What concerns do you have about Islamic charities?
1 Answer
Charity is nothing more than a vanity project. A show of power over the powerless. By creating charities and encouraging people to donate to charity rather than focus on the role of government, we are denying the less fortunate their rights from government - and government is the only body that has the resources to make a real sustainable difference. If we left it to charities, people wouldn't get long term support, but occassional trickles of cash and help, none of which can break the cycle of poverty - indeed, it only serves to extend it. Charities, and in particular the rise of Muslim Charities, encourage us to employ a simplistic way of thinking. Simplistic claims such as "at least the situation of the poor has improved" imply that the current economic system under is ok... that its positives justifies its negatives. Capitalism is a causal factor of any improvement in the condition of the poor. The adoption of any comprehensive ideology on a state and societal level (whether Islam, Capitalism or Communism) will lead to some improvement simply because the people and the state are unified on an idea and are working on the same ideological page. Capitalism does not have a deeply and clearly adopted criteria for what is an acceptable standard in society. Is it acceptable that we only need $10bn per year to solve the world's basic clean water and sanitation problem whilst eight people sit on $426bn? Or that 21,000 people (mainly children) die of hunger EVERY DAY whereas less than 100 people have the wealth to solve this? Without a clear criteria of what is absolutely unacceptable, getting 21,000 starving to death down to 20,000 a day, is seen as a success! If we applied an Islamic criteria, the world today would be seen as in a state of emergency. Those sitting on billions of dollars wouldn't be seen as idols or role models, they would be seen as evil usurpers and oppressors. Tiny improvements in certain parts of the world would not be a reason to continue maintaining this disastrous ideology.
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Charity is nothing more than a vanity project. A show of power over the powerless. By creating charities and encouraging people to donate to charity rather than focus on the role of government, we are denying the less fortunate their rights from government - and government is the only body that has the resources to make a real sustainable difference. If we left it to charities, people wouldn't get long term support, but occassional trickles of cash and help, none of which can break the cycle of poverty - indeed, it only serves to extend it. Charities, and in particular the rise of Muslim Charities, encourage us to employ a simplistic way of thinking. Simplistic claims such as "at least the situation of the poor has improved" imply that the current economic system under is ok... that its positives justifies its negatives. Capitalism is a causal factor of any improvement in the condition of the poor. The adoption of any comprehensive ideology on a state and societal level (whether Islam, Capitalism or Communism) will lead to some improvement simply because the people and the state are unified on an idea and are working on the same ideological page. Capitalism does not have a deeply and clearly adopted criteria for what is an acceptable standard in society. Is it acceptable that we only need $10bn per year to solve the world's basic clean water and sanitation problem whilst eight people sit on $426bn? Or that 21,000 people (mainly children) die of hunger EVERY DAY whereas less than 100 people have the wealth to solve this? Without a clear criteria of what is absolutely unacceptable, getting 21,000 starving to death down to 20,000 a day, is seen as a success! If we applied an Islamic criteria, the world today would be seen as in a state of emergency. Those sitting on billions of dollars wouldn't be seen as idols or role models, they would be seen as evil usurpers and oppressors. Tiny improvements in certain parts of the world would not be a reason to continue maintaining this disastrous ideology.
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