Ingrid Mattson – Why is the Muslim Majority Poor
AI: Summary ©
The importance of individuals specializing in modern economics to alleviate poverty and racism in modern Muslim countries is discussed, along with the rise in wealth and profitability. The speaker suggests that individuals should not blame Islam for this, as it is a reflection of modern capitalism and globalization. The perception of racism and racism in images and inaccuracies is discussed, along with the importance of reading the Quran and hearing the Prophet Muhammad to gain insight into the structure of life after death. The speaker emphasizes the importance of hope and anticipation in achieving a sense of connection and joy after death.
AI: Summary ©
Islam greatly encourages giving money to the poor,
and zakat is a pillar of Islam.
Charities mentioned in the Quran
and in the sunnah, the practice of prophet
Muhammad, peace be upon him. Yes, sir. So
why is it that many Muslim countries
have a rich elite minority,
but the majority of people are very poor?
We're an economist for this.
Do we have one? That's just not true
though. Yeah. This is,
I think this has a lot to do
with,
modern capitalism more than anything else in my
opinion. But, to answer the question fully, we
really need
person who specialize in in modern economics. I'll
just give some basic guidelines and principles, and
that is that
in our religion, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala clearly
wants the wealth to be transferred from the
wealthy to the poor. There's a verse in
the Quran,
Allah does not want money to be transferred
only amongst the rich amongst you. Right? This
is one of the main principles of our
religion that the rich should not just get
richer and richer, and what we're seeing now
is a rise of a super elite and
a super rich. The number of billionaires is
now in the millions.
The number of billionaires in the world is
now in the millions. The rich get richer
and and the poor get poor. And this
is, I think, a manifestation of not just,
capitalism but also globalization. So I think instead
of blaming Islam for this, I think this
is just a product of the modern world.
Also, I think you're forgetting the fact that
many many countries are in fact quite wealthy
and, many Muslim countries are quite wealthy.
I would say that, quite a lot of
of Muslim countries, their gross national output and
their per capita income would rival, if not
be above, the median of the world, today.
I think all that this shows is that
there's still a lot of opportunities for those
who have money and who who are wealthy
to to help and participate in alleviating some
of the problems of poverty, but I don't
think it's fair to blame Islam for this.
Allahu Ala. You wanna add something to that?
Yeah. I think because part of the question
is, you know, there's this impression that there
are these,
and and and you've got to understand how
much of this is related to this old
orientalist
idea of
the rich idol
Sheikh, sort of, you know,
who's
kind of,
you know, sucking the wealth and the blood
of the poor people. There's a bit of
racism in a lot of these images
and
some inaccuracy.
For example, look at Thomas Friedman's book The
Lexus and the Olive Tree.
Now that title itself
implies that somehow,
you know, what's wrong with these, with these
Arab, that they would have a Lexus, as
if, I wonder what he drives. I don't
know, but how many Americans drive
Lexuses?
As if there's something
wrong with
with
people who are not, you know, white to
have,
to have nice things?
And if you look in, if you look
actually at these countries, let's get a country
like Saudi Arabia. Yes, they're super elite people.
Don't judge any country by the royalty of
that country. They are always,
you know, the royalty and the movie stars,
they always live a life of complete excess
that has nothing to do with normal people
But there's universal health care. There's universal education.
If you compare
every Saudi,
their what what they get from back from
the society, from the wealthy,
I'm not saying it's a, you know, it's
the last, I'd be the last person to
say it's
a perfect country, but if we take it
as the country that's considered to be, you
know, the worst and sort of popular
opinion,
the people in that country live very well.
They if they they have homes
that are provided by the government if they
need them, they have health care which is
still not true in this country,
they all have free education, they aren't burdened
by a huge educational loan or prohibited from
studying.
So yes, there are some wealthy people and
the very wealthy
are often very,
you know,
they they spend in excess,
but there are also some very wealthy people
who who continually give and really give an
awful lot. So I would say first compare
the facts. I remember that
seeing somewhere that in terms of the
percent of,
foreign aid that's given by Saudi Arabia, for
example, is something like 5%.
It's much less than 2%, the United States.
So, let's be a little bit fair and
certainly there's a lot of work to be
done in many countries.
A systematic
readjustment of the economic system is necessary,
and along with that the political system,
but it's not true that there's simply, you
know,
neglect of of the poor.
And gas is still 70¢ a gallon
in Saudi Arabia.
What's that? Gas is still 70¢ a gallon.
So the
So everyone can sign up. Everybody does enjoy
some part of it.
When talking to non Muslims about life after
death,
how should one present the similarities and differences
between Islam, Christianity, and Judaism?
Yes, definitely
I'll
be
early.
In in Judaism actually,
their concept of life after death is
fundamentally
not that different although I mean there are
differences.
Our
death only marks another phase of existence.
It is existing in another realm.
So here it is birth
that brings us from that world of nothingness
into this world.
So birth marks the end of that period
and usher a new period which in which
we are in right now and death
marks the end of this life and brings
us into a life called Hayat Al Barzakhiyyah.
It's another phase of existence
and then Judgment
Day brings the end of that phase
and into an eternal phase
called the Hereafter.
So this is our phase of existence, these
four stages.
I think from what I've read and heard
about Judaism,
they do have some similar
structure.
Christianity varies a lot more but in Judaism
especially at the time of death returning back
to God and so forth and so on
and what we try to let the person
read the shahada
of
before they pass away. They also have a
statement or affirmation of faith that they try
to let the dying person read
before they pass away.
So there is
a continuation
of life and I don't know maybe one
of the other scholars
can give a lot more details
as to the differences but generally this is
what Islam is about. I
think this is a good topic
to discuss with people of other faiths. I
mean rather than,
than trying to interpret other people's faiths for
them,
or you yourself do the comparison, this is
a, this is such a beautiful topic to
have,
you know, an interfaith discussion on, get together
with people from other faiths in your community,
and
your job is to articulate as best as
you can as a Muslim what you understand
about life after death. What are you looking
forward to? What do you hope for?
And they can also talk about their perspective,
and that way you can learn,
and,
and share this beautiful view. Of course, we
believe that as Allah
says,
as, God the Most High says,
that it is
as no eye has seen, and no ear
has heard. So it's something utterly like anything
we can imagine.
Yet,
we we we can understand by reading the
Quran and hearing the descriptions of the Prophet
Muhammad, some of what
at least will feel we could get a
little taste of what it might feel like,
like when the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon
him, gave this beautiful image,
to his companions when they said, well we
see God
and he said, Can you see, and this
is a good time of the month to
say this, Can you see a full moon
on a cloudless night? And they said, yes,
of course. He said,
she said, and so you will see God.
Now that doesn't mean that, you know, God
is like a moon or anything, but
how do you feel
when you look up on a beautiful, cloudless
night and see that shining, white full moon?
There's this sense of awe and wonderment, so
it gives us a little sense of how
we're going to feel, a sense of connection,
a sense of awe, a sense of peace,
tranquility, wholeness,
so these things allow us, in our limited
capacity as created beings,
to have somewhat of a sense
and anticipate
things that we simply cannot imagine now because
we're in a temporal realm. But at least
it gives us hope, and it gives us
a sense of joy and anticipation
that it will be something,
you know, worth everything.