THINK BEFORE YOU DONATE

                                                

Islam provides a unique way of living life, emphasizing every aspect, be it social, religious, economic, cultural, or behavioral. Apart from preaching religious harmony, and brotherhood, Islam values humanity and wants economic parity in the society. Islam encourages the masses to elevate their life standard and to help others in doing so. So that the poor-rich dichotomy is stamped out. It introduced the concept of ‘Zakat’ and ‘Sadaqah’ and made the former obligatory for those who meet the necessary criteria of wealth and later a kind of voluntary charity. Zakat means paying a specific amount of wealth to the poor, enabling them to fulfill their needs and live a life of comfort. However, there is a problem with the majority of Muslims that they perform salah, go for hajj, and observe fast but tend to forget to pay Zakat, which deals with ties between fellow Muslims and is as important as the other four pillars of Islam. If Muslims around the world would not overlook this obligation and start taking it seriously, there is not an iota of doubt that poverty can be eradicated from the Muslim world. And monetary Sadaqah is a virtuous act but it is not binding, however.

During Ramadan, Muslims undergo divine transformations with increased enthusiasm for praying, sympathy, compassion, and doing good deeds. In this blessed month, people exhibit extraordinary passion for helping others, engage themselves in philanthropy, and show interest in paying Zakat and giving Sadqah. Even those who hold the money by tooth are seen donating this month. With this change, the poor, drowned trodden, orphans and people from marginalized sections expect a lot. For them this month holds great significance as they manage to get maximum help. Therefore this month, markets, public places, and streets leading to mosques are jam-packed with people begging out of dire need.

 But unfortunately, the generosity shown by people drives more and more people to beg. Taking advantage of this generosity, some people disguise to be helpless. Young and healthy, who can meet two ends at ease prefer begging over working as they consider it the easiest way to make money. Women also join this as a profession and by pretence take benefit of people’s gullibility. Some families with good sources of economy have put all their members into this job. Without caring about the education of their wards, they field them to beg. Once, I saw a policeman abusing a child with an injured hand, which irritated me. I went there to confirm about the matter. The policeman replied, days ago, we took him to the hospital for treatment but his parents didn’t let his wound heal only to pose him maimed before masses to collect donations. On a train, I witnessed a similar case where two females were pretending to be sufferers. Since my school days, I used to see an elderly woman begging on buses claiming her husband, lying in hospital, was suffering from a deadly disease. After years, I saw her narrating the same traumatic story to passengers. One of the passengers, perhaps accustomed to her hackneyed tale like me, manfully asked her, can I visit your husband? To our consternation, she vacated the spot. Not only that, some are utilizing technology to embezzle benevolent people. A year ago, a woman using a picture of a child claiming her son to be a cancer patient swindled many through social media. She had been doing all this for a long time and people were donating, unaware of the fact that they were helping a thief. 

Begging has flourished as a kind of profession. Some people indulge in begging in a very dignified way. They have found different ways to beg, which don’t affect their honor. We can see people collecting alms with receipts of orphanages, madrasas, etc. that, in truth, don’t exist. Some so-called ‘respectable beggars’ plunder people by posturing as volunteers and social activists volunteering for patients who exist only by name. Begging has become a social menace. Adding to this menace, professional beggars emigrate from different cities of India to Kashmir with the advent of Ramadan and outnumber native beggars. Wherever you go, you will encounter them. No place, no street, no bus, etc could be seen without them engaged in faking public. This deprives actual paupers.

Most donors believe that it doesn’t matter whom we help, only intentions materialize. They need to reconsider their opinion because seeking God’s pleasure is not the only objective of donating but it aims at improving the economic conditions of the marginalized. Donating blindly, and helping dacoits, thieves, and people masquerading as hapless is not a good deed. It is equivalent to crime as we cooperate with them to deceive others and deter them from working.

 Now the question is what to do. Firstly, it is compulsory to pay Zakat with regularity according to rulings of Shariah and the best way to utilize it is to create local ‘Bait ul Maals’ in respective areas. Through this, we can consume the collected amount (Zakat as well as other forms of Alms (sadaqah, etc.) in a proper way by distributing it among deserving families as we better know the condition of families in our locality. Besides satisfying their need, it would also restrain these families from soliciting donations and would be critical in curbing this menace. Additionally, whenever any person approaches you, don’t give away your money unless you are sure that it will go to the right person. Before donating to orphanages and other institutes, confirm their validity and credibility. If they exist in real, verify what role they are playing. Moreover, some recognized credible institutes are operating in our valley, which are undoubtedly working tirelessly for the welfare of people, so it is better to support them. Thus before donating, we need to think so that our donations would find better utility and essentially reach those in want; otherwise, donation loses its actual purpose.

WRITER: ZEESHAN RASOOL KHAN is a columnist and can be mailed at mohdzeeshan605@gmail.co