A while ago, I read a little piece on poverty at Shaila’s website. From there on a very intricate process happened.

Step 1: A while ago, Mohammad, my younger brother, comes up to me and tells me that he wishes to go on a hunger strike for volunteer work. Now, in his young mind, its just volunteer work but once he matures, he will comprehend its significance inshaAllah. So that kind of got me thinking again.

Step 2: Today, my Mom comes up to me and gives me a news article about poverty to read. I didn’t quite look at it because it merely gives definitions of poverty without addressing any solutions. This got me thinking further. What is the solution for poverty?

Step 3: I didn’t have proper lunch and breakfast today. I was just on the run entire day. So, by 10 pm, I was exhausted and my tummy was growling. So, I tried feeling this hunger. And it hurt. As I lied down to understand, I comprehended further, this thing called poverty. Most of the Canadians can’t pay for their housing and electricity together. Some of the International students in Canada, don’t have proper food to eat. Even the students who attend school and university, go without nutritious food.

So, I thought and thought. How does one addresses something so complicated. And the answer was right under my nose all the time. :-)

In Islam, we are taught to give Zakat. Simply speaking, Zakat involves giving away 2.5% of one’s earnings to the poor and needy every lunar year given that one is adult, mentally stable, free and financially able Muslim, male or female. It is supposed to be calculated after taking any loans/debts into consideration.

So, I did some caculations. Let’s say, person A is earning $30,000 per year. That is only $750 per yer zakat given every condition is met. Let’s say we look at Bill Gates income. He earns approximately 2.2 billion per year according to Yahoo answer. 2.5% of that amount is $5500 million dollars charity. And we shouldn’t forget Donald Trump and other big guys in this equation. If this kind of money from the rich people starts pouring towards the poor and needy, then there won’t be any poverty. Perhaps the world will realize this in the future inshaAllah.

To read more on Zakat (charity), see this link.

Just sharing.

Later days now

Take care