Sunday, April 10, 2011

25. Philanthropy versus Investment

Philanthropism is a private initiative taken up for public interest. It had been a long tradition which was ancestrally flow down to show affection for humanity. A Philanthropist would volunteer activities with devotion of work to a social cause for the benefit of his fellow beings directly or indirectly as well as making the world a far better place.

Philanthropy is a practice of a usually rich society or very profitable companies where they donate revenue to or promote various programs to assist economically under privilege society. It is just not only giving the material things in everyday life but also spend time which is a treasure. There are a good number of ways that philanthropists donate their time by canvassing for charities and making men and women more mindful of what is occurring worldwide. Numerous ventures out in addition to donate their time by offering hot meals, clothing helping children get good education and medical facilities. A few who've expert understanding provide their time by way of helping students who can't afford school fee and school supplies. It was a spirit of good will toward others and their welfare.

In early times, philanthropy was usually prompted by religious faith and helped to assure a reward in an afterlife and the individual would get involved in act of generosity out of desire of those rewards. Today philanthropy has been diminished and the spontaneity of giving is eliminated. We have also brought about a more rational assessment of ability to give as well as the introduced most selfish financial investment methods for future needs. The focus has also shifted from the relief of immediate need to long-term planning to prevent financial mishap in future. With this thought almost every venture is looked as investment and people have forgot what philanthropy is. It would have been better if atleast medicine and education were not included in the list of investment and was nurtured by philanthropists. There should be no parity difference in those sectors.  

In Islam, according to Fataawa al-lajnah al-Daa'imah, commercial insurance of any type is a illegal, as it involves ambiguity, gambling, and unlawful means of wealth hording.

The thought of investments have made an individual so self centered that he thinks of himself and his own family future. The concern of society has no place in his must-do list. There is nothing wrong in thinking of the future of the family but in doing so we have completely forgot that there is an important role that our society expects from us. The individual investment has taken over social responsibility. The result of which the economically under privilege society are unable to get the diagnosing of a disease and getting treatment of which is “the unreachable stars.”

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