 Dear viewers, As-salamu alaykum. Thank you for joining us. I'm Ali Jassim. In today's episode of current events We will be discussing one of the greatest issues facing humanity today, global poverty. Throughout the course of this discussion, we will be asked, we will ask an attempt to address the question What does the religion of Islam have to say about it? And what are the potential Islamic solutions to this crippling global illness? In total, half of the world's population lives on less than two dollars and fifty cents per day And a quarter of the world's population lives on about a dollar per day One billion of the world's children live in poverty That is more than double the total population of the US and Canada and equal to the population of the entire African continent One in nine people in the world do not even have access to clean drinking water Which is the most basic requirement for human survival Around the world, 22,000 children die from poverty related causes every single day This amounts to 917 every hour or to put it in another way Every single minute of every single day 15 children will die of completely preventable causes Including in the next minute. In fact, poverty is a choice made by a minority of the world's population and enforced upon the rest Ultimately, it stems from the misunderstanding of the purpose of wealth Thankfully, the religion of Islam is able to shed some light on this topic Most people go through life believing that the wealth they possess is theirs And as a result, they can do whatever they want with it. In Islam, we understand that whatever we possess is from God And ultimately belongs to him and how we spend it, it is a test. In the end, as Muslims, we know that we will be held accountable for every last penny that has ever come into our possession Did we pay our zakat in khums? Did we spend our wealth in the way of Allah helping others? Or did we spend it in some luxury we didn't really need? Imam Ali Peace be upon him explained the structure of poverty perfectly when he says Surely Allah made it mandatory upon the rich that a portion of their wealth was also what would suffice the poor around them So if people go hungry naked or exhausted, it is only because the rich have deprived them Allah will take them to account for it on Resurrection Day and punish them for it Indeed, if one looks at the massive wealth of the Muslim world, it would not be difficult to solve many issues of the global poverty with that alone Or we cannot even manage to solve the problem of poverty within Muslim countries Sadly, just because our religion gives us the answers to these problems, it does not mean we always follow it That is because most of these countries are engaged in a kind of a shirk The Messenger of Allah peace be upon him says There is a calf for every nation and the calf of this nation is the dinar under him This idolatry of wealth continues to this day and even among Muslims How well do we heed the words of our Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him who said that whoever eats his fill While his neighbor goes hungry has not believed in me How well do we heed the words of Allah Almighty who has said and those who hoard the gold and silver and Do not spend it in the way of Allah inform them of a painful punishment chapter 9 verse 34 It is because Allah knows that many humans sadly love wealth with an exceeding love chapter 89 verse 20 Brothers and sisters without any further ado Let's meet our guest the director of the Human Development Center in Karbala, Sayed Husayn al-Tawheel. As-salamu alaykum Sayyidina Wa alaykum as-salam wa rahmatullahi You're doing well Sayyidina, what are the main causes of poverty in this society? poverty is a social problem from which Muslims suffer in various Islamic countries There are many reasons for this problem among these reasons are political cultural and economic in this episode I will talk about some of these reasons without categorizing them Firstly the main reason behind poverty is our negligence of the available mineral resources granted to us by God Almighty we all know that God has granted us both solid and liquid minerals beneath our grounds We are also blessed with water resources Sun and air to generate electrical power But if we don't make use of all these natural resources in a proper way, we may regret it in the future Of course such reasons are explained in detail, but I cannot explain them all due to time Hence I will briefly mention them From an Islamic point of view the negligence of the natural resources is considered to be wasteful Since God has blessed us or for better terms graced us with these blessings And it is incumbent upon us to make proper use of them A reason for the poverty we have today is the waste of extracted natural resources in a way or another And that is the main reason which may lead to poverty Along with the above mentioned reasons There is another reason which is the wrong distribution of extracted natural resources in a fair way Whether it was in the same society or among various societies of the Islamic world Maybe just maybe one might object and say that these natural resources belong to those who extract them Yes, that is right. Those who extract them have all the rights to owe them But how do they manage them? That is the question That is because God wants us to manage these resources in a specific, legitimate way Any other kind of waste such as negligence, freezing and damaging of these resources In a way that no one will be able to make use of them Especially when there are people who are in desperate need for such resources, is not accepted in Islam What is the relation between faith and poverty? Yes, no doubt, no doubt Certainly, faith guides human beings for having the natural resources in a legitimate way That is without violation and oppression of other people Also, faith guides human beings to benefit from them properly For example, to make use of them in a constructive way for themselves Their families, their societies and for humanity Because Islam is a religion for all of humanity So, there is a strong relationship between resources and faith in having the natural resources in one hand And the way people make use of them in the other hand Is poverty considered praiseworthy in Islam? If not, how was it treated in the religion? In fact, the question of whether Islam considers poverty as praiseworthy Or not has created controversy Many verses in the Holy Quran and as well as in the prophetic traditions Areled by our Holy Prophet Muhammad Peace be upon him and his family speak about this issue Focusing mainly on fighting poverty due to the fact that poverty contradicts with humanity Both materially and morally One of the supplications found in our tradition says O Allah, I seek refuge in you from poverty I seek refuge in you from humiliation So, we ask refuge with God from both poverty and humiliation However, and before I go on narrating the verses and traditions relating to fighting poverty It is important to clarify something that might give a clear image of Islam's status against poverty First of all, we have to define the word poverty Poverty is about not having enough money to meet basic needs Including food, clothing and shelter In addition to a lack of money, poverty is about not being able to send children to schools Not being able to pay for medication for an illness These are all costs of being poor The above mention completely contradicts with the message of Islam Which aims at preserving human dignity and protecting them from humiliation and poverty Along with protecting them from all other things that break the principles of humanity As a result, Islam fights poverty And that has been mentioned in more than one verse of the Holy Qur'an And prophetic traditions as well as the narrations of the Holy household Peace be upon them The commander of the faithful, Ali, son of Abu Talib Peace be upon him has said, if poverty was a man, I would kill him In another narration, it states that The keys to the happiness of man are a big house and a fast medium of transportation You see, Islam prohibited wearing old torn clothes One day, the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, peace be upon him and his family Was sitting in the mosque in Medina Surrounded by the muhajireen and Ansar When a man entered the mosque wearing old torn clothes Once the Prophet, peace be upon him and his holy progeny, saw him He addressed his companions saying, who can take this man and clean him Then bring him back to me One of the companions agreed to give the man new clothes to look neat and tidy Then he took the man back to the holy Prophet Thus, Islam stands against poverty Because poverty, as the commander of the faithful, Ali, peace be upon him has said Poverty humiliates the soul, staggers the brain and brings worry to the heart of man The commander of the faithful, Ali, peace be upon him also said To a son, al-Hasan, al-Mujtaba, peace be upon him That the poor man is insignificant and no one listens to what he says And people don't respect him If he said the truth, people would call him a liar O son, the one who has been afflicted by extreme poverty He would be afflicted by four features Lack of conviction, shamelessness, silliness and lack of faith To sum up, Islam is against poverty and seeks dignity to all human beings As quoted in the Holy Verse Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem In the name of God, the most beneficent, the merciful Barely, we have honored the children of Adam, peace be upon him We carry them on the land and the sea And we have made provision of good things for them And we have preferred them above many of those who we created With a marked performance I know many people have considered this But how do we solve the problem of poverty? In fact, Islam fights the reasons of poverty We've mentioned why many Islamic countries suffer from poverty And we talked about the reason behind poverty Among these reasons is the negligence and the waste of natural resources And the mismanagement of them On the contrary, Islam urges us to make use of the divine grace And blessing that we have been granted In addition to this, Islam urges us to save for the future We are not used to saving what we earn If we are to calculate how much money we are wasting And look at the result, we'll find it a very large number Again, even though we have this number, we will consume it all again Islam also urges for investment And it does not only urge us to save That is to save them to invest what we had saved in order to achieve self-sufficiency In order to offer job opportunities for unemployed people Our religion urges us to seek knowledge Because one of the reasons behind poverty is the lack of good education That is to say, education in general and training in particular That is also one of the causes of unemployment That hinder us from getting benefit of our energies and possibilities Islam urges us to partake in professional integrity Our local production is highly affected by the carelessness of our employees Most of them waste their time and escape from accomplishing their duties And if we put this into consideration, it would be one of the reasons That contributes in spreading poverty Islam fights all the negative issues that were mentioned above To establish social justice among the people One of the basic principles that Islam promotes for And works to apply is social solidarity principle That is, people must express solidarity with each other And support each other to overcome all the problems That the Islamic countries face, including poverty The question is, how do they solve such a problem? In fact, they can do so by establishing institutions That undertake different activities For example, such an institution could be one that is productive That is, they could own factories or farms To produce food to the needy in suitable prices These institutions might get involved in the construction field To build houses for those who don't own houses Among them are those who want to get married from both genders In certain cases, they could help directly Those who suffer from specific illness And can't afford medication costs As these institutions should work with the spirit of Islam They also can offer loans for those who want to start a new project Yet, the project must be implemented in a legitimate way Because nowadays, we see, some people get loans And instead of starting a new project with the money They consume the money to buy unnecessary things And this phenomena is widely spread these days The loans should be offered for those willing to establish a project That helps them in their present life and in the future Moreover, they should offer job opportunities for the unemployed people As we know from the famous saying that if you come And you teach a man how to fish Then you have provided him the sustenance to eat for his entire life But if you only give him the fish, you feed him once And he will no longer have food in the future The institutions could also train people for mastering new skills Because one of the problems that prevents many of the employed people From finding job opportunity is the lack of new skills that they master For example, holding training courses on how to use computers Or holding training courses on electrical skills and etc In order to find jobs easily These are ways that could help the society solve part of its problems What is the role of the Islamic government in solving the problem of poverty? The role of the Islamic government is no different Than the role of the Muslim fighting poverty Firstly, the Islamic government must have an economic policy Because most of the time we suffer from poverty Due to the fact that there is no economic policy in the government This economic policy includes education Banks, legislations and those that facilitate local or foreign investment This policy should be set by the government Which in turn should follow the teachings of Islam In planning for an integral economic policy That covers all economic aspects of life Such as investments, making use of natural resources And enabling people to work by making facilities In the field of agriculture and industry All these tasks should be done by the Islamic government Based on the great principles of Islam I conclude this episode by reporting to you this holy tradition Far from us is the one who leaves his worldly life For the hereafter Or leaves his hereafter for the worldly life Insha'Allah this problem will be solved soon Thank you so much, Asaidna Hayyakum Brothers and sisters, this concludes today's current events We hope to see you next time We thank you dear viewers for watching And we thank our dear guest, Sayed Hussain At-Tawil, for joining us Be sure to join us again on current events Until next time, Wassalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh