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Press
Saturday 20 September 2008 (20 Ramadan 1429)
Is it charity or humiliation?
M. Salim Al-Ghamdi I Al-Madinah
During the holy month of Ramadan, charity deeds become abundant and
giving becomes a feature characterizing the fasting month.
Many people perform good deeds by translating all the words into reality
during this month, which during the other months remain empty slogans. People
also show virtue that they are not accustomed to in the other months of the
year. This makes Ramadan a unique month in everything and projects an authentic
picture of true Muslim society.
But some people with their actions are killing the spirit of giving,
destroying these values and tarnishing the impeccable picture. They have
drifted from the true values of Islam and act to satisfy their egoistic thirst.
When these people give charity, they put it on a platter of humiliation and
personal degradation for the needy people.
We see large numbers of the poor and needy people waiting at their doors
under the scorching sun or lying down on the pavements for long hours waiting
for their charity. Unfortunately, the security personnel guarding the rich
men's houses, on many occasions, deal with these poor people very brutally and
sometimes just drive them away so as not to give the needy a chance to see the
rich, to whom they turn to for some money and charity during this blessed
month. The manner in which the security men or those guarding the houses of the
wealthy people deal with the poor is totally against Islam, which is a religion
of providence, cordiality and tolerance.
How can people act like this or allow such callous acts in our society?
Why do some of the rich treat the poor with humiliation? Is it the correct way
to give charity to the poor and needy?
Such practices do not represent the true Saudi society. They also do not
reflect the manner in which the rich should treat the poor. Giving charity for
fame is not acceptable in Islam, which teaches us that the left hand should not
know what the right hand had given. This is to preserve the dignity of the poor
and to do good in silence and away from any glare of publicity.
I appeal to the rich, who find the poor waiting for them at their doors,
to treat them nicely, sparing them any humiliation. If one does not want to
give them zakah money, at least do not degrade them. They are human beings and
should be treated accordingly.
The rich can always specify certain places for the poor to wait away from
the scorching heat, if they find the crowding of people at their doors
annoying. Their staff can then study each case individually and give those
deserving among them money in closed envelopes so that others will not know
about it. This will preserve the dignity of the poor and at the same time be in
line with the teachings of Islam.
Ramadan is a month of charity and good deeds. We should do this to gain
the blessings of Allah and not to show others that we are doing good
