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Educated and affluent Muslim families, either individually or in small concurring groups, should strive to see that their Zakat funds reach the poorest of the poor.
The article, “Mirage of Islamic Family Ethos” by Maqbool Ahmed Siraj in Islamic Voice, January 2007, makes one feel very disconsolate with the way things go on in our community. It also means that the well-off amongst us are not fulfilling the requirements of Huqooqul Ibad. Many have talked about removal of poverty and some articles have appeared in Islamic Voice too. The government is blamed by some for improper distribution of wealth, but in my opinion it is the mindset of the people which stops them from not making use of the opportunities available to them. No amount of grant of funds or facilities will bring them to the mainstream. However opulent a country may be, there will always be residual poverty. One must therefore endeavour to minimize it. The aforesaid article puts the problem in the right perspective and indeed a problem well defined is actually half solved. A practical action plan, nevertheless, has to be put in place. Interestingly, good approaches can be found in some articles of Islamic Voice. Eg. “Micro economics” as adopted by Grameen Bank with full involvement of the women members of the families is one. (Islamic Voice, Dec 2006). “Micro Economics” in its dubious form, practised by money lending beggars, is another (Islamic Voice, Jan 2004). Based on such knowledge, a proper strategy by those genuinely concerned to help the poor can be evolved. I have a few thoughts, which I would like share with the readers, primarily to maximize effectiveness of Zakat and Charity coupled with some basic principles of corporate management.
1. Educated and well-to-do Muslim families, either individually or in small concurring groups, should define a mission statement for themselves as: “To endeavour the best utilization and to get utmost value of our family Zakat and charity fund”. Apply the principles of customer focus to the target families of the poor..Recognise the money lending beggars and similar groups as competition and work to beat them, since they hold the poor families to ransom.
2. Affluent families should be in direct contact with poor families, preferably women to women. This is very easy in India as one need not step out of the house to get in touch with poor people. .Maid servants, security guards, drivers of our own household or of the neighbours, are instant contacts. This decentralised approach will help ascertain the legitimacy of the people’s requirements and it will yield maximum value for the money spent which is not possible, and in fact the biggest drawback of centralized Zakat/charity collecting agencies.
3. The next step must be counseling, to determine their need, assessing their capabilities, their basic health needs (not high cost by-pass surgeries in high profile hospitals), aptitudes of women and children in the families to take to either education or to skilled crafts, marriage of a girl child, etc.
4. Zakat/charity money should then be customised and spent on them in a manner which will yield best value addition to their lives.
5. Interest free loans should be offered to families, to tide over their immediate requirements which will also help them overcome the vicious circle of borrowing money on interest (which is invariably very high) and free those entangled into chit funds. It should also be ensured that the money given to them by way of loan, Zakat, or charity is not misused for usury and money lending.
6. The men folk should be advised and motivated to earn by hard work, to be honest and upright in their dealings to bring a good name to the community and to shoulder the responsibility of their women and their children’s upbringing. It should be impressed upon them the fact that a person without resources to look after a family has no right to get married in the first place, let alone practise polygamy. Once the women are empowered by knowledge and funds, it can be hoped that the men will fall in line.
Many more points may be added and some aforesaid points modified to suit individual judgement, but this basic approach, in my own limited experience, works very well.
(The writer can be reached at dr.a.ahmed@sify.com)
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