Charity – The Answer to the Suffering of Muslims? The Islamic Ummah has suffered the darkest century in its history. Massacres, atrocities, displacement and poverty have heaped misery and humiliation upon millions of Muslims which keeps growing. The suffering the Muslims continue to endure at the hands of the disbelievers and colonialists spanning Bosnia to Burma and everywhere in between such as Iraq, Palestine, Kashmir, Syria and Afghanistan makes this the darkest period in the 1400 year history of the Islamic Ummah. As a consequence of this reality, it was inevitable that the rest of the Muslims would sense and share the suffering inflicted upon their people since Allah (swt) stated in the Quran: “ The Believers are one Brotherhood” (TMQ 49.10) and the Messenger (saw) said: “The example of the believers in their affection, mercy, and compassion for each other is that of a body. When any limb aches, the whole body reacts with sleeplessness and fever.” (Muslim) As a reaction, Islamic charity organisations came into existence for the first time in the 20th century in emulation of their Christian counterparts in the West such as Islamic Relief, Muslim Aid and Muslim Hands along with many other similar copycat organisations and foundations. Muslims donated generously yet the numbers of Muslims suffering continued to rise exponentially as new wounds continued to be opened up in the Ummah’s body. America’s 2003 attack and occupation of Iraq resulted in over 1 million deaths alone without counting the ongoing atrocities against Muslims by Buddhists in Burma, Christians in the Central African Republic, Jews in Palestine and America’s drone bombings of families in Pakistan and Yemen, to name a few. The presence of such organisations has not only failed to stem the suffering of the Ummah but has actually prolonged and contributed to its massive growth by keeping Muslims preoccupied in a cycle of never-ending fundraising activities. They squander the efforts of Muslims and extinguish their zeal by making them feel that they have done their duty by throwing money in a bucket, enjoying some entertainment and food at a charity dinner or having their car shined at a charity car wash. Despite this, what is the Islamic viewpoint towards these organisations? The Correct Perspective Despite the sincerity with which these questions are raised i.e. to seek Allah (swt)’s pleasure, apply His commands correctly and alleviate the suffering in the Ummah, this still stirs an emotional reaction by some which is often accompanied by superficial justifications. However, it is not for the believer to decide what is right or wrong, good or bad and what the solution should be to any issue we face because Allah (swt) has clearly stated that “It may happen you hate a thing and it is good for you; and it may happen you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah Knows, while you know not.” (TMQ 2.216) We have been commanded to restrict ourselves to only what the Messenger (saw) brought due to Allah’s (swt) saying: “And whatever the Messenger has brought to you, take it…” (TMQ 59.7 ) which means do not take that which he did not bring. Furthermore, we are prohibited from following our own emotions and desires but rather must look to the Revelation, the Quran and Sunnah, to make any judgement for any problem or issue due to Allah’s (swt) saying: “Judge between them by what Allah has revealed, and follow not their vain desires…” (TMQ 5.49) and the hadith of the Messenger (saw): “None of you will have Iman until all your inclinations are in accordance with that which I have brought”. Charity Movements - Emulating Christians Charity organisations and movements have no place in Islam and were unknown to the Muslims from the time of the Messenger (saw) until the 20th century. They first emerged in the West following the separation of religion from state with the birth of Capitalism, a man-made ideology, which like any man-made system, led to oppression and injustice. The wealth was concentrated in the hands of the few creating a rich-poor gap which only grew wider while a huge number lived in dire poverty. Capitalism did not provision for any responsibility towards the poor and left people to starve. In reaction to this, some Christians set up charity organisations in an attempt to patch up the Capitalist system and plug its holes. Islam, on the other hand, is the Deen al-Haq (ideology of Truth) in which Allah (swt) has revealed the perfect system for mankind. Allah (swt) says: “Today I have perfected your Deen for you and completed My favour upon you and Chose Islam as your Deen” (TMQ 5.3). This Deen eliminated the injustices created by man-made systems and ensured there was no poverty, misery and suffering for the people living under its authority. Hence, there was never a need for Muslims to resort to anything outside their Deen to plug holes which do not exist when Muslims abide by Islam and this is the reason why charity organisations have no place in Islam. After we abandoned living according to Islam following the demolition of the Islamic State by Britain and France in 1924 at the hands of the traitor, Mustafa Kemal, combined with the conspiracies of the colonialists, the Ummah plunged into the misery and suffering witnessed since then. Instead of turning to Islam, the perfect system, to address the suffering, some Muslims chose to emulate the Christians instead by establishing charity organisations despite the fact we had been ordered only to take what the Messenger (saw) had brought and had been forbidden to emulate the Kuffar. The Messenger (saw) warned against this: You will surely follow the ways of those who came before you, span by span and yard by yard even if they entered into a lizards hole you will enter it. The companions asked: O prophet, you mean the Jews and Christians? He replied: Who else!? [Bukhari]; and: If one imitates another nation or people, he will be from them. [Abu-Dawud] Performing the Duties of the State In addition to emanating from other than Islam and being an imitation of the disbelievers, these organisations undertake activities which are restricted to the Islamic State’s authorities and haram for anyone else to perform. The Messenger (saw) said: “Each of you is a guardian and each of you is questioned over his subjects, the Imam who is responsible over the people and he is questioned over his responsibility, and the man is responsible over the people of his household and he is questioned over them, and the woman is responsible over her husband’s house and his children and she is questioned over them, and the slave is a guardian over the wealth of his master and he is questioned over it, each of you is a guardian and each of you is questioned over their responsibility. ” (Muslim/ Bukhari) There has never been any difference of opinion in the Ummah’s history that looking after the affairs of the Ummah is the duty of the Khalifah, the Head of State, only, who ensures the provision of the necessities such as food, water, shelter and education for the people through the State’s apparatus. It is false to claim that in the absence of the Islamic State today, this law can be rejected and others can perform these duties despite its prohibition. This would be like a man performing the husband’s duty towards the wife of another since her husband was absent, and she was in need of comforting. But the hadith restricted the activities of the man towards his household only in the same way it restricted the activities of the Imam to the Ummah. Therefore, it is clear that charity organisations are Batil (invalid) from Islam and their existence is haram. Sadaqah – The Correct Context Sadaqah is often cited as the justification for the existence of charity movements. However, a brief examination of the reality of Sadaqah shows it is grossly placed out of context and is nothing more than a retrospective justification for a pre-judged stance. Sadaqah, including Zakat which is compulsory Sadaqah, is an Ibadah (act of worship) i.e. a rule which comes under a Muslim’s personal relationship between him and Allah (swt) like Salat and fasting. Quite frequently, Salat and Zakat are mentioned together in the Quran. Sadaqah is a good deed performed by man in order to increase his reward regardless of the beneficial consequences for the recipient since its performance is not measured by its consequences. Voluntary Sadaqah is encouraged for Muslims as it is one of the voluntary actions that brings man closer to Allah (swt) and there is no question that this should be performed. However, Sadaqah in any form, voluntary or compulsory, was never legislated as a solution to any problem. To suggest this is as ridiculous as the calls to “fast for a day” in response to the Gaza massacres by the Jews. This can be illustrated by the fact that Zakat is payable by each qualifying individual every year regardless of there being any poor person or the State’s treasury, the Bait al-Mal, requiring additional funds. This was the case during the era of the Khalifah Omar ibnu Abdul-Aziz when his distributors could find no poor person to whom they could pay the Zakat. But nevertheless, it was collected by the State and paid duly by the Muslims since it is an Ibadah that has to be performed regardless of the consequence. The correct application of Sadaqah never did, or indeed could, result in the rise of charities due to it being an individual act of worship. Nor could charity activity span villages or towns because it is Islam, through its adherence by implementation via the Islamic State, which solves suffering of any form. However, where some individuals slipped through the State’s net and were in need, then this would be an anomaly rather than the norm in which case Sadaqah was performed by those who were physically close to them like their neighbours. This is the correct application of Sadaqah and why never did Sadaqah span tribes or cities, let alone countries and continents as witnessed today by these organisations as they misconstrue Sadaqah to justify their prohibited existence and activities. Zakat – Haram for Anyone other than the Islamic State to Collect and Distribute There has never been any difference of opinion in the history of Islam that it is Haram for anyone other than the Islamic State to collect and distribute the Zakat. The command to the Messenger (saw) to collect the Zakat: “Take, [O, Muhammad], from their wealth a Sadaqah (Zakat) by which you purify them…” [TMQ 9.103] is an explicit command to him in his capacity as the Head of State. The Khalifahs after him (saw) also proceeded according to the law of Allah (swt) and did not allow anyone to collect and distribute Zakat. During the rule of Othman ibnu Affan (ra), an individual took it upon himself to collect and distribute Zakat for which he was punished accordingly, for example. Furthermore, the collectors and distributors of Zakat, the Amileen, mentioned in the verse regarding those who are entitled to receive the Zakat, undisputedly refers exclusively to those appointed by the Khalifah: “The Sadaqah (Zakat) is only for the poor, the needy, the Amileen (those employed to collect Zakat] and for bringing hearts together [for Islam] and for freeing captives and for those in debt and Fee Sabeelillah (for the cause of Allah) and for the wayfarer - an obligation [imposed] by Allah . And Allah is Knowing and Wise.” [TMQ 9.60] Not only is it haram for the charities to collect the Zakat, had their existence been halal in the first instance, those who take some of it as an income are actually earning haram money. And for those who pay Zakat to them, the obligation remains outstanding. In the words of the Hanafi Scholar, Al-Sarakhasi in his book Al-Mabsout: “Al-Zakat is a divine right of Allah (wt) and is to be collected and distributed by the Khalifah or his deputies (only) and whoever pays his Zakat to anyone else as a collector of Zakat not appointed by the Khalifah, it will not remove the burden of paying Zakat from his neck.” That is not to say Muslims must not pay Zakat today but they must pay it directly to those eligible by themselves or through an individual they may delegate to pass it on to an eligible person on their behalf. But the obligation of Zakah would not have been discharged if it was paid to the organisations. Charity Fee Sabeelillah – An Attack on Jihad Further damage to Allah’s (swt) Deen is inflicted in the name of charity when the term Fee Sabeelillah (in the cause of Allah) is used out of context for charity collections. Fee Sabeelillah is used in the Quran on numerous occasions and each time refers to Jihad only such as in the verse quoted earlier where Fee Sabeelillah is one of the categories eligible for Zakat. In fact, the Muslim scholars in our history never differed that this Shariah term was a reference to Jihad only with the exception of a minority who added Haj as also coming under Fee Sabeelillah due to its mention in a hadith. Jihad, a major obligation in Islam and the legislated solution of Allah (swt) for much of the suffering of the Ummah due to invasions, occupations and atrocities, has been buried through this attack, adding to the further prolonging of the solution and therefore the continuously rising suffering of Muslims. The Solution Islam is the perfect Deen revealed by Allah (swt) which provides solutions to all problems and Muslims have no choice but to refer all their issues back to what the Messenger (saw) brought. “None of you will have Iman until you refer all your problems to the Messenger and accept his judgement without any hardship”. [TMQ 4.65] Allah has legislated Jihad for the suffering of the Ummah caused by the invasions, occupations, oppression and massacres by the Kuffar. Allah (swt) said: “And fight Fee Sabeelillah those who fight you… and expel them from where they expelled you” [TMQ 2.190-191] and: “And why should you not fight Fee Sabeelillah and for the weak who are oppressed? Men, women, and children, whose cry is: Our Lord! Rescue us from this town, whose people are oppressors; and raise for us one who will protect; and raise for us one who will help! [TMQ 4.75] To eliminate poverty, Allah (swt) legislated the economic system of Islam which ensures the correct distribution of the wealth amongst the people, thus eliminating the huge rich-poor gap through: the prohibition of private ownership of the source of natural resources which are instead administered by the State for the benefit of the people; the prohibition of hoarding and removal of money from circulation; and through imposing the Kharaj tax on arable land compelling its owners to work the land which results in abundant food produce, which in turn keeps prices of essentials low ensuring there is no shortages, to mention but a few examples. The divine method revealed by Allah (swt) to implement these solutions along with all the other laws of Islam is the Islamic State where the Imam, the Khalifah, is empowered by the Ummah to implement the Deen of Allah (swt) over them which solves their problems and alleviates injustice and suffering. This method is not optional but rather a Fardh for the Muslims to have in place by working for it. When the Muslims did have the Imam in place, they were indeed protected in accordance with the hadith of the Messenger (saw): “The Imam is a shield from which Muslims fight and protect themselves” (Muslim) where any setback was only temporary such as the Mongol or Crusader invasions, and nowhere near the scale of atrocities witnessed in the last century. During the Great Famine of 638 CE in Arabia during the rule of Omar ibnu al-Khattab (ra), he mobilised the State apparatus to ensure there was no starvation by acquiring food supplies from other parts of the Islamic State, setting up distribution centres across the Peninsula and organising the distribution of the food rations to everyone for a year until the famine passed. The Muslims are commanded as a matter of priority to restore the Islamic way of life, which is Fardh and provides the solutions to the agony of the Ummah, by working in accordance with the method of the Messenger (saw). It is wrong to turn to kufr solutions under the pretext that the Islamic solutions cannot be implemented because the Islamic State is absent because Muslims are not allowed to refer to anything other than what Allah (swt) revealed to the Messenger (saw). Charity - A Short Term Solution? Do we just Leave Muslims to Suffer? These are further emotional justifications for charity movements which lack any basis in Islam. A solution is that which solves a problem and for a Muslim, it must be from Islam. We have now established that charities have neither solved any problem, but prolonged the suffering, nor do they have any legitimacy in Islam. Furthermore, those who admitted that restoring the Deen of Allah (swt) on the earth was actually the solution to the suffering in the Ummah claimed that was the “long term” solution and charities were a “short term solution”. But this claim has two pitfalls: it is an admission that charity is not going to solve anything, otherwise there would have been no need for “another” solution; and if they genuinely believed this, then why did they not perform the Fardh of working towards the correct solution while choosing to permanently go in circles with charity events? No, we do not leave Muslims to suffer and hence why we are commanded to work towards the solution from Islam. The reality is that those who are not working for the solution are actually the ones who are letting them down and worse, contributing to the delay in the solution and the growth in the misery by keeping the Ummah stalled in its progress towards restoring the Islamic way of life. The Messenger (saw) is our Best Example The Messenger of Allah (saw) was sent as a mercy in order to lead mankind out of the darkness of Kufr to the light of Islam by establishing Allah’s (swt) Deen on the earth and conveying it to the whole world. When he (saw) was sent, there was oppression, injustice, inequality, poverty and orphans in Mecca and throughout Arabia but he never organised any charity movement. There was never any charity dinner, collection or charity camel-wash. In fact, the Messenger (saw) remained totally focussed on his goal of establishing Islam and never became diverted from his task nor squandered the efforts of the convert Muslims through any other activity, even when they were facing atrocities. The family of Yasir were being tortured by the pagans for having embraced Islam and yet when the Messenger (saw) walked past and heard the screams of Sumaiya, his only response was: “be steadfast O family of Yasir, Jannah will be yours”. When the Muslims were boycotted for three years and confined to a valley on the outskirts of Mecca, they were hit by a severe food shortage and hunger which forced Muslims to eat animal skins and leaves, and the crying of hungry children reverberated throughout the valley with the only occasional relief coming from the fellow tribesmen in Mecca who, out of compassion, sent food some times. Despite the hardships, none of these events led to even the slightest diversion of the Messenger (saw) from his mission nor did he organise any fundraising activities. As for the good deeds performed by some Muslims in Mecca such as Abu Bakr (ra) buying Bilal (ra) in order to relieve his torture from his pagan master and set him free, these were individual acts akin to Sadaqah which had no aspect of any organisation or movement, dispelling another false justification used by the champions of charity movements. However, when the Messenger (saw) succeeded in establishing Islam in Medina where the Islamic State arose, he implemented the systems of Islam and carried the Dawa which covered the whole of the Arabian Peninsula during his time as Head of State which eliminated all injustices, oppression, atrocities and poverty. Had he become stalled in a cycle of endless charity events, his mission would have ceased and we would not have been Muslims today. However, the Messenger (saw) had no choice but to proceed as he had been commanded by Allah (swt) rather than emotionally react to the misery created by the Kuffar around him, which led to the victory of Islam. Likewise, we have been commanded to emulate him and abide by his way since we …have indeed the best example in the Messenger of Allah (saws) for whosoever hopes for Allah and the Last Day, and remembers Allah much [TMQ 33: 21] and Nor does he speak of his own desire. It is only an Inspiration that is inspired (revelation) [TMQ An-Najm: 3-4] . We invite all Muslims to commence working towards that which Allah (swt) has commanded, the Islamic solution, so we may perform our duty and alleviate the suffering of the Ummah. O you who believe! Answer (the call of) Allah and His Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life. [TMQ 8.24] By the Shabab of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain 8th March 2014 Visit the official website at hizbuttahrir.org
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 11:08:06 +0000
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