islamic economic renaissance 357classical jurists in the four main schools of thought. Muslims in
modern times are searching for a unified view on the subject
not a variety of opinions, and that is what the author tries to
provide. This point draws the attention at the outset to the inten-
tion of al-Qardawi of bringing Islamic writing to the attention
of the Muslims in a modern society: not a debate on the issue
but a unified and precise work.
(2) There are new issues in Zakàh that did not exist at the time of
the early classical jurists or, if they existed, were not on the same
scale as today, and these issues require explanation and thor-
ough discussion so that the Zakàh treatment would be clearer
in peoples’ mind. Some examples of these issues are the revenue
generated from commercial activities that have become present
in modern societies such as property rental, particularly when it
is on a large commercial scale, profits from manufacturing in
the modern industrial sector, fixed or mobile assets that result
in substantial income generation such as ships, commercial vehi-
cles, and aircrafts, as well as, different types of companies with
various capital structures and forms of ownership. Other exam-
ples can be seen in the income generated in the non-industrial
service sector, and income generated from employment in the
form of wages and salaries. In all these cases and others it may
not be straightforward to calculate the Zakatable base, the thresh-
old or the rates with reference to the classical books of fiqh. The
quantification of quantifiable elements of Zakàh in terms of mod-
ern financial reporting will add to the problem. This may lead
some to believe that the old rules of Zakàh, and Islamic eco-
nomics with it, are not applicable to modern society. Al-Qardawi,
therefore, finds it necessary to write on the subject in the lan-
guage of the society of today in a serious attempt to bridge the
gap between the ruling of the classical jurisprudence and reali-
ties of today. The change of economies from being mainly based
on barter to being based on monetary transactions, as al-Qardawi
tells us, adds to the necessity of rewriting on the subject in the
economic language of today.
(3) The relationship between taxes in the modern Islamic state pro-
vides a further necessary reason for rewriting on the subject. The
question of whether the Islamic state may or may not have the
right to impose other levies besides Zakàh, or what may be
referred to as taxes, is vitally important not only in the mind of