What if People won’t Pay Up

What if People won’t Pay Up

1987 9 September 16-17 What if People won’t Pay Up (454) A certain group of young people all belonging to Phulwari Sharif (Patna) once planned to hold a Seerat meeting in commemoration of the birth of the Prophet Mohammed. Theirs being a historic town, they felt that their meeting should be of the same nature, and when asked by the editor of a local journal how much they intended to spend on it, they said they were raising a fund of Rs. 5,000 for this purpose. The editor’s response to this was that, of course, they were proud to belong to the Ummah of the Prophet Mohammed, their love for him being the most precious of all their assets. “But tell me,” he said, “is this the best way to spread his good example? Just think, there is not one single decent library in the whole of Phulwari Sharif. With this much money, you could lay the foundations of a good library, containing all the best books on Seerat, and this could also include a centre for adult education. Whereas the fine sentiments voiced at your meeting will disappear in the wind, the books in the library would continue to benefit people for many years to come.” The young people agreed in principle with what the editor had to say, but they were not willing to alter their plans. And their reason? “People will not contribute to such a library, whereas it is easy to raise contributions for a meeting commemorating the Prophet’s birth.” (Naqeeb, Patna, January 16,1978)

It is a fact that there are things to which people will gladly contribute, and things to which they will not-irrespective of the worthiness of the cause. All too frequently, objectives which do not elicit popular support have to be abandoned in favour of less worthy causes which, for no apparent reason, fire the imagination of the public at large.

The Phulwari Sharif incident is indicative of the underlying cause of the present-day decline in Muslim affairs. It being obvious that the general public are undiscriminating in the causes to which they subscribe, those who come forward to work for and amongst Muslims veer sometimes quite unwittingly, towards those areas of operation where contributions are easy to come by. These are the activities which put a person straight into the public spotlight, attracting wide popular support and making a leader’s name. There is only one way to change this general attitude, and that is for leaders of the general public to change their attitude, by expending their energies in those activities to which people do not contribute. Undoubtedly, this requires a sacrifice on the part of one generation. But only if they are willing to make this sacrifice will future generations be able to taste the fruits.