Advanced Journal of Business Management and Entrepreneurship Vol. 1(001), pp. 001-012, November, 2013 ©2013 Advanced Journals http://www.advancedjournals.org/AJBME Full Length Research Paper Tackling Poverty Crisis in the Muslim Majority Nations (MMNs): The Faith-Based Model (FBM) as an Alternative Policy Option Raimi, L. 1 , Patel, A. 1 , Adelopo, I. 1 and Ajewole, T. 2 1 Faculty of Business and Law, De Montfort University, Leicester, United Kingdom. 2 School of Liberal Studies, Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, Nigeria. *Corresponding author. E-mail: Lukman.raimi@myemail.dmu.ac.uk, luq_man2001@yahoo.com. Submitted July 19 th , 2013; Revised September 6 th , 2013; Accepted September 13 th , 2013 The purpose of this paper is to explore poverty crisis in the Muslim Majority Nations (MMNs) with a view to developing a faith-based model (FBM) as an alternative policy response to its devastating socio-economic and political consequences. The proposed FBM would be a desirable paradigm shift among Muslim nations because it finds theoretical and theological justifications in the Qur’an and Hadith, as opposed to most conventional poverty reduction strategy programmes (PRSPs) that are viewed in MMNs with suspicion and cynicism. The proposed FBM is a synergy of three socio-economic constructs of Corporate Social Responsibility, Waqf and Zakat. The research method is qualitative, while the technique for data sourcing is archival strategy. The sourced data were critically analysed using content analysis on the basis of which rational proofs were provided to support a case for FBM. The paper concludes calling on the policymakers in MMNs and development scholars to adopt FBM. Key words: Faith-based model, poverty, muslim majority nations, Waqf, Zakat. INTRODUCTION Poverty is a global phenomenon ravaging both the developed and developing nations, but the devastating socio-economic and political consequences of this problem are surging more in the Muslim Majority Nations (MMNs) relative to other geographical enclaves in the world. Poverty, when viewed strictly as a socio- economic depravation, affects one-fifth of the world’s population (Khan, 2001). In addition, 40% of the world’s 7 billion people struggle with absolute poverty, a phenomenon described in development literature as living on less that $2 dollars per day (Todaro and Smith, 2012). The root of poverty-induced violence in MNNs is linked to ineffective governance policies causing ‘increasing income inequality’ and unfulfilled citizen’s expectations (Carvalho, 2009). Other structural and institutional factors which encourage poverty include backward culture, harsh economic/political climate, gender-related issues, constraint of markets and counter-productive government policies and programmes in developing nations, which deprive large proportion of the citizens access to economic resources, arable land and other environmental opportunities that