10 Eid Pledges Pledge 2 - Jihad against poverty and hunger: You would have gained true insight and felt the pain of real huger this Ramadan. Your fast would have left you feeling the slow but sure sapping of your energy as the morning would have moved into the afternoon and the afternoon would have been slowly swallowed up by the evening. Your throat would have longed for a sip of water during those long hours. Hunger and thirst would have been your constant companion for the entire month. I would like you to cast your mind to the 925 million people who experience this every day. They do not do it out of choice but they are forced to endure this. You would have broken your fast everyday with variety of food and drinks but their fast sadly never ends until their death. Let this Ramadan be a turning point for you to undertake a true Jihad to end poverty and hunger in the world. 13.1 percent of the world’s population is hungry. Roughly 925 million people who go undernourished on a daily basis. The world produces enough food to feed all 7 billion people who live in it, but those who go hungry either do not have land to grow food or money to purchase it. Those who live in the developing world waste billions of pounds worth of food regularly. This grotesque disparity must be eradicated now. Our over indulgence and waste are causing death of millions of people! Blood is in our hands. Poverty is the main cause of hunger, and hunger is a cause of poverty. When people go malnourished, they lose brain functionality and the mental resources to be a productive asset in society or earn money. This is the reason why the blessed Prophet warned us against the evil of poverty. The funny thing is those who eat too much also suffer from obesity and preventable illnesses. However, the saddest part is that those who are hungry die of no food and those who die of obesity die of eating too much! Fasting in the month of Ramadan should have brought a balance between no food and excessive food. Muslims should demonstrate the teachings of their faith by giving up on over indulgent diet, food wastage and gluttony. Those who fast in the month of Ramadan should be at the forefront of leading this Jihad against hunger and poverty. In 2010, an estimated 7.6 million children — more than 20,000 a day — died from hunger. Almost 1 in every 15 children in developing countries dies from hunger. This is the biggest mass murder of children right in front of our eyes. These children’s lives could have been saved if the worlds leading and developed nations would have taken more compassionate and caring approach to wealth creation and consumption. The blessed Prophet said, “he is not a Muslim who sleeps with full stomach while the neighbour sleeps hungry”. I believe waging Jihad against poverty and hunger must not be limited to sloganeering but Muslims must provide a moral leadership and show how poverty can be instantly wiped out if Zakat was fully implemented. Zakat is not a choice but an obligation; it is not a charity but the right of the poor. Zakat purifies your wealth; it takes away the pretentiousness and delivers the resources to people who need it most. It is only 2.5% of your surplus wealth and savings but paid proportionately is the fairest and the best way to eradicate poverty. We are not born with perpetual hunger and poverty in our destiny; fellow human beings inflict it on us. The Middle East has enough wealth to feed Africa but the oil rich Arab world have chosen to vie for lofty towers in the desert and expensive shopping trips to the European capitols. Shame on these Muslims, they have forgotten the history of their recent past, which is full of poverty and hardship! They have forsaken protecting their fellow brothers and sisters. If they were truly observing the essence of fasting in the month of Ramadan, the oil rich Muslim nations would have led the way to eradicating poverty and hunger from the world today. Did you know that your Eid prayer is not valid unless you give away a fixed due to the poor and needy before the actual Eid prayer so that they too could join in the celebrations and enjoy the fun and love in this day of happiness. The true spirit behind this act of obligatory Eid charity is to help lift people out of poverty. The blessed Prophet said, “The children of Adam has no better right than that he would have a house wherein he may live and a piece of cloth whereby he may hide his nakedness and a piece of bread and some water” Shelter, clothes, food and water are the most basic and fundamental right of every human being. Those who deny their fellow human beings these basic rights are the true enemies of humanity. While we declare war against hunger and poverty, we must declare war against exploitation and wantonness. You can permanently alter the state of hunger and poverty if you took up the challenge of fairer distribution of wealth and sharing your surplus with the poor and needy in the world. Zakat is the best way, take a pledge that you would never fail to pay your zakat from now on. It is your time to rise and shine. My second Eid pledge is to do everything within my capacity to eradicate poverty and hunger. This is by far my biggest Jihad. © Ajmal Masroor August 10, 2013
Posted on: Sun, 11 Aug 2013 01:06:13 +0000
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