Tabligh

A Simple Thought – Friday, 26th February 2021

The proof is in the pudding

Welfare seems to be such a wonderful thing to me, prima facie, that it almost mesmerises my attention to how the haves give part of what they have to the have-nots.  And yes, if I extrapolate this process to other non-monetary areas, I gather this happens around us all the time.  A teacher ‘with knowledge’ imparting precious knowledge to a student ‘without knowledge’; a sage lending wise counsel to one in a state of confusion, and so on.  But when I look closer to examine the results, or the gains (losses) accrued to this remarkable social model, I incredibly discover a ghastly truth, one that seemingly chisels away the morality of a society to a new low.

I do expect a load of cavilistic responses to this rather ominous suggestion that we have been feeding a frenzy, but that aside, a reality facing us must be confronted by accepting this contrarian view in the first place.  Today, beggars may not really translate to the ones who were in dire need and who history records were truly suffering the brunt of despotic leaders and an innate society.  A thriving syndicate of dolts who value material possessions by way of conning others, have infilterated this ‘poor’ bracket by pretense.  Hence, when I give charity or am promoting welfare by employing or funding, must I not be responsble to evaluate, without necessarilly infringing on the privacy of one or another? For it does not make sense to see why someone receiving support, and says is needy of it, can harness the bravado of spitting that assistance in the face, while continung to dole out on the public sympathy pool.  Today’s horrifying reality needs diligent addressing, for prospects have realised that unless they demonstrate need, they will not earn the share, all this while candid people suffer in silence.  The community puts up vast resources to accommodate families in need to jobs that can proverbially allow them to fish, but their petulance at work reveals a different story and an altered definition of what need really is.  Remember that the proof is in the pudding, so let us not fear to test this out.

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About the author

Mohamedarif is a marketing professional and educationalist with a penchant for writing as a hobby since childhood. As he experimented writing about sporting events at first and then current affairs, he quickly developed a skill for observation of his environment and began to write on reform topics, especially in connection with the community. To further feed his pursuit of writing, he founded several newsletters and bulletins at his school and at the Husayni Madrasah in the 1980's, all the time learning from others already in the field not just about writing, but also about pre-press and production processes. He was also the editor-in-chief of the Knowledge Magazine in 1995–1996. A decade later, importing a flurry of ideas into his new home, Nairobi, he first founded a two page community newspaper then became a regular writer of the Friday Faculty before establishing the Community on Friday, a fully fledged Madrasah magazine in 1996. And while his writing at the community continued, he simultaneously started writing for a business weekly, pairing in with his newfound role as a marketing professional. During his time in Nairobi, he wrote several speeches for sitting chairmen and presidents while also giving some himself, developing his concurrent role as a public speaker and trainer.

With changing times and a decrease in advertising sponsorship, as well as a fall in overall readership, Mohamedarif transformed this publication into an electronic blog. Thus was born the Community on Friday in its present format.

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