Islamic Relief aims to alleviate the suffering of the world’s poorest people. But what is poverty and how do we define poverty? Poverty, whether it is at the global, national or community level, is widely considered to be a multidimensional problem.  New perspectives on poverty have challenged the traditional focus on income and consumption as the defining condition of poor people. Instead, poverty is a complex set of deprivations, and its definition depends on the paradigm chosen and the purpose served. Let us examine briefly some perspectives:

• The most commonly used definition of poverty is a monetary definition. It is the estimated minimum amount of money necessary to afford basic necessities and to sustain human life.
• The capabilities approach is based on the contention that poverty is not determined by the lack or deficiency of money income, but rather by the failure of individuals to realise their full human potential or live valued lives.  This approach argues that rather than measuring income or consumption, poverty should be measured using indicators related to the freedom to live a valued life.
• Closely tied to the capabilities approach, the concept of social exclusion is used to describe a process through which individuals or groups are excluded from full participation in the activities of their society in which they live. 
• A participatory approach to poverty aims to enable people themselves to participate in decisions about what it means to be poor.
• Understanding poverty as a poverty of assets is to recognise that poor people have a diverse set of physical, human, social, and environmental assets. Assets can be tangible or potential and material or social, and individuals, households, and communities can draw from them in times of need or crisis.  A shortfall in these assets results in individuals living in poverty.
• Poverty as a breach of human rights is often understood, not as a form of poverty per se, but as a strategy through which poverty alleviation can be based on international law.  Many agencies apply this notion through a Rights-Based Approach (RBA).  RBAs hold that a person for whom a number of human rights remain unfulfilled (such as the right to food, health, education, or information), is a poor person.  As such, realising human rights is not distinct from alleviating poverty.

There is no consensus and there are many definitions, most of which partly overlap. However, there is broad agreement that an interpretation of poverty that looks at monetary income alone is too simplistic. Comparing the various interpretations of poverty with Islamic guidance on justice, development and support, Islamic Relief understands poverty as a multidimensional phenomenon, with a special focus on capability deprivation. Poverty encompasses not only material deprivation (measured by income or consumption), but also forms of deprivation such as unemployment, ill health, lack of education, vulnerability, powerlessness, and social exclusion.

An Islamic understanding of poverty
In Islam, poverty is defined by five groups of activities and things which make up the human needs: (a) religion, (b) physical self, (c) intellect or knowledge, (d) offspring and family, and (e) wealth. The fulfillment of these needs is considered one of the basic goals of Islam. These needs define the foundations for good individual and social life, and are classified into three types: (1) necessities (dharuriyyat), (2) convenience (hajiat), and (3) refinements (kamaliat). Necessities consist of all activities and things that are essential to meet the five needs at the barest minimum. At this level, one has enough to live, but not enough to be in any type of comfort.  People who are unable to meet the necessities are poor. People who are unable to even come halfway are considered destitute.

The Islamic perspective correlates with the broad consensus of poverty being a multi-dimensional issue, as it is based on human needs that cannot be reflected in monetary terms alone.  In particular, in as far as operational measurement is concerned; the last four types of basic activities and things that make up basic human needs in Islam are similar to the indicators in the Human Development Indices developed by the United Nations, which stress the importance of income, education, and health.

Send your feedback on this material to
pru@islamic-relief.org.uk.