So we all know there isn’t many beggars in the western part of the world. But we do come across a few homeless people every now and then (compared to places like india or pakistan where everywhere u look, u will see a beggar).
I drove my mom to town today and when we were stopped at the traffic lights, this beggar came over and started knocking on the car’s window. He wasn’t irish but not desi either… I am guessing he was polish and in his 50’s. There was nothing wrong with him (i.e. no disability) apart from the fact that he was very hairy and dirty looking.
I looked over to my mom and asked her if she had any spare change… and my mom’s answer kinda surprised me… she said “Aise logon ko nahin dete” … And before I could debate about it, the lights turned green and off we went… But I still couldn’t stop thinking about why mom had said that… coz she really is the most giving and caring person I know…
So I asked her what she meant by it and she said that he was absolutely ok, there was nothing wrong with him, he can easily work, why doesn’t he?? And my argument was that there isn’t even jobs for the highly qualified irish people these days, so there isn’t really much hope for a polish dude with probably no qualifications… and who knows… he must have gone through a really rough time to have ended up in that situation… we can’t blame him… Mom said there is many jobs, u just have to be determined and keep trying… and by jobs she didn’t mean working in an office in suit boot, she meant simple things like distributing flyers door to door for many restaurants etc… even something like that would pay well..
And I agree… but then again… i felt bad for not giving to the beggar…
What r ur views on this?? How do u guys treat beggars in the west??
^Ture. I'm sure even if he went to the local county council office, they would give him a place to live straight away (perhaps he did have a place to live, I'm just guessing that because he was begging, he obviously wouldn't be able to pay any rent either) or they'd sort out some means of income for him... but then again, he wasn't irish, he probably didn't know of any such facilities... ?
^Ture. I'm sure even if he went to the local county council office, they would give him a place to live straight away (perhaps he did have a place to live, I'm just guessing that because he was begging, he obviously wouldn't be able to pay any rent either) or they'd sort out some means of income for him... but then again, he wasn't irish, he probably didn't know of any such facilities... ?
Yes I guess in these cases, one can direct these people to the right facilities. Asking them what the problem is won't get us anywhere because they might be ashamed or hiding something (more likely because of drugs).
Well atleast you can be certain that you aren't sponsoring the Beggar Mafia by giving him some money, like in Pakistan.
Most homeless people in the west have some serious psychological Problems. So it's much more complicated than we think it is.
If that man really is lazy and will buy drugs etc. with the money, well that's not your problem. Allah SWT is watching and only your good intention and good deed will be counted.
And I don’t get WHY there should be homeless people in Ireland because if you don’t have a job and you’ve been a resident in Ireland for like 5 years or something (?) the government will pay u a monthly expenditure and will also pay ur rent. No matter what nationality u are.
So the only explaination would be that the homeless person is an immigrant who doesn’t qualify for support from the government or .. he is only begging to make some extra cash for his illegal activities… ?
I know a lazy ass pakistani dude who’s like 35, didn’t even pass metric back home, and is now (obviously) jobless, who would hire someone who hasn’t even passed school? And he lives off our taxes. Like.. get off ur bottom and do some work dude! But no, he only wants a job where he gets to wear a suit everyday!!
Is this how he’s gonna spend the rest of his life?? And if NO ONE is hiring you for ANY job at all at all, then go back home and help your old father out in his business for God’s sake, have some sharam!
This reminds me of an incident that happened to me and a couple of my friends recently. We were sat in a cafe and this beggar came upto us and politely asked if we could spare him some change. We all gave him some…it wasn’t much but he thanked us and left.
Then, this desi guy who was sat nearby came upto us and took it upon himself to give us a huge lecture. He was saying things like “he’ll only use it for drugs”, “people like him don’t deserve it”, “you should give your money to more charitable causes”, “Give money to your own people” (i’m guessing he said that because the beggar was white)
This guy went on and on, he really bugged me and I told him that it was really none of his business and that our intentions were to help the beggar out and hopefully Allah swt will see that. But, this guy just wouldn’t let it drop, it was getting to a point where he was getting quite hostile calling us names, saying we were stupid etc. Eventually, we had to get up and leave because he was irritating us.
So, that’s a recent experience I had with a beggar and the aftermath just goes to show how people are very intolerant towards them. Which is a shame because at the end of the day “Zakat is Zakat” and how do we really know what they use/need the money for…we have no right to prejudge.
I was walking out of McDonald’s one time and this lady was sitting outside askign for money/change. I had some extra change so I gave it to her…and then I saw she nice sparkly acrylic tips. I didnt think the poor/homeless went to nail salons
when my mom was living with me, she made me give some change to everyone who was at the traffic light or so not because she thought they deserved it but because she wanted to show the importance of charity in Islam.. to this day, I roll down my window and give the change. I don't care if they deserve it or not.. for me, charity means a lot. :-)
I do this almost everyday.. I keep the spare change for someone who sits in the street a block away from my work.. I walk a lot for my work so I drop in a quarter or two whenever I see him there!
This isn't exactly charity or begging but on the subway there's always either kids from middle/high schools selling candy (according to their speech, either for their school's basketball team or to stay out of trouble) OR doing break-dancing routines or playing musical instruments. I usually do give them change in that case cz at least htey're doing something constructive and working for it rather than just begging.
He did look like a druggie!
