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Zakatul
Fitr
distribution made more effective
In an
interesting development, Jamiat Ahle Hadees in Malegaon this year
took it upon itself to collect the Zakatul Fitr – the Eid charity
and then distributed them to the poor and needy. Earlier, food
grains normally wheat was
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Malegaon:
DTH, Direct To Home, is the courier service most of us are
familiar with. However, Muslims of Mahad in Konkan region of
coastal Maharashtra have come out with a novel way to eradicate
poverty and help the poor. Beginning December 1998, an NGO in
Mahad worked out the 'Direct At Home' donation system, which is so
successful that it is feeding thousands of widows and
poor families in the region today.
The system is brought to the
limelight by Mumbai based columnist Shameem Tarique. According to
him, Anjuman Dard Mandane Taleem o Taraqqui, in December
1998 devised a system wherein small boxes, with virtues and importance
of charity quoted from the Holy Quran written over them, were
distributed to the willing homes in the region. The family members
were then advised to drop at least a rupee every day as charity
in these boxes.
"Owing to the sincerity and devotion
with which the members of the Anjuman pushed the system,
14000 boxes were distributed and placed in different chowks and
homes. By March 2009, the NGO collected more than half a million rupees from these
boxes and distributed to 1977 widows and poor families", Shameem Tarique wrote in one of his recent articles.
The system soon received popularity
and by December 2010, the number of
boxes increased to 14500 whereas the collection rose to a whopping Rs.
9,08,400. With this amount, the NGO is feeding 23,350 families in
the region.
Interestingly, after Shameem Tariqu's article
appeared in a leading Urdu daily, it transpired
that the Konkan Anjuman is not alone in using this system to collect donations. Others at places like Aurangabad are
also using it though the money thus
collected is being used to maintain the mosques.
"We came to know about this system
few years ago and adopted it immediately to collect money to run
the masjid in our area", says Abdul Qadir, who is one of the
trustees of a mosque in Aurangabad.
Most of the Muslim institutions
including Masajid (plural of Masjid) and Madaris (plural of
Madrasa) depend totally on donations and charities. Sometimes,
people, who wish to donate small amounts are reluctant and
become shy. The system has shown the trustees of Muslim
institutions a way to bring such people in the fold and provide
them an opportunity so that they too get
engaged in charity work.
"It is really a good idea and we
would also like to introduce it", Dr Saeed Faizee, who runs a chain of
Masajid in Malegaon and other parts of Maharashtra, says while
speaking to ummid.com.
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