Re: Leaving it all for charity - Comparison to Pakistani culture of holding tight
Pakistanis are very giving people..how do you think Edhi and Imran khans charity works survive?
Re: Leaving it all for charity - Comparison to Pakistani culture of holding tight
what about Hamdard Foundation? Didn’t the founder make it “waqf”? Founder’s name is skipping my mind right now 
Re: Leaving it all for charity - Comparison to Pakistani culture of holding tight
Hakeem Muhammad Saeed?
There are definitely instances of individuals coming up and being beacons of charity.
However, the point is about general tendency about leaving money to charity or to your own kids. I think, over all, there is a greater tendency in the West to leave monies for charity. It may just be because kids do not really have that close a relationship with their parents, like we see in Pakistan. I am sure we all agree that in Pakistan, it is fairly common for kids to keep on living with their parents even after marriage and kids. The close relationship means that parents are likely to leave their wealth to their kids. Or if you are cynical, you can turn the argument around, it may be that kids stick to their parents because they expect to inherit a sizable fortune on their death, and thats easy money for them. :-)
Re: Leaving it all for charity - Comparison to Pakistani culture of holding tight
^ The big chunk of people (other than Buffett) who leave ALL the money for charity I have heard (the only source so far :D ) do it because their children dumped them and didn't look after or they had trouble getting along or many other reasons, they don't do it just out of compassion. The reason Pakistanis don't do it "ALL" being pointed above by MYwish that we are not allowed to devoid children of inheritance irrespective of their behavior.
Re: Leaving it all for charity - Comparison to Pakistani culture of holding tight
^ Well, that is a nuance only, since you can give out all you want to anyone you want in your life-time. Infact, if you read the Sunnah of the Prophet (Peace be upon him), he gave up most of his worldly possessions before his death. How much of it was left for Bibi Fatima (Razi Allah tallah)?
Re: Leaving it all for charity - Comparison to Pakistani culture of holding tight
^ She was given the glad tidings of Jannah, i'd have that anyday over worldly pocessions! :D
Re: Leaving it all for charity - Comparison to Pakistani culture of holding tight
^ Exactly.
Re: Leaving it all for charity - Comparison to Pakistani culture of holding tight
A lot of families (extended or immediate) in Pakistan survive because of family inheritances..because of poor salaries and unemployment they'd be reduced to poiverty if it wasn't for the little they inherit.
Re: Leaving it all for charity - Comparison to Pakistani culture of holding tight
That is correct. People who give away ALL in their lifetime generally do it so their kids don't get the money (due to various reasons), whats forbidden in Islam is kicking out child(ren) from "inheritance" which is called "jaayedaad se aaq karna" in Pakistan :)
Re: Leaving it all for charity - Comparison to Pakistani culture of holding tight
"Warren Buffett is so rich that he hired Bill Gates to spend his money" - Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report on Comedy Central.
Re: Leaving it all for charity - Comparison to Pakistani culture of holding tight
I am not talking about jaidaad se aaq karna or anything insane like that. What I am talking about is the expectations and how we raise our kids. I agree that Buffett and Gates are more exception than the rule even in the West, however, views expressed by Buffett are very interesting, as I quoted in the first post.
I think a better approach is for people to give their kids best of education and values, so that their kids can be independently wealthy on their own right and are not looking at Aba ji's wealth and making plans for spending the inheritance. That way Aba ji and Ami ji can spend their money the way they want and support worthy charitable causes. God knows, Pakistan has so much poverty that it can do with as much charity as people can give. There are many very very rich families in Pakistan, and probably due to the fact that they have accumulated most of the wealth through dubious means in the first place, their main drive seems to be to accumulate so much wealth that their future generations can spend it. This is bordering on extreme greed, and in this scenario, giving it all up for charity does not get into the picture. It will be oxymoronic, unless someone is trying to be Robin Hood or something.
Another tangent to this discussion is how much we give back to our educational institutions. I don't believe we have a strong culture for that back in Pakistan. May be its time, we should think about that too. Here in the States, bulk of monies raised by universities is through contributions by their alum. These are people who have graduated from a school, started work, are now successful in what ever they do, and make annual contributions back to their schools, just as a voluntary contribution. These may not be huge amounts of monies individually (range from $100 to tens of thousands per year), but collectively they add up to significant balances for the schools. Also, I have heard of many stories where people bequeathed huge parts of their estates to their former universities just as a way of giving back to the community and to their schools which made them what they are/were. Tax breaks given by the government is a huge incentive for people to give, no doubt.
I don't think muslims as a whole are kanjoos or anything. Just recently, the main masjid in our area needed roof replacement (approx 80,000 sq ft). Within four weeks, the muslims of the area contributed $400,000 to replace the roof. They are still seeking $150,000 more to complete the project, but this is just to give an idea how quickly people open their wallets if they are motivated and are encouraged.
Re: Leaving it all for charity - Comparison to Pakistani culture of holding tight
You’re right. People do not have great knowledge on how economy works. More money, even than what Buffet and Gates would put, are spent on ending hunger, disease and poverty in last 40 years, but the situation remains the same in Africa and other countries.
The stated goal by Gates-Buffet is to address the reason why poverty and disease are astronomical problems for mankind. They did not say what their intensions are nor what breeds poverty and disease. Intelligent minds, scholars and journalits misjudge the reason - that stand in the way of ending poverty, which happens only when property is private and secure, political ideologies are bought buy big companies and government is not intrusive.
Re: Leaving it all for charity - Comparison to Pakistani culture of holding tight
I am not sure I understand what you are trying to say here. Perhaps due to typos (is it "buy" or "by"), its not clear if you are giving reasons for why there is poverty in the world or the reasons how it can be remediated. You also said "intelligent minds" misjudge the reason, and it begs the question, is yours not an intelligent mind? :)
Re: Leaving it all for charity - Comparison to Pakistani culture of holding tight
Not like you Sir jee: )
The thing is more money is spent on ending poverty in last 4 decades than Buffet-Gates are planning to invest. I applaud their effort, but to say that they can achieve this goal by showing $100 billion is a far cry. You need a systematic approach to end poverty, disease and other problems of the world, not just one organization of Gates and Buffet. They only talk about their plans on addressing the issue, it is not clear how they plan to end the epidemic.
What distinguishes this foundation from others, except that it is worth beyond $40 billion?
Re: Leaving it all for charity - Comparison to Pakistani culture of holding tight
A better comparison in the South Asian context, would have been an equally obscenly rich Indian. With hinduism devoid of any concept of charity and social welfare, would Laxmi Mittal leave his Billions to the poor of his own country...hardly...
Re: Leaving it all for charity - Comparison to Pakistani culture of holding tight
i’d agree. buffet and the west are way out of pakistan’s league here. lets get back to hindu bashing, the true glue that holds the country together.