http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSyrW3IzXK4
It's so sad to watch the news on TV about the incident. Thousands of people were huddling and crowded...even the number were too huge compared with the space and the available facilities...to get in line for Zakat of a merely Rp.30,000 (around $3). 21 people were killed and all of them were women of 25 up to 60 years old. They were suffocating, run out of air, stumled and stepped by others. This incident had claimed highest victims so far in this country regarding zakat distributed by wealthy person personally, not through zakat legal institutions. Such incident already happened some years ago, mostly at the time approaching Idul Fitri but the casualities were not as stunning as this one. It was reported that such distribution by the wealth merchant had been carried out since 1975 and no fatal incident had occured.
May be the sum of money was little or us all but for those poor people, the number meant a lot. It meant another day to survive. It made them do anything to get it, even if they had to get in line for hours. This yearly incident should had been taken as lesson for others who wanted to distribute zakat to carefully design such allocation that safeguarded people's safety. Coordination between security personnels, medics, and other related institutions is a vital in such case. In addition, it would be wiser if the zakat is distibuted by legal institution to prevent such mass 'invasion'.
This tragedy could be also regarded as the sign the rising of poverty in this country. The skyrocketing oil pricess and the basic necessities have made some families live barely up to the poverty line. And it's always the poor who had to bear the consequences.
The word Zakat means both 'purification' and 'growth'. Our possessions are purified by setting aside a proportion for those in need, and, like the pruning of plants, this cutting back balances and encourages new growth.
Zakat is the amount of money that every adult, mentally stable, free, and financially able Muslim, male and female, has to pay to support specific categories people.
This category of people is defined in surah at-Taubah (9) verse 60: " The alms are only for the poor and the needy, and those who collect them, and those whose hearts are to be reconciled, and to free the captives and the debtors, and for the cause of Allah, and (for) the wayfarers; a duty imposed by Allah. Allah is knower, Wise." (The Holy Qur'an 9:60).
The obligatory nature of Zakat is firmly established in the Qur'an, the Sunnah (or hadith), and the consensus of the companions and the Muslim scholars. Allah states in Surah at-Taubah verses 34-35: "34:O ye who believe! there are indeed many among the priests and anchorites, who in Falsehood devour the substance of men and hinder (them) from the way of Allah. And there are those who bury gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah. announce unto them a most grievous penalty- 35:On the Day when heat will be produced out of that (wealth) in the fire of Hell, and with it will be branded their foreheads, their flanks, and their backs, their flanks, and their backs.- "This is the (treasure) which ye buried for yourselves: taste ye, then, the (treasures) ye buried!" (The Holy Qur'an 9:34-35
Zakat has a very wise and good goal and it is obligatory for all muslims who are able to perform the duty. Such noble goal should be conducted wisely so other no victims fall in its distribution.
Let us all take a moment to pray for all the victims. May Allah gives them ease and their soul purified in this holy month.
No comments:
Post a Comment