Exploiting the poor during Ramazan
“But I, being poor, have only my dreams. I have spread my dreams under your feet; tread softly, because you tread on my dreams.” –Yeats
The majority of population in Pakistan is below the poverty line. Go down any roadside and one would find young children selling newspapers, cleaning the cars when they stop at a signal, working at shoe-polishing stalls etc. These young children are the victims of poverty and that is the reason why child labour is rampant in our society. Not only do young children have to work, but due to extreme poverty, many old people have to keep working at an age when they should actually be resting. Poverty is the worst form of deprivation and the sadness that is visible in the eyes of these people is heartbreaking. These are the people who suffer the most in life, and for a crime that they have not committed – the crime of being born poor!
The holy month of Ramadan has started and one can feel it in the air – from the siren that blares in the early morning at the time of Sehr, the recitations of Quranic verses in the mosques all day long, the hustle bustle of people a few hours prior to Iftar time, till the Iftar time itself when everyone is busy opening their fasts. As this month is holy month, therefore special arrangements are made at the time of iftar — a veritable smorgasbord of dishes is made in the house or bought from the market. The price of every commodity skyrockets in the month of Ramadan, especially the food items and commodities of daily-use.
Islam teaches us to be more charitable in this special month, but some people are simply not interested in properly following the spirit of Ramadan, which is supposed to bring together all the Muslims. In this greedy world, a lot of Muslims have stopped adhering to any laws laid down by our beautiful religion, Islam and are exploiting their religious brothers by charging them more and plundering the hard earned wages of ordinary middle and lower class people. They have their eyes set on maximising their profits and no regard is shown for the poverty-stricken society. Muslims should not act like those corporate giants and the commercial-minded civilisations, which tend to increase their prices whenever the holiday season approaches.We should show our benevolence and true commitment to God by giving benefits to mankind, and should not be motivated by any selfish designs.
Eid is the most special holiday for a Muslim, as a Muslim is rewarded with the gift of Eid day after fasting for the whole month of Ramadan. Every muslim wants to buy new clothes and accessories for Eid day, but the shopkeepers escalate the prices by creating artificial shortage of commodities in order to reap benefits from an ordinary consumer since they know that most people have saved money for their expenditure in the approaching Eid holidays. This price hike is an injustice to an average lower and middle-class family who has so many members anticipating the Eid preparations and who would see the rich with their beautiful new clothes and throwing big feasts to celebrate this special day, whereas these people have to count their last penny and have taken advance salaries to meet the expenditures of Eid.
The best lesson could be learned from the spirit of Ramadan, where most of the Muslims unite under a common flag to pursue one common purpose, to make their Creator happy. One of the ways this could be done is to make their fellow brethren happy and keeping prices to their ordinary level and making it easier and convenient for people from all classes to participate in these celebrations. This will go a long way in actually increasing the happiness of these people on Eid, and people would concentrate more on organisational issues rather than the pecuniary ones — to host or participate in Eid feasts. It will also set us apart from other nations, whose business is solely driven by the consumer’s dependency and desire to buy products in a particular season.
Every good act is charity and a man’s true wealth in the hereafter is the good that he does in this world to his fellows.
The majority of population in Pakistan is below the poverty line. Go down any roadside and one would find young children selling newspapers, cleaning the cars when they stop at a signal, working at shoe-polishing stalls etc. These young children are the victims of poverty and that is the reason why child labour is rampant in our society. Not only do young children have to work, but due to extreme poverty, many old people have to keep working at an age when they should actually be resting. Poverty is the worst form of deprivation and the sadness that is visible in the eyes of these people is heartbreaking. These are the people who suffer the most in life, and for a crime that they have not committed – the crime of being born poor!
The holy month of Ramadan has started and one can feel it in the air – from the siren that blares in the early morning at the time of Sehr, the recitations of Quranic verses in the mosques all day long, the hustle bustle of people a few hours prior to Iftar time, till the Iftar time itself when everyone is busy opening their fasts. As this month is holy month, therefore special arrangements are made at the time of iftar — a veritable smorgasbord of dishes is made in the house or bought from the market. The price of every commodity skyrockets in the month of Ramadan, especially the food items and commodities of daily-use.
Islam teaches us to be more charitable in this special month, but some people are simply not interested in properly following the spirit of Ramadan, which is supposed to bring together all the Muslims. In this greedy world, a lot of Muslims have stopped adhering to any laws laid down by our beautiful religion, Islam and are exploiting their religious brothers by charging them more and plundering the hard earned wages of ordinary middle and lower class people. They have their eyes set on maximising their profits and no regard is shown for the poverty-stricken society. Muslims should not act like those corporate giants and the commercial-minded civilisations, which tend to increase their prices whenever the holiday season approaches.We should show our benevolence and true commitment to God by giving benefits to mankind, and should not be motivated by any selfish designs.
Eid is the most special holiday for a Muslim, as a Muslim is rewarded with the gift of Eid day after fasting for the whole month of Ramadan. Every muslim wants to buy new clothes and accessories for Eid day, but the shopkeepers escalate the prices by creating artificial shortage of commodities in order to reap benefits from an ordinary consumer since they know that most people have saved money for their expenditure in the approaching Eid holidays. This price hike is an injustice to an average lower and middle-class family who has so many members anticipating the Eid preparations and who would see the rich with their beautiful new clothes and throwing big feasts to celebrate this special day, whereas these people have to count their last penny and have taken advance salaries to meet the expenditures of Eid.
The best lesson could be learned from the spirit of Ramadan, where most of the Muslims unite under a common flag to pursue one common purpose, to make their Creator happy. One of the ways this could be done is to make their fellow brethren happy and keeping prices to their ordinary level and making it easier and convenient for people from all classes to participate in these celebrations. This will go a long way in actually increasing the happiness of these people on Eid, and people would concentrate more on organisational issues rather than the pecuniary ones — to host or participate in Eid feasts. It will also set us apart from other nations, whose business is solely driven by the consumer’s dependency and desire to buy products in a particular season.
Every good act is charity and a man’s true wealth in the hereafter is the good that he does in this world to his fellows.
Comments
Over here its called as chai pani :P