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

Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Heterocyclic Derivatives Via Knoevenagel Products

A facile methodology was developed which involved multicomponent single pot reaction which yielded the synthesis of highly functionalized 5-arylidene barbiturates/thiobarbiturates (158a – 166a), (158b – 167b), tricyclic-heterocycle compounds (158c – 163c) (158d – 164d), pyrimido[4,5‐d][1,3]diazine (170a – 173b), (170b – 174b) and pyrido[2,3‐d]pyrimidine‐6‐carboximidate, (176 – 181) and in good yields (60-95%). The discovered novel methodology involved sequential multicomponent reactions; consisting of Knoevenagel reaction followed by Michael addition; moreover, the proposed mechanism is consistent with the stepwise methodology which also availed the same tricyclic heterocycle compounds (158c – 163c) and (158d – 164d). In-silico (α glucosidase inhibitory studies) and in-vitro biological evaluation was extensively performed for synthesized tricyclic and bicyclic heterocyclic compounds. Tricyclic heterocycle compounds (158c – 163c) and (158d – 164d) showed excellent interacting affinity with receptor protein (PDB ID: 3A47) which were further complemented and confirmed through in-vitro α-glucosidase inhibitory studies which were found to be comparable with standard acarbose. Whereas, 160c 160d, 162d and 171b exhibited IC50 value (111.8, 99.4, 108.7, 121.4 µmol/L) as compared to standard acarbose (135.6 µmol/L) making them excellent α-glucosidase inhibition candidates among the lot. Furthermore, all the freshly synthesized compounds were screened for in-vitro antibacterial, and antioxidant studies, which revealed that all these compounds show mild bacteriostatic properties at 200 µM concentration against 105 CFU/200 µL of three bacterial strains; Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus, while compounds (159d, 160d, 161d, 163c, 163d) are found more potent antioxidants than the standard ascorbic acid. viii The barbituric acid derivatives (158a-165a) are less toxic as compared to the thiobarbituric derivatives (158b- 165b). Cheminformatics and docking score also supported that arylidene barbiturates and their derivatives follow the Lipinski rule due to which they would be excellent candidates as antioxidant and α-glucosidase inhibitors.