Remember in the hereafter God will ask 'Why you didn't feed me'?
This forum consists of a lot of Muslims and they will know what the above statement means.
I recently sat in a desi restaurant in london and there was a guy outside asking everyone for money to buy food, some people gave a little, but largely people ignored him, some were even abusive and wouldn't have had a problem giving him a 'patkhar' (excuse my poor urdu, 'slap'). On leaving we gave him a rolled up roti with salan in it, a drink and £4. The poor guy was overwhelmed and kept asking 'is this really for me? God bless you! God bless'!! By the time we got across the road, he was happily munching away and then disappeared down the road.
There is a bbc documentary running called privilege to homeless, about 5 rich people becoming homeless for 10 days. Some of them start with the attitude that homeless people can easily get themselves onto their feet and sort their lives out. It makes for interesting and humbling viewing :) I will try to find the program online and post the link.
^ I agree with the statement that you posted above. However, some of these people are drug addicts and do it professionally. That means that they don't beg only when they are in need. They beg because it's easy, they don't have to do much and they get money. If they were to initiate the process of helping themselves, I bet you more people would be willing to help. As I said earlier, if they are healthy, as most of them are, they don't have to get a GREAT job, they can do ANYTHING (cleaning, construction etc. ) to earn money. But the problem is, they don't want to do any work.
In US, most of those beggars stand on the intersections, have a beer bottle laying around and they look drunk. If we give them the money and instead of spending it on food, they spend it on cigarettes and beer, we are making the situation worse. I also stated that if they are really hungry, I would love to take them to a nearby fast food place and buy them a meal. The problem is, I don't have time to stop and do that.
They are increasing day by day. Mera walk karna haram hogaya hai. Every time I go for a walk (while at work in downtown), I see at least one begger in each street. They stop you and ask for money and I have a hard time refusing. Most of the times I change my way when I see one standing but a lot of times they seem like normal people who are walking down the street and as soon as you approach them, they start begging. I feel sorry for them and all, but come on!!!
I know they are everywhere in Pakistan, but are there any beggers in your town if you live abroad? How do you deal with them? Avoid them as I do or do you give them change?
Some people refers them as homeless people rather than beggers, but I thinks they're all the same.
Beggers/homless are a lot richer than a normal person.