Miscellaneous - Religion   

Alleviating poverty

CHENNAI: The day of Eid-ul-Fitr, the first day of the Islamic month of Shawwal, marks the culmination of 30 days of dawn to dusk fasting during the previous month of Ramazan. On this day of thanksgiving, Muslims congregate to prostrate before God and thank Him for having enabled them to fulfil their Ramazan obligations — seeking spiritual proximity to God through regular and extra prayers, striving for moral discipline by conquering physical desires and inculcating a hatred for evil. But the most important object of the month of Ramazan is to sensitise Muslims to the pangs of poverty so that they could collectively attempt to alleviate the sufferings of the impoverished. This humanitarian aspect of fasting makes it relevant to the present socio-economic scenario of not only the Muslim world but also the entire world.

It is time that the rich among the Muslim community realise that they are morally and religiously duty bound to extricate a majority of their brethren from poverty. It is for these reasons that the Prophet made it obligatory for all wealthy Muslims to contribute every year a minimum of 2.5 per cent of their annual income as Zakath (compulsory charity). Even on this day of Eid, Muslims are required to give away Sadaqatul Fitr (charity of Fitr) of about 4 kg of rice, wheat or any other staple food to the needy.

But today, in the name of religiosity, a bulk of the Muslim wealth is spent on non-obligatory (nafil) pilgrimages to Mecca during Haj and Ramazan every year, to say nothing about the money lavished on ostentatious weddings. It is conveniently ignored that a financially gifted Muslim is required to visit Mecca only once in his lifetime. If money spent on supererogatory rituals, along with funds generated through Zakath, is accumulated in a common fund and channelled to fight poverty, the economic and educational development of Muslims can easily be brought about. This, in turn, would contribute to the process of nation-building. Muslims would then have a cause to celebrate Eid every year.

A. Faizur Rahman,
Chennai

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