President Obama is already popular among Muslims in the U.S., but one reference in a recent speech made many hearts swoon.
“Freedom of religion is central to the ability of peoples to live together,” he told an audience in Cairo. “Rules on charitable giving made it harder for Muslims to fulfill their religious obligation. That’s why I’m committed to working with American Muslims to ensure that they can fulfill zakat.”
The idea behind zakat is this: If every Muslim gives 2.5 percent of his savings to the poor, that will go a long way toward eradicating poverty. Imam Mohamed Magid at the ADAMS Center, a large mosque in Virginia, says that’s why zakat is one of the five pillars, or obligations, of Islam.
So Muslims risk having their doors kicked in if they donate to the United Way? UNICEF? Or is it just the terror fronts that are the problem here?
Muslims want to give to faith-based charities. So do Christians. Members of both groups want to promote their own faiths, not somebody else’s. The problem is that (at least since the Irish Troubles were largely resolved) Islamic charities are more likely targets for terrorist takeover than are Christian charities.
That puts Muslims in the cruel trilemma of a choice between (1) ignoring their religious obligation to charity; (3) being forced to give to non-Muslim charities that may not share their values; or (3) running the risk of literally having their doors kicked in (or getting deported) if they choose a Muslim charity that has, or later develops, a hidden terrorist connection. Christians do not face that choice.
Many Muslim charities themselves have an additional problem beyond the risk of takeover. They will have trouble distributing goods or services in some places (refugee camps, in particular) without cooperating with local authorities that may have more or less covert terrorist connections. Those connections can then come back to haunt an innocent charity and its donors. However, it is the poor in precisely those places that are most in need of charity.
I think, but I would have to check it, that Muslims give to Muslim charities which assist Muslims. I don’t think giving to the United Way would do it. American Muslims have been taken advantage of by organizations which claim to be giving to the poor but instead funnel money to terrorist groups. I know an American Muslim who brings suitcases filled with clothes to donate in Egypt to satisfy part of his obligation.
There is an option not mentioned, They can take back their religion and seperate themselves from those who wish to divert their charity. Much harder to do than say, I know, but the only reasonable alternative.
paul
But are we not admonished that only a tiny, tiny, insignificant percentage of Muslims are involved in bus-bombing, village-mortaring, head-chopping and skyscraper-toppling? Surely it can’t be that tough to find a legit Muslim-oriented charity, one not involved in these activities.
In reading the full article, it will become apparent that it really [b]is[/b] “that tough.” Even the highest degree of due diligence will not guarantee that something won’t go wrong. The key evidence of this is that not even the United States Government is willing to provide a “white list” of groups that are OK. If you are already somewhat fearful (and possibly reasonably so) about being under suspicion for your religion and ethnicity, you are going to get positively paranoid about what might happen if you give to a group that later turns out to have sinister associations.