Eid's happiness to be also for the poor
Friday, 12 October 2007
MUSLIMS in this country will be celebrating the joyo us occasion of the holy Eid-ul-Fitr on Saturday or Sunday next, depending on the sighting of the moon. Traditionally, wearing of good clothes, eating sumptuously and engaging in fun and frolics, are considered as spending well the time of Eid. But it is a sad reality that Eid's happiness still remains largely out of the reach of the vast majority of the poor who number about half of Bangladesh's population. Some of them do attempt to eat well and provide some recreation to their families by mobilising their meagre resources at the time of Eid. But a great many number of the poor remain deprived of even such minimum of self-satisfaction on Eid day due to their abject poverty. Thus, Eid as a happy occasion is enjoyed more in affluent homes than in poor ones in this and many other Muslim countries when Islam's cardinal teaching is to build a caring and sharing society through maximizing of social welfare activities. As a religion and a complete code of life, Islam does not encourage poverty as an expression of piety but enjoins obligations on all resourceful Muslims to part with their wealth to alleviate poverty instead. It aims to provide a good life to all and seeks to accomplish this through adherence by members of society to religious injunctions.
But the mandatory Islamic religious charity, zakat, is paid scantily and very disproportionately compared to their real wealth by the rich in most cases in Bangladesh. This will need to change though conscious policies on the part of citizens, government, religious groups and others who should build up a vigorous campaign exhorting well-off people to give zakat adequately in proportion to the wealth held by them. If only this can be accomplished, then it should be possible to have a vast zakat fund running into many billions of Taka annually and the resources from it can be spent on the establishment of free-feeding centres for the poor, to set up and run shelters for the homeless ones, to establish and run free schools and other educational institutions for the poor, to similarly set up skill training and vocational training centres where the poor would be trained free of costs or at nominal charges, etc. Malaysia and a few other Muslim countries scored very well in giving zakat in a planned way in this manner that led to significant gains for the poor on a large scale in becoming the beneficiaries of essential services and gradually to overcome their poverty from being made able to earn livelihoods.
Then, there are other socio-economic challenges. In meeting those challenges, it is important to follow the Islamic values and ideals in their real spirit. One would like to note here that promoting the values of good governance is one of the major tasks that Bangladesh needs to address on a priority basis. In this connection, the principles of Islam for shared prosperity and well-being of human beings can be the driving force for the deep-seated institutional reforms for the purpose. It is to be noted here that Islam does never courage fatalism or resigned way of life. When Islam was at its zenith some fourteen centuries ago in terms of spreading civilisation and progress round the world, its adherents were at the forefront spreading science, knowledge and the merits of a scientific mentality to an European continent then sunk in ignorance. Islam supports moderation, religious tolerance and an inclusive process of social progress. The Eid day is a befitting occasion for the Muslims to make a solemn pledge to follow the true ideals of Islam for their greater prosperity and well-being.
But the mandatory Islamic religious charity, zakat, is paid scantily and very disproportionately compared to their real wealth by the rich in most cases in Bangladesh. This will need to change though conscious policies on the part of citizens, government, religious groups and others who should build up a vigorous campaign exhorting well-off people to give zakat adequately in proportion to the wealth held by them. If only this can be accomplished, then it should be possible to have a vast zakat fund running into many billions of Taka annually and the resources from it can be spent on the establishment of free-feeding centres for the poor, to set up and run shelters for the homeless ones, to establish and run free schools and other educational institutions for the poor, to similarly set up skill training and vocational training centres where the poor would be trained free of costs or at nominal charges, etc. Malaysia and a few other Muslim countries scored very well in giving zakat in a planned way in this manner that led to significant gains for the poor on a large scale in becoming the beneficiaries of essential services and gradually to overcome their poverty from being made able to earn livelihoods.
Then, there are other socio-economic challenges. In meeting those challenges, it is important to follow the Islamic values and ideals in their real spirit. One would like to note here that promoting the values of good governance is one of the major tasks that Bangladesh needs to address on a priority basis. In this connection, the principles of Islam for shared prosperity and well-being of human beings can be the driving force for the deep-seated institutional reforms for the purpose. It is to be noted here that Islam does never courage fatalism or resigned way of life. When Islam was at its zenith some fourteen centuries ago in terms of spreading civilisation and progress round the world, its adherents were at the forefront spreading science, knowledge and the merits of a scientific mentality to an European continent then sunk in ignorance. Islam supports moderation, religious tolerance and an inclusive process of social progress. The Eid day is a befitting occasion for the Muslims to make a solemn pledge to follow the true ideals of Islam for their greater prosperity and well-being.