Why Should Muslims Have a Communal Approach to Social Service, When God Raised Them for Overall Good and Welfare of Entire Humanity?
By S.
Arshad, New Age Islam
26 March
2022
Muslims Lack
The Philanthropic Zeal Of The Christians And Sikhs. This Despite What God Told
Them In Quran: "You Are The Best Community Ever Raised For The Welfare Of
The Mankind (Linnaas)" (Aal-E-Imran, 3: 110)
Main Points
1. Muslim NGOs
mainly work for Muslims, though during Covid some Muslim groups had helped and
a few mosques had opened their doors for the needy, providing them free
services. But it was nothing compared with what the small minority of Sikhs had
done with their oxygen Langars, among other things, like opening full-fledged
hospitals.
2. Langars are
not found in Muslim society.
3. Muslims have
little interest in secular social work.
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Once the
Bengali poet Qazi Nazrul Islam lamented the communal mentality of Muslims even
in the matters of social welfare programmes. He had wondered why the Muslims
added the prefix 'Islamia' even to the names of institutions devoted to social
welfare like hospitals and name them Islamia hospital. He guessed that if
someday these people contract Tuberculosis, they will say, "I am suffering
from Islamia TB".
God says
the Muslims, “You are the best community ever raised for the welfare of the
mankind (linnaas); you encourage good and forbid evil and believe in
Allah"(Quran
3: 110 Aal-e-Imran)
God raised
Muslims for the overall good and welfare of the entire humanity, not only for
the Muslims. And because of this, God declares them the best people ever raised
on earth. Spreading good does not entail only doing good to the Muslims but to
all irrespective of caste, creed and religion. God says in the Quran that He
will take care of those too who do not believe in Him in the world and so He
wants Muslims to have the same approach to the people of the world.
The Muslims
are told to engage in social welfare and philanthropic activities apart from
having faith in one God. Their social or religious duty does not end at just
having faith in one God and offering five times prayers and observing fasting
during Ramadan. They have been entrusted with a bigger task of working for the
welfare of the poor, needy, destitute and the sick of the world. And whenever
the Quran speaks of the welfare of the needy, it does it with a secular
approach.
It asks
Muslims to do social work not on individual basis but in an organised manner
and on a collective level. For example, the Quran enjoins Muslims not only to
feed the needy and the hungry on individual level but also enjoins Muslims to
encourage other Muslims to feed the hungry.
"What
put you into saqar. They will say, we were not of those who prayed nor did we
use to feed the poor."(Al Mudaththir: 43-45)
"He
is the one who repulses the orphan and does not encourage the feeding the poor."(Al Maun: 2-3)
Feeding the
hungry has also been stressed in Sual Al Balad, Al Fajr and Al Mursalat of the
Holy Quran.
This way
feeding the poor becomes a collective responsibility of the Muslim society.
This necessitates the setting up of hospitals or Langars (charitable eateries)
in every town or locality. These Langars would not be restricted to Muslims
alone but would be open to the people of all religions and even to those who do
not believe in any religion. But such Langars are not found in Muslim
societies. They are instead found among Sikhs and Hindus.
Other
organisation that is suggested in the Quran is the shelter for the wayfarers or
travellers. The Quran time and again stresses on extending help to the
traveller.
"Therefore,
give to the near of kin, and to the needy and to the wayfarer. "(Quran, Surah Ar Rum: 38)
This
necessitates the setting up of traveller shelters in every locality or town for
the people of all the community. Though Musafir Khanas are found in many
towns and cities, they do not fulfil the criteria set by the Quran: they demand
payment by the guest and have limited rooms. They are restricted to Muslims and
are called Islamia Musafirkhana or Muslim Musafirkhana. In self-proclaimed
Islamic countries, Musarfir Khanas, hospitals, Langars and orphanages
should be funded and managed by the government. In non-Muslim countries, big
social organisations should take up these responsibilities. But in Muslim
societies, the stress on secular social work is not much and therefore, big
NGOs are few and those which work for the needy do not have resources and so
work on a limited level.
The Quran
also enjoins on Muslims to take care of orphans. This has been stressed in
surah Al-e-Imran and other surahs. Though orphanages are found in many towns
and cities they are run with limited resources and are restricted to Muslims
and are generally called Islamia Yateemkhana.
In short,
Muslims don’t possess the missionary zeal of the Christians who are known for
their social work and philanthropic zeal. They provide medical assistance to
the needy worldwide and thousands of world level organisations have been active
providing help and relief to the destitute both Muslims and non-Muslims. Mother
Teresa, a Christian woman won the Nobel Prize for her social work under her
organisation Missionaries of Charity. Christians are known worldwide for their
social work the Quran also praises Christians for their virtue of compassion.
"We
sent after them Jesus the son of Mary, and bestowed on him the Gospel and We
ordained in the hearts of those who followed him compassion and mercy."(57:27)
The Muslims
take less interest in the welfare work that involves all the religions because
they have been made to believe that only serving or helping the Muslims earns
them reward in the Hereafter. This mentality prevented them from reaching out
to other communities and creating an image of a community having a universal
outlook. Very few organisations like the Edhi Foundation of Pakistan exist in
Muslim countries.
On the
contrary, Muslims harbour doubts and suspicion about the objective of Christian
organisations active in Muslim countries. In Afghanistan, the ISIS attacked
maternity clinics run by western Christian organisations killing pregnant
Muslim women and new born babies and forced their exit.
The Quran
stresses on mercy and compassion and advises Muslims to show mercy and
compassion to all. And this can be truly demonstrated through a universal
approach to service to the mankind which unfortunately lacks among the Muslims
today.
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S.
Arshad is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-society/muslims-communal-approach-social-service-/d/126654
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