The teaching of Islam abound with provisions which, carefully or seriously applied, would ensure the complete eradication of poverty. This is not merely an opinion. In the days of Umar bin Abydul-Aziz, that just and pious umayyad caliph, who followed the example of Umar bin Khattãb, the second Caliph of Islam, the caliph's property was transferred to the public treasury so that it was distributed among the needy.
Poverty in the caliphate was thus completely alleviated, and it is said that many had difficulty In finding people to whom to give their zakat. Yahya bin sa'ad reports: "Umar bin Abdul-Aziz sent me to distribute alms, but I could not find anyone to whom to give alms, for Umar has made everybody contented. So I bought slaves with the money and freed them".
The Qur'an rightly says: It is not righteousness merely to turn your face towards the East or the West, but righteous is the one who believes in God, the last Day, and the Angels and the books and the prophets, and gives away wealth out of love for Him to the near of kin, and the Ophans, and the needy, and the wayfarer, and those who ask, and to set slaves free and keeps up prayer and pays the poor-rate, and the performers of their promises when they make a promise, and the patient in distress and affliction and the time of conflict. These are they who are dutiful, and these are they who keep their duty.