Zakat expert system

Expert Systems (ES) are a part of applied artificial intelligence. The idea of an ES is to convert knowledge from human expertise to a computerized system. An ES supports the decision making in many domains such as Zakat. Zakat is the amount of money that every mentally stable adult and every financially able Muslim, male and female, has to pay at the end of the Hijri year in order to support specific categories of needy people. There are different types of Zakat with different rules and calculations. These Zakat types include cash Zakat, silver and gold Zakat, securities Zakat, debt Zakat, cattle Zakat, crops Zakat, and items set for sale Zakat. The objective of this study is to apply expert system technology in the field of Zakat to assist Muslims in the decision making of identifying the rules of making Zakat and to assist in complex calculations. The development of an expert system can be beneficial in well established theory domains such as Zakat. The system will increase awareness of Zakat obligation among Muslims. Thus, the objective of the Zakat ES is to specifically help people calculate the amount of each type of Zakat they have to pay every year., the system helps users to: (1) determine if they are required to give Zakat, (2) determine the unique conditions, and the amount of each type of Zakat they have to pay every year. The system was developed based on a rules-based expert system shell. To develop such a system, information that is attained from a human expert is represented in the form of rules, such as IF-THEN. Then the rules are used to perform operations that lead into achieving certain goals. This knowledge was acquired through several interviews with two human domain expert academics at a local university who specialize in the Zakat field. The knowledge acquisition process also benefited from well-established books in the Zakat area. After developing the Zakat ES, the system was evaluated by the domain experts and potential users. After reviewing the Zakat expert system, the majority of the 20 potential users also indicated that the system saves time and effort in searching for information related to Zakat's rules. Users also indicated that it is very useful for calculating Zakat quickly and accurately, and is very beneficial, convenient, and easy to use for people who have no knowledge about Zakat. Other strengths of the system are that it is more convenient than going to human experts and provides a variety of Zakat types. Researchers indicated the need for the development of expert system applications in finance and accounting. This developed Zakat expert system illustrated the use of a free-ware expert system shell to benefit non-profit donation organizations and/or individuals in calculating Zakat amounts.