The giving heart of Ramadan
Moulavi Saleem M. Nisvar of the Jummah Masjid in Gambirisgaswewa distributes packs of dry rations to villagers
The month of Ramadan is coming to a close and although it is popularly associated with fasting and even feasting, the spirit of the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar has more to do with charity than indulgence. Reflection on the teachings, prayer, abstinence and giving form the core of Islam’s holy month that commemorates the first revelation of the Quran to Prophet Mohammed.
This is a time when eating makes way for introspection from dawn to dusk. And while Muslims practise charity all year long, even the humblest of Muslims reach deep into their pockets to help others during Ramadan.
In general, Islam advocates three forms of charity: The first is zakath or obligatory charity, an all-important pillar of Islam. The second is zakath al-fitr (also known asfitra), the obligatory giving of food during the month of Ramadan. The third is sadaqah or voluntary giving of food or any other form of help.
“Zakath” is a fixed percentage of an individual or family’s annual wealth allocated as charity to benefit members of the community who are in need.Not every Muslim is obliged to contribute zakath– only those whose annual wealth in a lunar new year exceeds a threshold known as the niqab level and who are not struggling to make ends meet. Furthermore, zakath can only be given to individuals belonging to eight distinctive categories. Recipients are carefully evaluated so that donors know how best to help them.The evaluation benefits the donor at a deep level, helping that person to reflect upon others’ difficulties and appreciate one’s own blessings.
Since “zakath” means “purification” in Arabic, the act of sharing one’s wealth is also said to be a form of self-purification. Pure zakath is done with utmost confidentiality, said one Muslim. So the money used for zakath should be money earned honestly and used to benefit the recipient with no expectations of returns in the form of praise, recognition or publicity. It’s a private matter between the giver and Allah for which you will be rewarded. For this reason, many of the Muslims we contacted requested anonymity.
In contrast, sadaqah is more flexible. Any act of giving, from watering a plant to giving a gift of a meal, is sadaqah, and recipients can be of any faith or community.
Fitra on the other hand is Ramadan specific and concerns food and family. It is a gift of uncooked rice, usually two kilogrammes or its equivalent in cash, from each individual of a household to a poor family at the end of the fasting period.For this too recipients are placed in an order of priority – relatives in need are first in line, followed by neighbours because Islam places special emphasis on family and community relations.
While zakath is often referred to as a ‘tax’, most Muslims welcome the prospect of giving back to society.
It is with this spirit that many Muslims across the country have prepared packages of rice and other food items to give as zakath and sadaqah to the needy and also donated generously to various charities this month.
Giving is an important part of our faith, said one donor. “Although zakath is not necessary during Ramadan, many Muslims prefer to do it this month. Zakath takes many forms. We may join with other families to pay off a loan that someone has taken or pay someone’s school fees. We once pooled our annual zakath with some others to pay off someone’s trishaw loan.”Another donor family said they use their annual zakath to fund projects throughout the year and in the past years have been sponsoring accommodation and books of two university students. Ideally, donors like to lift a struggling family out of poverty so that they too can contribute zakath the next year.
This year, zakath and sadaqah contributions have made their way to Puttalam, Batticaloa and remote rural areas where the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown has left vulnerable labourer families destitute. We spoke to the co-ordinator of one such project who was seeking donations to fund dry rations for 13 vulnerable villages in the district of Gambirigaswewa in Anuradhapura.The villages are home to both Sinhalese and Muslims who work in the paddy fields between November and February, and as labourers earning daily wages the rest of the year. The lockdown has severely affected their livelihood and many families are starving.Ninety percent of these people are labourers, said Ashroff who is co-ordinating the distribution of dry rations in Anuradhapura to the villages through the local mosque and temple. So far, 300 packs of dry rations, enough to feed a family of two for about a week or a family of four or five for two to three days, have been distributed to seven villages. More help was needed, he said, for example, some homes do not have water and others do not have toilets. But for now, the project is focusing on the most essential needs – food. As donations come in, other families will also benefit. On the day we spoke, 74 more packages of dry rations had been distributed. Similarly, the same group distributed parcels of dry rations to Muslim families in Musali, Mannar and Bandarawela.
Meanwhile, in Matale, the Muslim community has organised the distribution of food parcels to the poorest homes, through their local mosque. “We contributed whatever we could afford – Rs. 5,000 or Rs. 10,000 –towards it. As a second step the mosque has also decided to give parcels to the middle-class families who have been hit by the economic downturn,” said a donor.
As Ramadan draws to a close, there is one final act of giving – the fithra without which no Eid is complete. Fithra is a gift of the type of staple that the family will use for their own Eid al-Fitr celebratory meal after the final day of the fast. Thus, if the festive biryani is to be made of basmati rice, then every individual in the household will also donate a gift of two kilogrammes of basmati or its equivalent in cash to another Muslim family who cannot afford it, so that they too can celebrate the occasion. Fithra is obligatory on every able Muslim family, and here again, in keeping with the spirit of zakath, it is presented in confidentiality by the head of the donor household on behalf of each householder as a friendly gift from one family to another rather than a donation.
Loosely translated, fithra means “the natural instinct to give”. It taps into the finer aspects of human nature. It captures the pristine essence of Islamic charity as a celebration of life, the sharing of wealth with fellow human beings in a beautiful gesture of caring for others.