Poverty is not so painful but the feeling of poverty is! There are a large number of people who move heaven and earth to try to maintain their respectability but their needs are beyond their means. On one side of a coin there is one section of the population which gobbles down ‘Haleem’ worth more than 100 crore in a single month, and on the other, there are people whole children long for a single piece of meat for whole week.
In a country where ice-cream consumption is 250 crore rupees on an average, there are children who need to plead to their parents a number of times to buy them a single chocolate. In a country where zakat contribution amounts to Rs. 10 billion on an average, there are several young girls who develop grey hair waiting to get married.
There is a section of the population whose self-respect prevent them from extending their hands to ask for alms but they are rendered helpless in the hands of poverty and are forced to take interest loans to meet Eid expenses. We need to identify those needy persons having self-respect and help them in a secret way so that their self-esteem is not hurt and we also get the blessings of zakat.
Mohammed Jaseemuddin Nizami