Wealth and poverty in Islam.

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

(b)

I personally believe that there should be rich people in the world even though there are poor people as well. This enables the rich to support the poor through Sadaqah and Zakah. Through a Muslim point of view, there can be rich people, but they must help the poor because the Prophet said:

‘None of you believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.’

From the history of the Muslims we know that there can be rich people, even if there is poverty in the world. Many of the companions of the Prophet were very rich, but they were very generous with their wealth. They helped the poor and needy by giving away much of their wealth. This shows that a Muslim can be rich as long as he helps his Muslim brothers. I think the rich people have a right to help the poor. The wealth they have been blessed with is from Allah and they are just the guardians of it, and not the owners as many people seem to think. For this reason they have a duty to help the poor because this is a responsibility they have been given. In the Battle of Tabuk, many of the Companions of the Prophet generously gave their wealth in order to help the Muslims provide for the battle.

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Some people think that the rich should not help the poor because they are lazy and not very hardworking. This is true in the sense that the rich work hard to earn their wealth, so they deserve the reward they get for the hard work, but they must consider the situation of the poor. Some poor people work very hard, but are not paid sufficiently by their employers. There are other poor people who just sit on the streets and beg without making an effort to support themselves. The Prophet said of this:

'If I had anything, I would not ...

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'If I had anything, I would not keep it away from you. Whoever abstains from asking others, Allah will make him contented, and whoever tries to make himself self-sufficient, Allah will make him self-sufficient. And whoever remains patient, Allah will make him patient. Nobody can be given a blessing better and greater than patience.'

In this Hadith, the Prophet emphasises the importance of earning one's own wealth without asking others for things and also being self-sufficient in the sense that one should rely on no one but themselves. This shows that a person should not beg, but instead should work to earn their wealth. There are exceptions though to this. There are many people who are unable to work in order to support their families for reasons that are no fault of their own such as they are plagued by a disability or illness. This illness comes from no one but Allah, so the poor cannot be blamed. The Prophet of Allah said:

'The poor is not the one who goes round the people and ask them for a mouthful or two of meals or a date or two but the poor is that who has not enough money to satisfy his needs and whose condition is not known to others, that others may give him something in charity, and who does not beg of people.'

For this reason the rich must help the poor because Allah has made it an obligation upon them. Allah says in the Quran:

'Establish Salat and give Zakah.'

They must pay Zakah, which is 2.5% of a Muslim's wealth paid once a year if they possess more than the nisab. The nisab is the minimum amount of wealth that a Muslim must possess in order to pay Zakah. Muslims can also pay Sadaqah (charity), which is a gift from a person's wealth that is given to another person. This is a very good and blessed thing to do. Allah rewards people very dearly for giving charity.

Many people feel that the wealth they earn is theirs and they have a right to do with it what they wish. They do not realise that while they are eating three meals a day, there are people who don't eat for days and who have to walk miles in order to find water. There are also people in the world who are struggling because of other people's miserly attitudes and beliefs. The idea that the rich should help the poor is not only supported by Islam, but is also supported by many other religions such as Christianity and Judaism. The Jews and Christians also believe that the rich should help the poor. Although there are no obligations upon them to help the poor such as Zakah, they can do so willingly by giving charity.

To conclude I believe that there can be rich people in the world even if there are poor people. The rich should help the poor even if the poor beg. This is because they may be begging for reasons unknown to other people.