...and yet the Jews are the biggest recipients of the US aid---3.2 dollars a
year, much, much more than any other country in the world!
One has to make some trivial distinction between aid and charity.
This proves that a beggar of billions can take a 180 degree turn and become a
giver of thousands.
I am not impressed.
Irfan
----- Original Message -----
From: saiyed shahbazi
To: eGroup For Muslims Around The World
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 3:31 AM
Subject: Bismillah [IslamCity] A Muslim Philanthropic Culture
A colleague once told me of a hospital that had designed a
state-of-the-art multifaith room with funds from donors of the various faith
communities in Toronto. The walls of the room were etched with the names of
donors, few of whom were Muslims. And yet, he said, Muslims were the ones who
used the space most often. There is much to admire of those individuals who are
able to recognize the worth of the communities within which they live and are
willing to lend their support in whatever way possible. If only Muslims would
compete with the ‘yahood’ in this way.
If we wish to compete then we have a lot of work to do. In a piece last
year dealing with some of the issues or challenges faced by ‘religious
philanthropy’, Philanthropy Magazine noted the scope of Jewish giving:
Two studies, both conducted in recent years but with different
methodologies, show that Jewish philanthropists contribute the overwhelming
majority of their dollars to universal, rather than Jewish, organizations and
causes. In 1998, professor Jack Wertheimer studied the 232 foundations in
America that self-identified as giving at least $200,000 to Jewish causes. He
found that even these foundations gave nearly two-thirds of their annual
funding, $487 million, to non-sectarian causes. Similarly, a 2003 report by Dr.
Gary Tobin and colleagues at the Institute for Jewish and Community Research
examined the 865 philanthropic gifts of $10 million or more made by all
American donors between 1995 and 2000. While nearly 25 percent (188 gifts
totaling $5.3 billion) were made by Jews, the Jewish mega-givers made fewer
than 10 percent of their gifts to Jewish or Israeli organizations. While these
two studies do not represent the full panoply of Jewish giving, most of which
is by individuals giving much less than $10 million, it seems likely that the
data capture the overall thrust of giving by Jews.
In Australia, Australian Jews have also been at the forefront of
charitable giving. Organisations such as the Pratt Foundation, Smorgan Family
Foundation, Besen Family Foundation, and others, have contributed millions to
health, education and social welfare issues in this country. It takes only a
casual walk through any of our major hospitals or universities to see that the
contribution of Australian Jewry has been profound: the life of all Australians
has been enriched by the presence of Jews in Australia. This is, of course, to
say nothing of the equally profound intellectual contribution that Australian
Jews have made to academia.
The reasons for Jewish philanthropy are well outside the scope of this
piece, but perhaps one of the reasons is that Jews recognised, after centuries
of persecution, that one of the most important bulwarks that they have against
a repeat of past atrocities is to become active and valued members of the
society; members whose contribution and commitment are beyond question. When so
much of the infrastructure in a country owes itself to the kindness of its
Jewish minority, it would be difficult for some demagogue to make the case that
Jews are a ‘threat’ that must be eliminated.
Interestingly, the author of the article referenced above suggested
that the traditional Jewish philanthropic focus on ‘universal causes’ may be to
the detriment of issues specific to the Jewish community.
As we noted earlier, only a small proportion of Jewish philanthropy
currently flows to Jewish causes. Since nearly half of even this limited amount
is sent abroad (much of it to Israel), the resources available for Jewish needs
in America are minimal. If Jews today were more literate in their own
traditions and more successful in transmitting Judaism to future generations,
then the meagerness of charitable contributions for Jewish religious life,
especially Jewish education, would not matter as much. Sadly, the needs
dramatically exceed the available funding.
Muslims — at least, Australian Muslims — don’t face such a dilemma. Our
philanthropic contribution to this country has, in comparison, been rather
meagre. With few exceptions, one cannot recall any major fundraising effort for
a ‘universal cause’. However, in recent months, local groups have held
fundraising campaigns for everything from the families of some recently arrest
terrorism suspects to Egyptian orphans to building a mosque in the outer
suburbs of Melbourne to feeding poor Somalians. When it comes to giving, the
locus of concern for Australian Muslims seems to be ourselves — and, if not
ourselves, then our co-religionists abroad.
Is this a good thing? There are certainly good arguments for why
Muslims should also give towards projects that benefit the wider society: it
demonstrates that we are part of that society and share the same concern for
bettering our community; and we are ultimately working towards things that
benefit us as individuals, such as the extension of medical facilities or the
development of education institutions. At the same time, there are arguments to
be made that the Muslim community is a young and relatively weak community and
that its charity should be spent closer to home in developing institutions and
infrastructure.
There needs to be a balance: we should continue to fundraise for
meaningful causes within our community, but, at the same time, Muslims need to
also work on projects that have a benefit that extends beyond our ghettos and
co-religionists. Whilst we have been moderately successful with the former, we
have not done nearly enough with the latter. In fact, it could seem to some
observers that Australian Muslims are more interested in taking than we are in
giving anything meaningful back to the society that has given us sanctuary,
comfort and opportunity.
Charity is just one part of a bigger picture. We should, as a
community, ask ourselves: is Australia better off by virtue of our presence
here? If we were to assess the total contribution of Muslims to every aspect of
this country, can we honestly say that Australia would be poorer
intellectually, culturally, economically and spiritually if we were suddenly
removed from the face of this earth?
Unfortunately, if we don’t start asking ourselves these sorts of
questions soon, other people will be asking (and answering) them on our behalf.
http://austrolabe.com/2006/06/26/a-muslim-philanthropic-culture/
saiyed shahbazi
www.shahbazcenter.org
