. In general, the respondents state that coaching and mentoring which has been given is affected on the character (97.4%), skills (94.2%), socials skill (97.9%), and social generosity (97.9%).

In the finance literature, the relationship between capital structure and firm value has been extensively investigated, both theoretically and empirically. The main issue on corporate finance is how firms dealing with the important decision of capital structure. In this study, a model of capital structure is formulated in which corporate tax and zakat payment exist by firms into the consideration of combination of debt and equity. The theoretical model as shown by comparative statics prove the implication which is negatively relationship between leverage of the firm and the corporate zakat payment. Meanwhile, the empirical evidence reveals several implication as follows, (1) tax deduction reduces the current liability item relative to the firms that prefer equity financing, (2) the significant of zakat is consistent with the theoretical model that zakat would encourage firm to issue more equity than debt, (3) the strong significant relationship between return on assets with the leverage are the leading indicator of capital structure in all models.

Among the many problems facing Bangladesh, poverty remains a key problem affecting millions of lives. During the past few decades, many initiatives have been implemented such as microcredit and cash transfer programs, yet the results seemed to be ambiguous. New frontiers are now sought to find new sources of finance which could offer a more effective and sustainable solution to the root cause of the poverty problem. Considering the idea of entrepreneurship and group-based development approach of microcredit, a zakat-based development approach was initiated in Bangladesh at a private level by an organization called Center for Zakat Management (CZM) for poverty alleviation and sustainable economic empowerment targeting poor women in rural areas. This paper aims to assess the effectiveness of the CZM efforts in utilizing zakat funds for promoting entrepreneurship among poor rural women. Focusing on the case of Bangladesh, this study assesses the effectiveness of zakat on aspects such as income, house hold expense and fixed asset accumulation of the poor client based on the “before and after” approach. Groups comprising of poor individuals and families are given equity capital/seed money and are encouraged to embark on small businesses according to their own liking. The groups are supervised for a period of a minimum of three years to ensure all individuals within the group are able to continue with their activities and ultimately, free themselves from the shackles of poverty and graduate into sustainable livelihood. Results indicate a significant nominal and real increase in average monthly income, increase in fixed assets and an increase in monthly average household expenditure before and after receiving zakat money. Results also demonstrate factors such as age of the entrepreneur, family size, type of business involved and the amount of zakat received to have a strong influence in determining the success of women entrepreneurs. Education level of the entrepreneur, on the other hand, does not seem to have significant impact on the success or failure of the entrepreneur. The findings from this paper shed light on the effectiveness of zakat-based approach in alleviating poverty and ensuring sustainable economic empowerment of the poor rural women.