 |
| A day with the less fortunate... |
Ramadhan had always been a fantastic journey for me. I would love to do many things that I dont normally do at other times. It allows me to focus on my Ibadah and at the same time, teach me to be grateful. It teaches me patience as well as serve me as a guidance to the road of spirituality. It teaches me to be less greedy and less selfish and at the same time, allows me to be a better Muslim.
One of my journey in Ramadhan this year is to feed the homeless and the less fortunate (OKU). It was an eye opening event for me. I felt grateful and at the same time, I felt very sad. Reason being? We the ummah had forgotten them, had left them and let them live in grace. Then, missionaries of other religions had taken advantage of this situation while we are careless.When I went to the House of the Unfortunate, they were taken care of by a group of Non-Muslim people. I do not mind with this. Is it a problem? Why should we stop somebody from doing good deeds? It is not a problem, at FIRST. Yet, when the children had abandon Islam, then there is a problem. The childrens were not raise in an Islamic way. They were never thought anything about Islam. They were abandoned by their parents and families, they are also abandoned by the Ummah. We could not blame them for not teaching the children any Islamic values. Why should they? What benefit will the get? Yet, we should blame ourselves. Why were there not any Muslims tried to help? Isnt this fardhu kifayah.
Another event that gave me a sorrow feeling is a night with the homeless. This is my second time joining such program. Unlike before, the nights in Ramadhan are very different whereby there were many volunteers who actually distributed foods to them. Alhamdulillah, that is something nice. Yet, when our team met with one of the homeless, I felt terrible.
WHY?
The person had told me, that she is sad with the ummah today. She is a homeless, but she has a work. She works at the recycle place helping them in recycling. Before, she worked at a Non-Muslim Worship place. She was given shelter and money of rm500 monthly for her work. Yet, every week she was asked to convert. yes, convert! She did not but she told me that there are many Malays that had converted. Those are the people that she knew, what about the others?Lets see. maybe we should blame these people. Yeah, lets blame them! They were the one who actually did not ask for help.. Well they actually did. The person that I talked to tried to ask for Zakat many times, but was refused in several occasions. A friend of mine know another homeless a Muallaf. He actually tried to ask for Zakat and everytime he went there, the response were always negative such as "Laaa, muka kau lagi?" What kind of attitude is that?Im not going to blame the Zakat authotiry for their procedures and whatsoever. They have their reasons why such procedures were created and as a person with a law and legal background, I know such rules and regulations are necessary. Yet, I think it is time for us to take a change.
The person had told me, that she is sad with the ummah today. She is a homeless, but she has a work. She works at the recycle place helping them in recycling. Before, she worked at a Non-Muslim Worship place. She was given shelter and money of rm500 monthly for her work. Yet, every week she was asked to convert. yes, convert! She did not but she told me that there are many Malays that had converted. Those are the people that she knew, what about the others?Lets see. maybe we should blame these people. Yeah, lets blame them! They were the one who actually did not ask for help.. Well they actually did. The person that I talked to tried to ask for Zakat many times, but was refused in several occasions. A friend of mine know another homeless a Muallaf. He actually tried to ask for Zakat and everytime he went there, the response were always negative such as "Laaa, muka kau lagi?" What kind of attitude is that?Im not going to blame the Zakat authotiry for their procedures and whatsoever. They have their reasons why such procedures were created and as a person with a law and legal background, I know such rules and regulations are necessary. Yet, I think it is time for us to take a change.
We are lucky enought that for the homeless, we have a group of family and friends that are doing this consistently. They do it once in every 2weeks. yet, they alone would not be sufficient. We must be ummah that is knowledgeable in both issues internationally, and locally. There are things that we can debate on, but sometimes, there are things that we must stop debating, stop pointing fingers and take actions. Waiting for the government will never be the solution.
Lets do this!
RECOMMENDATIONS:1. Zakat authority could have come down and see the situations of the people. They could help in giving mattress, pillows, and blanket. Further, try to give them job for example cleaning the mosque and etc. For the unfortunate, I believe Zakat authority with the collaboration of JKM (Jabatan Kebajikan Malaysia) set up a home for them at each state. One for each state at the very least.
2. Government could at the very least try to set up lights under the bridges. Not the bright ones, the dimp lights would be fine. Try to give them jobs as well. Tukang sapu ke, tukang kutip sampah ke, pak guard ke.
3. The Muslim community must stand up. Lets try and help this people consistently. Lets try and lend us hand. We could also be more creative and try to think outside the box. Give them cloths and foods and new blankets. It does not need to be expensive, but clean and comfortable would be fine. for the kids, lets try to spend more time with them. It does not necessarily to be with NGOs. A bunch of friends qould be nice too.
I am not writing this to brag about my deeds. I am sharing my experience. Yet, I cannot do this alone. Need your help. if anyone of you are interested to help, give me a call or drop me a message :) Your help are most welcome.
The ummah are strong in numbers, but we are weak. Time to wake up!
No comments:
Post a Comment