Payment of Zakat to Non-Muslims in the Light of Islamic Shariah

This study revisited the literature to find answer to an important question that whether Zakat could or could not be paid to the non Muslims? There are different arguments in favor of giving the Zakat to the needy Dhimmies (non Muslims) in an Islamic State.  After reviewing Islamic teachings, laid down in holy Quran and Sunnah, the practices of pious Caliphs, in the Islamic History, views of different Islamic schools of thought and the opinion of modern Islamic jurists, the study found that Quran and Sunnah allowed the payment of zakat to the Al-Muallaf-al-Qulub (poor non-Muslims and those, whose hearts are to be inclined). However, there are differences in the opinion of various Islamic schools of thought. For example, according to Maliki and Zaidi schools of jurisprudence it is lawful to give Zakat to the non-Muslims, where as Shyafee school of thought hold opposite opinion and does not allow the payment of Zakat to the non-Muslims. The modern Islamic jurists Muhammad Shaltut, Mustafa Al-Zarka, Taha Jabir, Syed Abual Aa la Maududi, Imam Khumany of Shia School of thought etc, argue that since modern states have become welfare states, it is therefore allowed to use zakat for the well-being of citizens including the non-Muslims. The recommendations given in this study are multidimensional that we will not only help the poor non-Muslims but also complement to eradicate poverty and reduce income inequality in Muslim countries

Onshore Offshore Software Process Model

Offshore software development model is one of the most successful development models being adopted by different worldwide organizations. The main reason behind the offshore development is the higher cost of the software development in the local industry. So the organizations take the projects from the local industry and send their projects to their offshore offices where development cost is significantly lower. In countries like Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Philippines etc, most of the software companies are working as offshore development offices. These software companies are using different software development methodologies like Waterfall, Spiral, Iterative, Incremental and Agile. The projects developed by these software companies face time, cost and quality constraints because of opting inappropriate software development lifecycles. A detailed study is conducted by gathering data from different offshore software companies in Pakistan and then based upon this data their common problems are identified. The major problems faced by the software companies in Pakistan include non static and ambiguous nature of requirements which cause the software developers to make certain assumptions. There is no direct interaction between the software developers and the clients, so the product developed is not an exact match of the client requirements and expectations. These issues are major bottleneck in delivering the quality software products in case of offshore development in Pakistan. We propose a new process model that addresses the needs of the onshore/offshore software development industry.