I T IS RIGHT around this time that the images of starving Somali men, women, and children will disappear from news splash screens and front pages, making their way to last month's online archives. This is a predicable evolution of news-and reports of the most dire human suffering, unhappily, are no different. They have their place in the queue. Even if the humanitarian crisis in Somalia and its Horn of Africa neighbors stayed on the front page, it is an unfortunate reality that we ourselves are giving less sadaqah the further away we get from Ramadan, the month of giving. Great appeals are made during the holy month in a rush to try to maximize donations, but the truth is, without consistent giving throughout the entire year, the money ends up being spread too thin. The slow-down in charitable giving is not a phenomenon specific to Muslims. People on the whole tend to reduce their donations to any given cause that is more than one or two (media) months old. Moreover, chronic crisis, like the ongoing drought and food shortage in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Djibouti, tend not to receive as muchattention as spontaneous natural disasters, which there re ever more of in our climate-collapsing world, like the earthquake in Haiti and the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. (Note that even though both these countries remain in dire need of aid, Haiti being particularly desperate, how
little we hear of them through the news media now.) It may be that we allow the overabundance of impatience we have accumulated while living in an immediateresponse world to spill over into our expectation of what our charity should do and how fast we should see results. The strife in Somalia did not arise overnight, however, and it cannot be reversed without the most resolute kind of patience and perseverance. Somalia has been suffering for the entirety of my life. Every summer of my childhood, late-night Save the Children commercials expressed the reality of rail-thin children and mourning mothers. Fathers were conspicuously absent, a detail that spoke of Somali’s social crisis to anyone who would listen. Why has nothing changed? To understand this, one must look to the history of the area and the origin of its recent unrest.
Natural or Man-Made Disaster?
I have long struggled with the question: Why do the peoples of Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly those of the Horn of Africa, suffer from chronic poverty and hunger? (Chronic poverty refers to an extended duration of poverty, such that those who come under the category of chronically impoverished or poor have never experienced a day of financial or food
security. Think about this). The general classification of the crisis in the region as a drought or famine oversimplifies the cause of suffering and is unjust to the land on which the
oldest continuous civilizations have thrived for millennia. Did you know that last year’s rainy season in that region was actually a very good one? Still, reports of droughts and food shortages abound as masses of people leave their homes to walk for days in search of food. Historically, drought has been a predictable event because of the region’s semi-arid to arid climate, but climate change and changes in agricultural practices to an industrial model have made more recent droughts a cause
for alarm. A complicated web of global economics has overpowered the long successful traditional farming and grazing methods of pastoral groups and a push for mass production has led to detrimental overgrazing. In the past, the people kept reserves of food in anticipation of a poor
rainy season and subsequent drought. Now, the unprepared populace in the hands of outside powers and experts is continually devastated by recent droughts. In addition to the farmers who can no longer benefit from their land, greed-based over-fishing by outside industries that leaves little of anything in the water to fish has uprooted coastal fishing communities. To compound the problem, political and social unrest in the area (a direct response to the devastation of local food economies) has seen the murder and displacement of millions of Somalis in the last several decades. Armed conflict waged by young, hungry, and desperate Somali men has forced farm communities off their lands. These youths join the armed groups in the first place to ensure themselves of meal and shelter. It is a myth that East Africa is inclined to famine and drought. The crisis that we see in Somalia is a combination of profit-driven industry and climate change and the resultant armed conflict.
Is Aid Reaching the People?
It really depends. The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) has reported that its aid has been on and off in affected areas that are at the heart of the political conflict. Reports indicate that warring groups are allowing in some aid from Islamic charity groups. Somalia’s surprisingly fertile lower Shabelle region in the south, which is controlled by the Al-Shabaab group, has just recently
opened up aid for refugees in that area, months after aid was ready to be distributed. Also, the United States has restrictions to stop funds from being diverted to US-listed terrorist groups, and this has made the process of distributing aid a particularly long-draw for certain charity groups.
It takes a little research to make sure that the charity organization to which you give your money is using that money for its intended purpose. But you should be an informed donor. Good charity organizations will publish reports with photos to communicate their projects to their donors. If you are concerned about whether or not your donations are reaching their intended beneficiaries, ask for proof to give you reassurance.
The Islamic Tradition of Meaningful
Charity
Generally, there are two types of charity that a Muslim can give to achieve the highest ideals from the Quran and Sunnah. First is that which is donated to meet an immediate need. This includes food packets and emergency medical supplies and treatment. Allah notes these charitable believers by their intention in the Quran: “They feed with food—despite their own desire for it—the indigent, and the orphan and the captive saying: ‘We feed you purely for the sake
of God. We desire no reward from you, nor thankfulness’” (Surah al-Insan 8-9). Immediate relief allows for sick and starving men, women, and children to receive life-saving medicines and nutritional, therapeutic feedings over a short period of time, usually a few months until their immediate condition is more stable. The second type of charity described in detail in the
words of Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, is sadaqah jariyah, or ongoing charity, which is giving that perpetually benefits both the ones who receive it as well as the one who has given it. Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported Allah’s Messenger (may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him) as saying: Among the actions and good deeds for which a believer will continue to receive reward after his death are knowledge which he taught and spread, a good son whom he left behind, a copy of the Quran which he left as a legacy, a mosque he built, a house which he built for the traveler, a stream which he caused to flow, or a sadaqah which he gave from his property when he was alive and well, for which he will continue to receive
reward after his death. (Ibn Majah and Bayhaqi) The stress on sadaqah jariyah is well deserved and
divinely guided. The idea is to keep people from being dependent on recurrent, immediate aid. Instead of giving a family grains, oils, and meat, planting a garden or orchard and providing livestock, which Allah causes to renew and reproduce, will ensure a more sustainable food source and income, and, over time, the family will be lifted out of poverty.
What Can We Do?
1. MAKE DU‘A FOR SOMALIA AND DO NOT FORGET
When we are faced with any calamity as an Ummah, we must first turn our faces, humbled, to Al-Basit, the Reliever. What can be a struggle is feeling the brother hood and closeness with those suffering in the Horn of Africa as the news of their struggles are removed from view. East Africa seems so far way, and we undoubtedly have our own trials that we face. Prophet Muhammad said: “The similitude of believers in regard to mutual love, affection, and fellow-feeling is that of one body. When any limb of it aches, the whole body aches, because of sleeplessness and fever” [Muslim]. Are we sleepless over the dying children in Somalia?
2. HAVE A “LONG HAND” AND BE CONSISTENT
A beautiful story narrated by Aisha relates a time when the Prophet’s wives asked him which one them would follow him in death. He said: “The one with the longest arm.” So they started measuring their arms with a stick and Sawda’s arm turned out to be the longest. When Zainab bint Jahsh died first, during the caliphate of ‘Umar, they came to know that the long arm was a symbol of practicing charity. Thus she was the first to follow the Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, for she used to love to practice charity. Sawda died later in the caliphate of Muawiya Bukhari: 2:24
No. 501). When it comes to the crisis in Somalia, we all need to extend long hands, often and consistently. There is much to be undone in the region that can only be spearheaded with internal, grassroots activities and external support. In order to build up young Somalis into strong, viable change-makers, we must support them in their nutritional and medical needs so that they may attend schools, reconnect with the land, and with Allah’s Help, lift themselves and their communities out of poverty.
3. EDUCATE YOURSELF ABOUT THE SITUATION
To understand chronic poverty, you have to delve into the history of the affected area, its interactions with neighbors and former colonizers, and what role it plays in a global economy. Understanding these relationships will help us see the actual origins of the problems so that we do not believe that some areas of the earth are innately inclined toward poverty and destruction, a
commonly held notion. It will also help guide how you donate in order to remove the root of the problem.
4. BALANCE IMMEDIATE AID WITH ‘SADAQAH
JARIYAH’
Hungry men and women cannot work to provide for their families. Sick and starving children cannot attend school regularly. Immediate food and medical aid is a required first step toward ending chronic poverty. But as we Muslims are a balanced nation, our charity should
be balanced also. Digging wells and streams will ensure water for refugees, their children, and generations to come. Providing livestock and enabling farms to be reestablished with traditional farming methods will help pastoral families lift themselves out of poverty. Building schools and mosques can be a step toward developing grassroots social movements among young Somalis so that they do not resort to desperate measures, accelerating armed conflict that results in
human destruction. Chronic poverty is something that is allowed to happen through inaction and indifference. If the images of starving and desperate Somalis disturb you, do not push away the feeling out of discomfort. Realize that a part of your spiritual body is aching, suffering, and as you would take care of your physical body, take action to help alleviate the condition of your brethren.
Ya Allah! Return peace and prosperity to the Horn of Africa so that the refugees may return home to cultivate their lands and support their families.
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