CHARITY IN ISLAM

It was 3p.m Nigeria time, after lunch, when Fatou Badjie called me on my mobile phone, saying that my landlady had given all the tenants in my house a quit notice to leave the house. I had only been a tenant in her house for four months before I received a sad news from Nigeria that my Dad had died. Just after three days that I had laid the remains of my Dad to rest, I received another shocking news that I have lost my apartment in Gambia, a place that I have lived and cherished. Gambia is a country located in Africa. I lived there for three years before I relocated to Italy in 2009. It is a Muslim country with good hospitality for foreigners. Fatou Badjie was a Gambian. She was 55years old and had a great respect for her religion, Islam. The devastating phone call that I had lost my home never affected on me because the love Fatou Badjie extended to me as a good Muslim and the beauty of her Islamic faith made me comfortable in those terrible times.

Prior to this period, I never knew much about Islam as a religion of charity that is, until I met Fatou. She was a true and practical Muslim woman who believed in the teachings of the Koran and the Hadith, the recorded deeds and sayings of the prophet (Mernissi, 1996). That was why she said daily prayers, fasted during the period of Ramadan, and always extended her love to everyone, including strangers and Christians. When I arrived Gambia the following week, she encouraged me to live with her in the house. She was only living in a single bedroom apartment; of her six girls, four were living with her despite her financial status, which was that she was a poor lady with little to care for everyone.

Still, Fatou was ready to extend her kindness to me. She was ready to give me what was scriptural in Islam: charity. She kept me among her daughters without fear of rape or other forms of harassment. At night, I slept alone in the bedroom, Fatou and her daughters slept in the sitting-room. She tried to make me comfortable, eat well, and have a moment to pray as a Christian. She also assisted me in searching for an apartment I would rent. She never cared or worried about what her extended family would say, what her husband would say, or the possible scandal that people might conceived in their minds. As a very good Muslim, she believed that every good thing she did had its reward in Heaven. This was in accordance with the assertion of Cleary (1993), when he stated that Muslims, Jews, Christians or Sabians, those who believe in God, on the Last Day would have their reward from the Lord. In addition, they would not have nothing to fear, and would not have sorrow. Actually, Muslims are supposed to live according to the teachings of the Koran. A true Muslim should believe in the Islamic moral code: love. Love, according to the religion is sharing with the poor and needy. Stewart (1996) claimed that, in this world, each soul is bound by the chain of love’s mad passion. I knew more of these, when I started travelling around Muslim countries: Niger, Senegal, Gambia, Algeria, Morocco, Togo and Mali.

Among these countries I visited, Gambia is an exception because of my encounter with Fatou. Throughout the three weeks I spent in her house, Fatou tried to satisfy all my needs, which include: food, water and clothes. She was able to help me find an apartment, a single-bedroom apartment which was beautiful and not very far from her house. The next day, Fatou accompanied me to pay the rent to Mohammed, the landlord, who was a dedicated Muslim and an Alhaji (a popular title for those Muslims who had been on a pilgrimage to Mecca). Before I moved into the house, Fatou spoke well of me to him and pleaded with him to treat me like one of his sons. It was a beautiful moment I cannot forget. Fatou and her kids never wanted me to end my stay, but to remain as long as I wanted. They were good and wonderful hosts. Their kind of charity is in consonance with the assertion of Miller and Bowen (1993), when they stated that a good Muslim host must personally satisfies all guests’ needs, rendering him helpless to serve himself and to choose when to terminate the visit. The attitude of Fatou, whom I called Mama, is also similar to my biological mother in Nigeria, who would always care for the poor, bring strangers to our home and dedicate her life to the Christians religion. This similarity is not coincidence because both Islam and Christianity have charity as the bedrock of both religion. The golden rule of Islam says “Do not do to others what you do not want others do unto you,” the Christians rule says “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Finally, the devastating phone call from Fatou that I had lost my home never affected me because of the love and charity that she extended to me, even though I was a stranger and a Christian. After I returned to Gambia, the accommodation and help she provided in renting my own apartment made me to know the extent of the Islamic charity. This form of charity, confirms the kind of relationship Prophet Mohammed had with an ex-slave, a Christian adopted son, Zayd (Hitti, 1970). Moreover, Islam is a friendly, loving and caring religion despite the act of terrorism perpetuated by some Muslim extremists all over the world including the Boko Haram in Nigeria, who claim to be fighting jihad against the infidels in Nigeria. Jihad according to according Rudolph (1996), is the penalty that sharia has introduced for those who disobey God and His messenger. However, this aspect of Islam does not make me hate what I already love and cherish in Islam, which is charity.

References

Cleary, T. (1993). The essential Koran: the heart of Islam. New York: Harper Collins

Hihi, P.K. (1970). Islam: A way of life. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Mernissi, F. (1996). The veil and the male elite: a feminist interpretation of women’s rights in Islam. Great Britain: Addison-Westley

Miller, J. A., & Bowen, D. L. (1993). The Nasiriyya Brotherhood of Southern Morocco. In Bowen, D. L & Early, E. A. (Eds). Everyday life in the Muslim Middle East. Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University.

Rudolph, P. (1996). Jihad: in classical and modern Islam. Princeton, NJ: Marcus Wiener.

Stewart, D.J. (1996). Taqiyyah as performance. In Issawi, C, & Lewis, B. Special Issue: law and society in Islam. Interdisciplinary Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 6 (96): 19-20