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Poverty and Hunger
Many hadiths of our Prophet (may God bless
him and grant him peace) mention the poverty
and hunger that people will suffer before
the Mahdi comes. Of course, poverty and
hunger have existed throughout history,
but the poverty of the End Times will increase
enormously all over the world. This situation
will herald Prophet Jesus' (pbuh) second
coming.
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(bottom
left) 25 Thousand People Die
of Starvation Every Day (Ozgur
Gundem, October 17, 2002)
(bottom right) (Herald Tribunbe,
July 30, 2003) |
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Today, many people live without sufficient
amounts food and water, as well as in unhealthy
conditions all over the world. While most
of these people are located in Africa, Asia,
and South America, they are also quite numerous
in such rich counties as America and those
of western Europe. As only a small portion
of people live in great prosperity, nearly
2 billion live below the poverty line. This
article, written at the start of the year
2000, explains the global situation, as
follows:
As we enter the new millennium, we
bring with us a world in which 35,000
children die each day from causes related
to poverty. That is one child dying every
2.5 seconds. We face a world in which
the total number of people below the poverty
line is growing each year, and now stands
at around 1.5 billion. This is greater
than the population of China, four times
the entire population of the European
Union.
The combined
wealth of the world's richest three families�
is more than the annual income of 600
million people in the least developed
countries. Moreover, in more than 80 of
the world's poorest countries per capita
income is lower today than it was 10 years
ago.12
In
the world today, poverty has reached alarming
proportions. A recent report by UNICEF stated
that one in four people live in "unimaginable
suffering and want."13 Moreover 3 billion people struggle to survive
on less than $2 a day.14 Approximately 1.3 billion people lack safe
water, and 2.6 billion people are without
access to adequate sanitation.15
According to a
report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO), for the year 2000, 826
million people did not have enough to eat.
In other words, one in six people are hungry.16
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Hunger
reached serious dimensions
all over the world, particularly
in Africa. The story of people
who died of starvation and
violence along the Zaire-Rwanda
border was the cover story
of Time magazine on August
1, 1994.
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Over the last
ten years, the injustice of income distribution
has increased more than one can imagine.
United Nations reports show that, in 1960,
the 20% of the people of the world who live
in the richest countries had 30 times the
income of the poorest 20; by 1995 it was
82 times . 17 As
an example of the collapse of social justice,
the wealth of the world's 225 richest individuals
is equal to the annual income of the poorest
47%.18
Such current statistical data point to
what the Prophet (may God bless him and
grant him peace) said about the increase
of poverty. In the hadiths, it is revealed
that poverty and hunger will be among the
signs of the first period of the End Times.
Obviously, that period indicated by the
Prophet (may God bless him and grant him
peace) describes conditions in our day.
If we look at past centuries, we see that
the difficulties and anxiety brought about
by drought, war and other calamities were
temporary and limited to a particular region.
However, today, the poverty and difficulty
of earning a living are permanent and endemic.
Certainly our Lord, Who has endless compassion
and mercy, does not wrong people. Indeed,
this unjust state of affairs shows clearly
that the world is stratified on the basis
of selfishness and greed rather than on
religion, moral values, and conscience.
Indeed, with the verse, "Corruption
has appeared in both land and sea because
of what people's own hands have brought
about, so that they may taste something
of what they have done, so that hopefully
they will turn back" (Surat ar-Rum,
30:41), God informs us that the reason for
this corruption is humanity's turning away
from His religion.
With the dawning of the Golden Age, all
of these problems will disappear. Hunger
and poverty will give way to wealth and
plenty. In that age, nobody will be poor
or needy, for religion will be lived in
the manner God describes in the Qur'an and
people will share their goods with those
in need, as revealed in the verse, "And beggars and the destitute received
a due share of their wealth" (Surat
adh-Dhariyat, 51:19). In any case, it is
impossible for some people to be wealthy
and others to be poor in a society that
lives by Islamic values. If a person believes,
then that person will be afraid of falling
into the position of "nor did he
urge the feeding of the poor. Therefore,
here today he has no friend" (Surat
al-Haqqa, 69:34-35). This is a means by
which great social justice, well-being,
and plenty can come about in society.
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12.
John Sayer, "Millennium Article (for South China Morning Post)." Online
at www.oxfam.org.hk/english/resource/document/millennium.shtml.
1 3. "Children and Poverty: Key Facts" (UNICEF:
2000). Online at: www.unicef.org/copenhagen5/factsheets.htm.
1 4. www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp#1
1 5. "Children and Poverty."
1 6. "The state of food insecurity in the
world" (FAO: 2000). Online at: www.fao.org/FOCUS/E/SOFI00/sofi001-e.htm.
1 7. "Human Development Report 1998" (New
York: United Nations Development Program,
September 1998). Online at www.oneworld.org/ni/issue310/facts.htm.
1 8. "World Statistics."
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