Goodwill should be “not charity, but a chance” for
people in need.
Parliament of India had passed landmark legislation in 1986 namely "the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act" to dilute the Judgment of Supreme Court of India in the matter of
Mohd. Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano Begum (1985 SCR (3) 844). The law diluted a
secular judgment of the Supreme Court and, in reality, denied even utterly
destitute Muslim divorcees the right to alimony from their former husbands.
However, the newly enacted Act clearly says that the magistrate would order the
Waqf created under section 9 of Wakf Act, 1954 to pay a nominal maintenance to
the divorcee women.
It is well know fact that the judgment of Supreme court was (in favor of Shahbano
Begum who was 62 at the time) widely criticized by Muslim community, and
Government was forced to introduce this law. Scholars and socio-political
leaders considered it as a conservative response towards a secular and
progressive judgment, and they criticized the government for vowing Muslim
conservatism by introducing this law. But in reality, socio-political leaders
of Muslim community were not against the woman in question, they were worried
about the institutions created by the community and they argued that Muslim community
already had institutions to deal with the situation and the support of divorcee
as well as widows. They were also worried about protection of institution of
marriage and family law for the Muslims. Unfortunately, their arguments were
not propagated among masses and they became a villain for all. The Act "the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act" addressed their demand and said that the women will get benefited
from already existing Waqf institutions.
The word waqf is derived from Arabic Waqafa, which means
to detain, to stop, legally; the word means to describe an Islamic institution
by which corpus of a property is detained or stopped from transfer of it rights
by way of inheritance, sale or any deed, and it products may be given as sadqa (charity)
for some pious use. The first creation of waqf was by Umar the second caliph of
Islam in 644 after suggestion of Prophet Mohammad. UK poor laws 1834 was
inspired from the waqf institutions and later the UK Poor law 1834 became a
format for modern philanthropy.
In a sentence, Muslim society had always been
engaged in organized philanthropy not short-term and emotional charity. However,
nowadays a majority of the Muslim faith inspired organizations are engaged in
emotional charity.
Usually, Muslim faith inspired organizations
receive Zakat, fitra, ushr, Sehan-e-Imam and many more which are religiously obligatory
for Muslim people from different socio-economic level. They also receive some
Islamic charity donations like Sadqa, atiya and khairat which are not obligatory
but one is expected to donate tends to be a short-term, emotional, immediate
response, focused primarily on rescue and relief.
Traditionally, these donations were used in
supporting local people in need, maintenance of a madarsa, library, magazines, marriage
of poor girls, scholarships for students and maintenance of different monuments/community
buildings, and to support divorcee or widow women as well as unable men and
children. But when modern institutions came into existence, a large number of
these types of donation went to those faith inspired modern charitable
organizations, which used to offer Ramzan kit for Iftar and sehri to the poor
people and to some extent for providing timely help in natural or human made disaster
or emergency support. It is hard to find such organization who contributes in
social development or fighting the social evils affecting the community or
people in general.
So why faith inspired organizations are
focusing on instant charity? rather than creating some sustainable charity
mechanism for people in need which is already part of their tradition.
Let us see with some of my first hand
experience
Last year, I was campaigning in a village of
Assam and we were making them aware of Bride trafficking. A group of young men
who were fed-up after watching some of video interviews of trafficking
survivors advised me to propagate obligatory Burqa for all girls. And when I
asked them how a woman who usually wears 2.5 meter by dividing a standard length
of saree, can afford a Burqa? And how can a Burqa protect them from an abductor
or trafficker. They said our women should offer Namaz and live like a dignified
woman, Allah will protect them.
In another village I was told that nothing can
be possible without consent of Allah and he is punishing us for our own deed,
they suggested me to offer Namaz and pray for Muslims as well as humanity.
And not only people living in villages who are
usually considered ‘illiterate’ or ‘uneducated’, the elite Muslim Intelligentsia,
who is worried about rising communalism and hatred against Islam as well as
Muslim society—they offer translated Quran to their ‘haters’ as a solution.
They also preach Individual Islamic practices and believe that Allah will
protect them if they will follow their path. But they did not want to
understand the social aspect of the religion of Islam and Muslim society. One
may consider this radical or orthodoxy but being part of them I strongly
believe that the Muslim community has now almost lost its spirit and goes under
gross desperation in a neo-liberalized world.
Yes, overemphasis on theological aspects and
ignoring the community as a social group is only the problem from which Muslim
needs to overcome.
The community needs to train and support the
social activists, researchers, film makers, media and others who can help them
in institutionalization of their causes. Just like faith inspired social
movements ‘Nation of Islam’ and Martine Luther King Jr. led civil rights
movements in America played a major role behind Institutionalization of the
causes of Blacks. Presently, Neo-Buddhism is helping Dalits and tribal
communities of India to reclaim their history and organizing their causes.
Muslim faith inspired organization can play a
major role in Institutionalization of the
causes of ample number of prisoners from oppressed communities, trafficking
victims, increasing number of street children and homeless adults and many more
problem directly affect not only the community but the whole society and the nation.
They need to create mechanism to promote entrepreneurship and income generation
programmes for people.