Zakat is an obligation that constitutes one of the five pillars of Islam. It is a formal duty not subject to choice. This study provides an overview of the existence or non-existence of zakat in precolonial Sub-Saharan Africa, with special emphasis on the Bilad al-Sudan. The objective of the book is to examine the assumption of a possible connection between the establishment of an Islamic state and the attempt to introduce Islamic taxation in the form of zakat, kharaj and jizya. The key issue is to define which precolonial Muslim governments may have been or were identified as trying to introduce and implement Islamic Law and to push for a reorganisation of the political and fiscal structures in accordance of what might be called an "Islamic Ideal".