The estimated global value of annual zakat, calculated as 2.5 percent of a Muslim’s surplus wealth, would amount to at least 15 times more than global humanitarian aid, states IRIN Global. In addition to zakat, which is one of the five pillars of Islam, Muslims are encouraged to offer charity whenever they can, which can be a small or large amount of money, or as simple as a smile or kind word.

Despite being a financially strapped country, 98 percent of Pakistanis give some form of charity, totalling an average of Rs 800 billion. Yet, the poverty index in Muslim countries does not improve. Tariq Cheema, president of the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists, says there is a need to shift from generous giving to strategic giving, so that the distribution of collected funds results in none left to receive charity, as in the time of the Caliph Umar (RA). The success of Muhammad Yunus’ Grameen Bank offering micro-financing led to its adoption by 100 other countries.

There is considerable protest in Europe over hosting war refugees, although a country like the UK hosts only one percent of the world’s refugees. Seventy-six percent of refugees are hosted by low- and middle-income countries.

The world’s largest refugee camp is in Bangladesh, for the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. Pakistan took in four million refugees from Afghanistan. Jordan hosts the largest number of Palestinian refugees. Lebanon has the largest number of refugees per capita and per square kilometre in the world. In 2023, the UNHCR received a record amount of zakat contributions to assist refugees.

Although the spirit of charity and giving is baked into the central ethos of Islam, Muslims today seem more interested in individual religious obligations rather than communal obligations

Not limited to helping fellow Muslims, a number of Muslim countries helped save Jewish people from the Holocaust during the Nazi era, including Iran, Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco and Albania. Abdol Hossein Sardari, an Iranian diplomat based in Paris during the Holocaust, saved 2,000 to 3,000 Jewish lives.

The sharing of knowledge is a cornerstone of Islam. The Golden Age of Islam is known for spearheading intellectual growth. In our time, the online portal Khan Academy, established by Salman Khan, offers free video lessons to students around the world. It has 8.17 million subscribers, and its videos have been viewed more than two billion times.

With a world population of 1.4 billion, it is estimated that 77 million Muslims have a college or university education, with the highest numbers in Indonesia, Iran, Egypt, Pakistan and India, and a respectable number in Malaysia, Bangladesh, Morocco, Algeria, Iraq, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. Way below the world average, but nevertheless a substantial number to establish an intellectual presence.

This presence has been held back for many complex reasons and Muslims are quick to attribute it to Western colonial history, self-satisfied with the scholarly contributions of the Golden Age of Islam. However, Muslims themselves are also responsible for the fragmentation and a reluctance to unite the ummah. The 57 Muslim nations are spread across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The diversity of languages alone is evidence of this, with the translation of the Quran into 114 languages. Yet, there is a dismissal of Muslim communities the further away they lie from the holy places of Islam in Arabia and the Near East — despite the transnational character of the Islamic empires of the past.

Allama Iqbal reminds us that the Muslim ummah is universal, and that the boundaries of states were only for administrative convenience. The ummah should not be conflated with pan-Islamism. Ummah, or people, linked with the word umm [mother], aims to promote the welfare and spiritual values of all Muslims. Pan-Islamism is a more recent incendiary term, promoted to depict Islam as an aggressive expansionist force.

Muslims today are defensive and protectionist against what has become a self-fulfilling hostility. There is a sense that Muslim countries are tolerated only because they own 75 percent of the total global oil reserves of the world and nearly half of the world’s gas reserves, along with mineral wealth and strategic importance.

Muslims today are more likely to follow individual religious obligations, fard ain, rather than fard kifayah [communal obligations]. Harnessing the strength of human capital across nations is as important, if not more so, than harnessing lucrative natural resources.

The best of times and the best of solutions emerge through intercultural and interdisciplinary communities and by collectively addressing common challenges. Ummah does not only apply to Muslims but all gatherings of people working for the benefit of humanity.

Durriya Kazi is a Karachi-based artist.
She may be reached at
durriyakazi1918@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, EOS, October 13th, 2024