As has been written in Tolu-e-Islam,
Sadaqah is the name of those gifts etc. which are accepted on behalf of the Islamic
Government for meeting the emergency needs. These include Sadaqah-tul-Fitr, which the
Messenger of Allah (S) imposed at his time (i.e. some time after Emigration; the fasting
have become obligatory in 2 H), when the Islamic Government was not yet regularly
established and the Muslims were facing emergency requirements on every step. There is no
specific mention of Sadaqah-tul-Fitr in the Quran. It is because the Quran has pronounced
the command of Sadaqah as of principle injunction, and has left the responsibility of
defining the details there-of to the Islamic Government in all the climes and ages.
As has been written in the foregoing
description, Sadaqah-tul-Fitr was imposed when the collective social order was not yet
established in the form of any regular government in the Muslim community. Any-how,
history stands witness to this stark fact that these matters were not taken individually
at that time. Those were used to organize collectively. It is a fact that Islam is a Deen.
And Deen (the constitutional system of life) is always regularized collectively – and
never individually. Even for Sadaqah-tul-Fitr, it is written in the history that the
people did not use to give it individually on their own, but they used to get the
collection deposited with persons, appointed officially for this purpose. Later on its
distribution was made through the central authority. That is why it has been written in
Tibri that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) had appointed Hazrat Abu Huraira for this
purpose. Since this mode of operation was strictly in consonance with the collective
spirit of Islam, it can very safely be accepted that this very System of Sadaqah-tul-Fitr
would have been in practice at the saga of the Messenger (S). But now the non-centralism
of our own authority is such that voices emphasizing the necessity of Sadaqah-tul-Fitr
will sound echoing from every nook and corner of the pulpit. And you would have never
heard anyone saying that the Sunnah of the Messenger (S) is that this Sadaqah is got
collected at a central place and then its distribution is made through the central
authority. At present the only part of the Sunnah of the Messenger (S) made public is that
before the prayer is offered, the Sadaqah-tul-Fitr be calculated and distributed among the
poor on ones own. If this is not done, the fasting will remain suspended.
Hark! And reflect: what actually the
state of affairs was and how it was transformed to become like.
There hath
remained Balal’s ritual call to prayers; gone is the genuineness.
Leave aside the entire world of Islam
today; take up the case of Pakistan alone. Out of its present seven crore Muslim
population, if six crore of such Muslims are supposed from whom Sadaqah-tul-Fitr is paid
and the amount is calculated at the rate of 75 Paisa per head. Then before 10 O’clock
on the day of Eid, an amount of Rs 4.5 crore can be collected in this fund alone. And this
many amounts can provide shelter to, at least, all the shelter-less in Pakistan. But so
far the Maulvis bang down their swagger stick on Deen, Sadaqah will go on being
calculated; Zakah will be paid; sacrifice will be offered; the people will also be
performing Hajj but the nation will remain homeless, shelter-less, hungry, nude - and a source of traducement for Islam.
How terrifying is this revenge Islam
is being subjected to since thousands of years! Hark, and reflect who are the people that
are being prevailed upon to be instrumental to this horrendous vengeance.
(1953)