"They cited the words of God, Great and Glorious is He:
'And spend from what We have provided them with.' [al-Baqarah, 2:3]
as well as His words, exalted is He:
'And spend from that which We have provided you.' [al-Munafiqun, 63:10]
They maintained that these duties, far from being abrogated by the 'Verse of zakat' form part of the mutual obligations of all Muslims. In other words, whenever a well-to-do Muslim encounters one who is in need, it is incumbent upon him to relieve that need, over and above his payment of the Alms."
Abu Hamid al-Ghazli, Inner Dimensions of Islamic Worship
Almost everyone knows that charity is one of the five pillars of Islam, and some even know that it calls for every Muslim to donate 2.5% of their total worth to the poor every year. I've never done any research on how many Muslims actually do this, although I suspect it is many. The Prophet also reminded us that "every act of kindness if charity" so it's important to keep in mind that this is more than simply a cash payment. Recently our masjid raised around a million dollars to buy a church so that we can convert it into a mosque, and the fact that we raised that figure, while somehow not managing to sell our old mosque, within three months is rather extraordinary. I donated a goodly amount of money, or least what I consider a goodly amount of money, to the cause, although I certainly should have donated more. Truthfully (and I do try and be truthful during this discussion of faith, even when it doesn't reflect very well on me) I've been a little conflicted during the fund-raising process. As you know I'm a part of TechDren, which is the non profit started by Champlain students that works to collect, refurbish and deliver laptops to elementary school children on the island of Pemba in Zanzibar. These deserving young students are almost entirely Muslims. I've been selling guesses on the Trip of Mystery to raise money for TechDren. I've never had much success interesting my fellow brothers and sisters in supporting TechDren nor in supporting the South Burlington Food Shelf (it's brand new and I'm happy to serve on its board). I'm happy that we have the new space, but do we really need the new space? Is this another form of vanity? I'm having one of those The Bishop's Wife "that one big roof would pay for a lot of small ones" moments. Yes, this space will allow us do more things for the members of our community, especially the younger members, but couldn't we with a little creativity done that in the old space as well? As Muslims shouldn't our efforts be directed towards the less fortunate, both Muslim and non-Muslim?
'And spend from what We have provided them with.' [al-Baqarah, 2:3]
as well as His words, exalted is He:
'And spend from that which We have provided you.' [al-Munafiqun, 63:10]
They maintained that these duties, far from being abrogated by the 'Verse of zakat' form part of the mutual obligations of all Muslims. In other words, whenever a well-to-do Muslim encounters one who is in need, it is incumbent upon him to relieve that need, over and above his payment of the Alms."
Abu Hamid al-Ghazli, Inner Dimensions of Islamic Worship
Almost everyone knows that charity is one of the five pillars of Islam, and some even know that it calls for every Muslim to donate 2.5% of their total worth to the poor every year. I've never done any research on how many Muslims actually do this, although I suspect it is many. The Prophet also reminded us that "every act of kindness if charity" so it's important to keep in mind that this is more than simply a cash payment. Recently our masjid raised around a million dollars to buy a church so that we can convert it into a mosque, and the fact that we raised that figure, while somehow not managing to sell our old mosque, within three months is rather extraordinary. I donated a goodly amount of money, or least what I consider a goodly amount of money, to the cause, although I certainly should have donated more. Truthfully (and I do try and be truthful during this discussion of faith, even when it doesn't reflect very well on me) I've been a little conflicted during the fund-raising process. As you know I'm a part of TechDren, which is the non profit started by Champlain students that works to collect, refurbish and deliver laptops to elementary school children on the island of Pemba in Zanzibar. These deserving young students are almost entirely Muslims. I've been selling guesses on the Trip of Mystery to raise money for TechDren. I've never had much success interesting my fellow brothers and sisters in supporting TechDren nor in supporting the South Burlington Food Shelf (it's brand new and I'm happy to serve on its board). I'm happy that we have the new space, but do we really need the new space? Is this another form of vanity? I'm having one of those The Bishop's Wife "that one big roof would pay for a lot of small ones" moments. Yes, this space will allow us do more things for the members of our community, especially the younger members, but couldn't we with a little creativity done that in the old space as well? As Muslims shouldn't our efforts be directed towards the less fortunate, both Muslim and non-Muslim?
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