The holy month of Ramadan brings Muslims all around the world together.
By enjoining fasting, it urges believers to practice self-restraint and abstain from everyday materialism. It is a reminder of the importance of charity as it asks everyone to think of the less fortunate for whom fulfilling basic needs of sustenance is a daily struggle all year round.
We trust all Bangladeshis of whatever background, whether fasting or not, will share in the spirit of solidarity and quest for self-improvement that Ramadan brings to our society.
It is a time for prayer and reflection which can help bring out the best in people.
We hope the self-refection it encourages will help people commit to working better together all year round to improve society.
In this context, we welcome the renewed attention being given by government ministers and welfare organisations to seeking to ease and promote the giving of Zakat by Muslims. Zakat is like Ramadan one of the five basic “pillars” of Islamic practice. It institutionalises the systematic giving of 2.5% of one’s net wealth each year to benefit the poor. It does not include charitable gifts given out of individual generosity and is not a replacement for taxes, but is intended as a form of worship, purification, and redistribution of wealth.
Finding ways to ease and promote the giving of Zakat so monies may be used to help the poor more productively than simply giving gifts of food or clothes, can bring a lot of good.
It will also help focus minds on seeking to promote virtues of Ramadan such as social welfare and striving to help lift people out of poverty, all the year round.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
