Ramadan Kareem!

One of the things that fascinates me, in general, is looking at traditions and practices of charity through different cultural lenses.  Tonight, Ramadan starts for millions of Muslims, a holiday where an attempt is made to cut through the trappings of the world that interfere with Islamic thought and deed.  To do that, those observing Ramadan will fast from sunrise to sunset, study the Quran, and perform acts of charity.

To honor the fast of my observant Muslim friends, I am presenting a few thoughts on the Islamic conception of charity, and its meaning as part of Ramadan.  (But this is a practical blog!  What's with the history lessons?  Well...if you're dealing with a Muslim donor, and many of us will at some point, this is incredibly useful information to know.  And, while I'll expand on this some day in the future again and again, if you want to be a great fundraiser, take a little pride in the craft!  It makes you a more interesting person, and donors wanting to spend time with interesting people is a very good thing for your bottom line.)

I should also say: I am not a scholar, I am an amateur.  Please comment below if you feel I'm missing nuances or contextual information!

Let's start with the deep connection of Ramadan to charity.  One of the traditional greetings you give to someone during Ramadan, is "Ramadan Kareem" - where you are wishing someone a "Generous Ramadan."  To me, that says a great deal about the way generosity and charity are woven into the culture.  (For contrast- have you ever been wished "Generous Christmas?" And charity IS central to a great many Christian practices...)

When I've asked friends about the meaning and function of the Ramadan fast, the most common answer is that putting aside worldly concerns, bodily concerns frees you to focus on God.  But the second answer I get, sometimes in the same breath, is that fasting helps you empathize, to truly understand what it is to be hungry, which makes your charity more urgent and meaningful.  Collecting money for charitable causes and making sure that everyone has a plentiful iftar dinner is a significant part of Ramadan practices.

That said, let's move on to one of the things I find deeply interesting about Islamic conceptions of charity.  There are TWO distinct and equally important types of charity in Islam: Zakat and Sadaqa.  Zakat is an obligatory donation of a fixed percentage of your wealth to those less fortunate, something akin to "tithing" in other religions (although a tithe goes to the church or institution, with the understanding that they are responsible, in general, for helping the poor).  Sadaqa is a voluntary gift, whatever is given above and beyond one's Zakat requirements, and extends in practice to less basic needs (community niceties rather than human essentials for individuals).

So, I don't fully understand the complexities of Zakat...but there are pretty intense and explicit calculations involved (2.5 % of capital assets held for an entire lunar year; fixed percentage on agricultural crops and livestock, etc. - non-cash assets - in excess of a minimum deemed necessary for meeting your own basic needs).  This is a serious obligation - one of Islam's five pillars - that we non-Muslims would identify as "charity" but transcends even the noblest intentions of voluntary philanthropy.  Zakat is spiritually cleansing.  Essentially, you go to hell if you don't give zakat...which I say both lightly and accurately.

And the underlying reasons for this are kind of amazing - we're talking about a religion that culturally enforces a personal responsibility for its members to ease economic hardship for others, and to work to eliminate inequalities.  Looking around the world at places with large Muslim communities, it's easy to see why inequality becomes so critical - the poor dip below subsistence levels.  The gap between standards of living are functionally enormous (technically, we're not talking about the world's worst inequality - for an analysis of the 10 countries with greatest gap between rich and poor, go here - but that's small comfort to the people living under the poverty level in places like Pakistan or Bangladesh, both countries where the state is involved in the collection and distribution of zakat).  The political impact of inequality is perceptible in the US, but it's actively dangerous in much of the middle east, for example.   Socialism aside (and zakat is not socialism), this is as strong a religious argument as you can make for sharing your good fortune with your less fortunate neighbors.  Being brought up in such a culture has got to affect the way you view charity that goes to meet the basic human needs of a community - food, shelter, etc.

(Note - I'm not going to touch the question of whether zakat can be given to/used by non-Muslims...that's complicated enough for its own post, and something I want to address alongside other in-group-only giving.)

And then we can move to Sadaqa.  Sadaqa is any charitable giving that comes from the heart - from compassion, from a sense of appreciation, from desire...self motivated, is the idea.  You want to give this support, instead of feeling obligated to do so or else disappoint/defy God.  Of course, it's sort of a religious notion that you're really supposed to feel a desire to give out of self-motivated desire, but as long as you don't think too hard about that, you're OK.

I warm quickly to this concept of charity.  Essentially, if you are lucky enough to live comfortably (and we're going with a real definition of comfort - you have food and shelter and clothing for your family), you must give a portion of that good fortune to the poor so that they can survive.  Period.  AND you should want to give more than that, you should train your children to be generous beyond that minimum level of charity.

I think that's a wonderful way to prioritize giving as a cultural mandate.

For those of you who work in the Muslim community, or with Muslim donors - how does this play out in your direct experience?

In the spirit of cross-cultural good will, this is not a traditional Muslim greeting, it's something Jews will often wish each other on Yom Kippur - but I think it applies well here: may you have a meaningful fast!