Zakat on Non-Agricultural Land Plots: Public Awareness and Fiscal Reforms

Zakat is although a compulsory obligation in Islam but is not paid compulsorily by the people. There are two main reasons; one is the ignorance about many things on which zakat is due, for example non-agricultural land and commercial plots etc. andsecond, ignorance about the mechanism through which it is paid. Thefirst aspect is related to public awareness and second aspect is related to the fiscal policy being enforced by the government collecting property and wealth taxes thus putting heavyfinancial pressure on the owners of real estate so as to compel them to avoid zakat andpay taxes. The paper explores the level of awareness among the general public about the payment ofzakat on non-agricultural land. Itfurther addresses the question that how the existing revenue structure need to be changed. For thefirst aspect, primary data with n=33 has been collected from the capital city of the province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. For the second aspect the revenue structure of the government is reviewed tofind out the number of taxes on the possession, sale and purchase of commercial or nonagricultural land plots. Since taxes are in no way a substitute of zakat so it is further explored that if the existing taxes are replaced and zakat system would be properly enforced then how much is the net return. In order to estimate this net return, an interview has been conducted from the property dealers and also the figures are taken from government accounts to calculate a sample for the study area that is then generalized for the government returns at large. The results of the study show a high level ofignorance about zakat obligation on plots in the study area. The verdicts of the Islamic scholars also create difference of opinion, however, majority have approved the case in favor of payment. Since there is ignorance and people have to pay taxes so they avoid zakat and just pay taxes. A mechanism is needed for fiscal reforms to ensure the payment of zakat and to stop its substitution against taxes on land plots.

Biochemical Studies of Flavonids and Related Compounds

Flavonoids are the most common group of polyphenolic compounds in the human diet including fruits, vegetables, nuts and plant derived beverages, tea and wine. These compounds have been reported to possess a wide range of bio-activities. Structural variations of these flavonoids are associated with many different biological and pharmacological activities including antioxidant, anticancer, antiinflamatory, antihyperglycemic, antidiabetic, antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral activities. Antioxidant enzymes as well as non enzymatic antioxidants are the first line of defense against oxidative stress. This oxidative stress is the underline mechanism for diabetic complications. In recent years, the high therapeutic properties of flavonoids and their analogues have brought attention of chemists to synthesize various kinds of their derivatives by improving the existing synthetic methodologies.It is therefore, the aim of present study was to synthesis and characterize the novel flavonoids and their derivatives. These compounds were screened for their antioxidants potential and evaluate their antihyperglycemic activity. By using Claisen−Schmidt condensation, 2,5-dihydroxyacetophenone was allowed to condense with different aromatic aldehydes. Four kinds of products were isolated; chalcones (105, 106, 108, 110, 115, 119, 121), flavanones (107, 109, 111, 120, 123), Arylmethylidene flavanone (112, 113, 114, 116, 117, 118, 122, 124, 127, 128) and 2-Arylmethylidene indanones (125, 126). A series of chalcones (131-135) was also synthesized by reacting 2 hydroxy-5-nitro acetophenone with different aromatic aldehydes. The synthesized chalcones 134 underwent cyclization in the presence of iodine to obtain compound 136. Compound 105 was reacted with hydrazine hydrate to obtain 2-(5-(2-nitrophenyl)4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-3 yl)benzene-1,4-diol (129) and compound 108 was reacted with hydrazine hydrate to form 2 (5-(4-nitrophenyl)-1-phenyl-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-3-yl)benzene-1,4-diol (130). The compound (125) was reacted with different N-substituted-2-bromoacetamide (137-139) to form compound (144-146). After reacting 8-acetyl-7-hydroxy-4-methylcoumarin (142) with 2′-Bromo-N-benzylacetamide (137), the product 2-[(8-acetyl-4-methyl-2-oxo-2H-chromen 7-yl)-oxy]-N-phenylacetamide (143) was obtained. All the synthesized compounds were characterized and confirmed through spectroscopic analysis i.e., Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and Electron Ionization Mass Spectrometry (EIMS). The compounds 105-126, 129, 130 and 131-135 were checked for their antioxidant potential by α, α-diphenyl-β-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging, Iron chelating activity, Iron chloride (FeCl3) reducing power activity, Phosphomolybdinum assay and 2,2′ azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) activity. Among all the synthesized compounds, the chalcones 105, 106, 108, 110, 115, 119, and 121 showed excellent antioxidant activity. The chalcones 105, 110 and 115 exhibited better antioxidative behavior than trolox and ascorbic acid. The Oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed in normal hyperglycemic rats for compounds 105, 106, 107, 108 and 109. The compound 109 exhibited good activity in normal hyperglycemic rats while the compound 105 showed significant activity in streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic rats as compared to reference Glabenclamide. For in silico studies, Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships (QSAR) were performed for compounds 105-126 and 131-135. The comprehensive intra molecular charge transfer has been perceived from the highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMOs) to the lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMOs). The smaller ionization potential (IP) and bond dissociation energy (BDE) values for compound 105, 106, 107, 108 and 109 revealed that these compounds would show proficient antioxidant behavior which is in good agreement with the antioxidant experimental data. Experimental and computational investigations concluded that compound 105 might be an effective antihyperglycemic agent because of its antioxidative nature and smallest ionization potential.