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I guess the final straw that committed me to this article was when, two days ago, I was parking my car at Wal Mart. A Muslim woman came up to my window and said salaam to me. I opened my window and greeted her back. She handed me an index card which stated, ‘Please help me. I have 4 children and have no money for rent or food.’ It was heart wrenching. Can you imagine what it takes for an aging woman to stand in a parking lot and beg. She told me she was to be evicted that month. I also asked her the proverbial question, “Did you go to the masjid?” She said yes she had, about a month earlier, but had received no response. She said she was new in the community and did not know many people. I took her name and number in hopes of helping her. I don’t know what possessed her, but she seems to have given me a wrong number.
Last year, my husband and I separated and I found myself in a position where I had to support myself and my children on my own. This situation was a surprise to me and I had no employment. Actually, for the past 15 years I had not really worked outside my home. Here I was, almost 50 years old and having to support myself and my household.
So began the charity circuit. Now, I was unaware of this system, until I met a few helpful sisters, who themselves had been through this ringer and hoped to help me over my hump. This story will share some of their experiences as well as my own.
You should know, that when you send someone to a masjid for zakat, that the process will take at least 4 weeks if they are known to the masjid authorities and will most probably be denied if they are completely unknown to the community. Some may say that this occurs because we have so much need in our community during these hard times and that we need to take care of those we know for sure have hardship. But, I will remind you that one of the conditions of qualifying for charity is to soften the hearts of those inclined towards the Muslim community, who are not even Muslim. Here we are judging people and excluding them. Who knows what harm we do to the hearts of our Muslim brothers and sisters when we reject their applications for assistance? In some cases, the application is completely ignored and no one even contacts them back.
It is also important to note that to apply for charity is not as simple as it may sound. You will need to print off an application. Generally this is available on a website; sometimes you can get a copy at the masjid. You will have to supply copies of your check stubs for any earnings you have and you will need to identify/document any social service assistance that you may be getting. You will also need a copy of your lease agreement, and if you want rental assistance, you will need the contact information for you landlord and a letter from your landlord indicating that you are behind in your rent. You will need your tax returns for the last year and copies of your utility bills. All documents need to be up to date, within the past 30 days.
Now imagine how impossible these tasks are if you are homeless.
What if you are living in someone else’s home and all your stuff is in storage? What if your stuff in storage was sold because you could not pay for the storage?
But, there is more. You will need to provide personal references so that the committee can contact people regarding your situation. If you are not too ashamed, you should include the most prestigious people you know so the investigator will believe them. I use the term investigator, because that is what they do. In spite of all the documentation you provide, you still have to have references that are privy to your situation.
One organization called a friend I had listed as a reference and asked her where my husband was. This was in spite of the fact that I had already told them. My friend said she did not know and had not asked me. Then she was asked how long she had known me. She indicated that she had known me for about one year. The investigator then insisted that she knew me well enough and that she must know about my husband. My friend responded that she did not know and felt that it was not her business to ask. She stated that I had not disclosed that private information to her, but she had been there when the landlord had come by and, in front of her, her two children and my children, had asked me to vacate the premises because my rent was very late. That organization gave me less than one-third of my $1450.00 rental fee.
That same organization once called me for a reference of another sister who also needed assistance. I guess we used each other as references so that we did not need to tell too many people about our situation. They asked me why she could not find a job. I told them I did not know why. They asked me the same thing over and over again. Finally I said, “Maybe the potential employers do a credit check and when they see her credit score they don’t want to hire her.” I guess that may have made sense to that investigator and they stopped asking.
There was one masjid that insisted I come in for an interview with their social services department in order to be considered for charity. Otherwise, they do not consider charity applications. I drove the 60 miles with my children in tow. (What does one do if they don’t have transportation?) While they played in the masjid, I waited in the office. I was left there for some time because the social services volunteer was helping someone else first. He was a young brother who was homeless. While sitting there, I read some of the posters on the board. Most of them had to do with social services that were state funded. One had to do with the masjid protocol. Right there on the poster-board were several steps for the social services intake person to take while interviewing a prospective charity case. I think it was number 7 or 8 on the list which stated, “Look for inconsistencies in their story.” I felt humiliated.
But that would not be all for that day. As I sat there waiting and reading, I heard the social services volunteer making calls for that young brother who needed housing. She asked a few people about whether their rooms for rent were still available. Her voice was loud and she was standing in the multi-purpose room of the masjid. There were a number of people there as well as students from the hifz program. “He has a daughter.”
Pause
“Does your daughter live with you?”
Silence, perhaps he whispered the answer.
“No.”
Pause
“Does she come to stay with you?”
Silence again.
“No.”
Pause
“Where is she?”
Silence
“She is in foster care.”…
My heart twisted and I cringed for this poor boy while he was made naked by an uncouth volunteer.
I waited for the pendulum to swing back onto me.
But, by Allah’s mercy, the woman came in and said that she needed to go to a meeting and I had to wait. I agreed. When she came back, she said that someone else would meet with me. Alhamullilah, the brother took me to a private office, looked through all my papers, made copies and interviewed me. I left there with my dignity intact. He was gracious and respectful. My application was approved in 3 days and then I waited 3 more weeks for the directors to come in and sign the check. I got a check for one month’s rent.
There were two places that I put an application for charity that never responded to me. I did follow through on a call to one of those two places. I was told that since I was asking for money from a mosque not in my immediate neighborhood, I would need a letter from the president of my mosque explaining why I was not receiving funds from my local mosque. I guess that is one way of saying no. I cried after hanging up from that call and never bothered with the other organization that did not have the courtesy to even recognize me enough to call me back and tell me they would not be helping me out.
Within my own community I had more clout. I was a face that the doctors and engineers, who hold the keys to the masjid coffers, had to look at after Friday Prayer. I was there at all the events and functions. I waited outside their meetings for an answer to my applications. I emailed them personally and let them know how desperate I was. They helped me on three separate occasions. Each time I asked for assistance with my rent. The first time I got one full month’s rent. The second time, about 8 months later, I got two-thirds month’s rent and the third time I received less than a third of my rent. I guess this is their way of letting me know that the coffers are closed to me.
Throughout this past year I have depended on these people for charity, but I have also leaned on a few Muslim brothers and sisters whose generosity has kept me in my home, my car payments up to date and my electricity and water on. I have received $500.00 on four separate occasions from people who knew somehow that I was struggling. My children received $130.00 for Eid Al-Fitr from friends and there is one story I must share with you.
When I had first approached my mosque I had asked for much more than one month’s rent. Part of what I needed was my water bill paid. I included a disconnect notice. The committee basically did not address that issue. I guess they thought the eviction notice was more important and that I would not notice the water being turned off. The night it was due I got enough money to pay the back due amount and dropped it into the night drop box. The next week I got a bill for $250.00. When I saw it I cried and could not understand what was going on. When I called they explained it was a credit amount not an amount I owed. It seems that my bill had been paid three times by three different people on the last day. Each person had come in on that day and paid the water bill anonymously. Obviously it was someone, or two, from the zakat committee that took it upon themselves to help me out without taking the credit. For 4 months I did not have to pay for any water bill. May Allah bless the hearts of those who do things for His sake and watch over the needs of those in their community.
It is hard to calculate, but I think that individuals in the community have given me almost $4000.00 dollars this past year. One sister, who has not seen me for 5 years, sent me a $500.00 dollar check when she heard of my predicament. Who would have thought she even remembered me. Surely Allah softens the hearts of people to love and care for each other.
While individuals in our community still recognize the importance of doing things for the pleasure of Allah without looking for any worldly profit, our organizations seem to function with a taciturn disposition of contempt and cynicism toward the poor and needy. The masjid has become a condemning bureaucratic organization more concerned with documenting their accountability than completing the mission of giving zakat. Not one single organization met the needs I clearly documented as necessary. I had to go to 3 different organizations to meet the needs of my family to cover less than two month’s expenses.
Headlines in the Muslim Link Newspaper highlight the meat distribution for Eid Al-Adha, but don’t point out that one organization did not distribute their meat until December 20th, along with gift baskets for needy families (not Muslims in their community) already identified by social service organizations within their county. This distribution of qurbani meat is more in line with the Christmas celebration than with Eid. I have no qualms with gift baskets to needy children, Muslim or not, but does this take precedence over Muslim women and their children who are homeless, unemployed, or on the brink of homelessness? Personally, the efforts to get non-Muslims to see Muslims as “good people” does not take priority in my life over the needs of a Muslim sister, with 5 sons, who needs her gas and electricity turned back on; or, another family, with 5 children, who have been living month to month in homes that are under foreclosure. Their credit is so bad that these are the only homes anyone will rent to them. Every month or two they have to move.
I first felt compelled to write this commentary when I sat in a lecture by a visiting sheik and he explained that at the time of the Prophet (sws) zakat meant to cover the expenses a person could not cover for the next full year. I was bowled over! Each month I have been tortured with worry about how to meet the expenses of my household, how to fill my children’s plates with food, how to replenish worn underwear, how to pay for class trips. Oh for the days of the Prophet (sws)! For the times of integrity and honor! A baker would be supplied with a bakery so that he could earn his own living, a carpenter given tools for his craft, an elderly man, given his annual expenses. But that I did not have to live under the threat of eviction each month!
Okay, so I am good at finding fault, but what solutions do I have? Well I have a few, so if you are involved in the charity committee at your masjid, please take note. The charity committees should consist of at least one part-time paid employee. It is the only way to insure a professional job as well as compensate someone who needs a job. Let’s face it; we need to stop looking at doctors and engineers or their wives to do everything. They are simply not qualified for this type of work, even if their hearts are good. And, just because you financially support the masjid, does not mean that you understand the needs of struggling community members. The pocket books/wallets of the masjid need to relinquish some control for the greater good of efficacy.
Also, there should be three aspects to the committee. The first is establishment of qualification and assessment of needs of the applications. This is the process of identifying the needs of an individual or family that needs help and sufficient help should be provided to actually change the situation, not just giving out a few hundred dollars to each applicant, which won’t help the situation and may only postpone shutting off the electricity for one month. The way charity is distributed now, it is basically ineffectual. A more holistic approach needs to be used to successfully help a struggling individual or family. This brings me to the second aspect of the charity committee.
The second aspect involves resource identification. This is where a committee member contacts as many of the community members as possible and asks them what they have to offer as sadaqa. For example, a new convert may need housing that will get them away from friends or family that don’t accept their conversion and have rejected them or kicked them out. This could be a basement room for free or sharing the costs of an apartment. A divorced woman may need help with transportation, otherwise she may not be able to get a job. An elderly couple may need rides to the grocery once a week. Our community is full of people who would like to help, but may not be able to do so in a financial way. I know of a number of people who would love to invite a new convert for dinner once a week and let them see a Muslim family in action.
The third aspect has to do with training. So far, I have only seen training in our masajid for home health aid. This is basic menial work for the least skilled in our community. This is important, but we can do more. A vocational consultant can identify employment opportunities with various companies in the area. For example, such a consultant can call employers like Kaiser Permanente, Lockheed Martin, etc. and identify when they are hiring, what types of jobs are available and what skills are needed. Don’t confuse this with what is available at the social services department. They do have some listings, but they do not search out such openings or make personal contacts. In conjunction with this, the consultant identifies training opportunities or even employers willing to offer on the job training opportunities to help unemployed community members find employment. There is also assisting with resume and cover letter writing, interview practice, and teaching people how to look for jobs themselves in the future.
All of these are very viable solutions that are practical and would not cost the masjid more than one salary. It is a way to set a new standard for that pillar of Islam that will work with today’s needs. Anyone interested in a more detailed explanation of these programs may contact the muslimlinkpaper.com for more info.
Sister UM (name withheld for privacy lives in Virginia).
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Salaams,
These are the same Masjid who want your donations to buld a big Masjid. A structure of concrete and blocks that have no real foundation. Our community foundation are the Brothers and Sisters, these are the structures that we should be raising money to hold up. Don't get me wrong a masjid is important but, why do we need an elaborate, expensive Masjid when brothers and sisters are going hungry and homeless. And if your hungry and homeless are you really going to the Masjid, especially if that same Masjid is giving you the third degree. They will be sending you to more humiliation to deal with the Kufir system who have no respect and compassin for a muslim sister or brother. Penny for you thougth, salaams.