FRAUD AND COMMERCIALIZATION IN THE NAME OF QUR’BAANI
A BROTHER WRITES: Assalamu alaikum .
To whom it may be of concern -,ulema fraternities and welfare organizations and individuals
We hope this message finds you in the best of health and is taken in the true spirit of protecting and safeguarding our pure Deenul Islam.
After hearing some alarming reports of fraud in the overseas Qur’bani schemes, I spoke to a few individuals and these are our concerns.
1.1; Haj,Umrah and Zakaat have already become commercialized ‘ibaadaat’.
Qur’’bani seems to be going down the same route.
1.2; Administrative costs is a very vague term used and abused by organizations to include high salaries, personal fees and other unwarranted costs.
1.3; Prices advertised for qur’bani in Indo-Pak sub-continent and Palestine are not consistent with realities on the ground and reports from people of the respective countries.
1.4; We have unconfirmed reports of Ulema doing qur’bani at low costs in India and then selling the hides to leather manufacturing companies for astronomical amounts and pocketing the money.
If this is true, is it Islamically correct and ethical?
Please put my concerns to rest and give genuine answers to the above as well as solutions to our way forward.
I saw a poster from Jamiat KZN warning people about this issue.
I think its a good step and other Ulema bodies can do the same.
Maybe a Support Local Supervised Qurbani Campaign?What other initiatives can we take?” (End of letter)
OUR COMMENTS
There are frauds fleecing the public in the name of Qur’baani. Year in and year out we have been warning the community about these frauds. Others too have warned the Muslim community.
The frauds are able to flourish because Muslims do not understand the meaning and spirit of Qur’baani. The desire is to get over the ibaadat as cheaply as possible, hence a few rands are doled out to these frauds operating in the community. They trick, trap and rob people with their expensive, glossy pamphlets and posters advertising grandiose qur’baani schemes.
If the vendors are not known, do not accept them as bonafide personnel. Entrust your Qur’baani to known and uprighteous people and organizations. Do not entrust your Qur’baani to even known organizations who utilize Zakaat funds for their ‘salaries’ and ‘expenses’. They are all frauds and crooks who pay themselves lucrative haraam ‘salaries’ with the funds intended for the suffering masses.
Do not entrust your Qur’baani to foreigners who come to the country on qur’baani excursions. There is one particular villain from Mozambique who operates a vast qur’baani scam. He must have coined millions in the past couple of years duping the stupid and unconcerned masses.
The suggestion of a local “Support Qur’baani Campaign’ is un-Islamic. The vast majority of Muslims remains unaffected by the heart-rending plight of the suffering Muslims in other countries. They waste millions and millions of rands on haraam and unnecessary luxuries and nafsaani holidays whilst massive segments of the Ummah are suffering in grinding poverty, live in squalor and grovel in such ignorance which ultimately culminate in the destruction of their Imaan. The little comfort which Qur’baani meat offers them, while paltry and miniscule, nevertheless, is appreciated.
Wealthy Muslims are selfish. Whatever they contribute in Allah’s Path is not at all commensurate to the vast wealth Allah Ta’ala has bestowed to them. Even Zakaat is paid as if it is a burdensome fine. People who are supposed to pay millions of rands in Zakaat annually, dole it out in dribs and drabs, and they mostly overlook the avenues where the need is urgent and most needed. While the smattering of Qur’baani meat is not the solution, it nevertheless, is appreciated by those few suffering brothers, sisters and children who receive the luxury of a little meat.
22 Zil Qa’dh 1436 – 7 September 2015